People often ask me for advice on exercise and diet.  Sadly, all too often those people don’t really want to hear what I say.  They will either interpret what I said in some fashion that wasn’t intended, or they just don’t believe it.  I’m not really sure which.

The question usually starts with “How do I lose weight?”  or “How can I build muscle?”   Many people, even trainers will tell you they are exclusive to each other.   They say “lift light weight, do lots of cardio, eat proper meals to lose weight.”   These same people also have everyone doing their cardiovascular exercises before lifting weights.  And, the weight workouts are usually full body every 3 days a week.  I say “Bah.”

The exercise part is exceedingly simple in principle.  For most normal people (me included) it takes 5-7 days after a good weight workout for your muscles to recover.  Really!  I find it’s easier to break down weight workouts over a several day period.  It makes it easier to do, and easier to sustain.  For example:

Yes, that looks like a lot of work. It is a lot of work.   That is my current routine.  I sometimes vary it depending on how I feel.  You have to listen to your body.  If something hurts take the old advice “If it hurts when you do that, don’t do that”.  That isn’t to say you shouldn’t feel muscle pain a day or two after your workout.  But if it hurts while exercising, stop.  There are variations on workouts that you can squeeze into two or three days, for example a push day, pull day, and a leg day. (I’ll explain more on this later.)

Nobody ever said this was going to be easy. I also believe it’s wiser to do your cardio after your weight lifting. My reasoning for this is that your muscles will use the available glycogen for energy to lift weights. This is instant-on energy that’s readily available to your muscles. After you are done with weights and have used up most of your muscle supply of available glycogen, you move to cardio where your body’s fat burning will kick in by using available reserves for energy. By doing it in this order, you’ll be able to lift more weight with more repetitions, and burn fat faster.

But why more weight you say? “I don’t want to be a muscle bound lummox!” I can assure you that you won’t become bulging with muscles. I’d say 99% of the population just doesn’t have the genetics for it. If you are a man OR a woman you’ll only ever get huge muscles through genetics, drugs, or a more intense and professionally designed workout regimen.

The biggest frustration people experience is all that working out and not losing weight. Muscle by weight has less volume than fat, but weighs more. When you begin a workout routine you will lose fat and gain muscle which may seem on the scales like you aren’t making any improvement. The only real way to see progress is with a body composition test that can be done by any experienced trainer. I don’t trust the electronic scales that claim to provide body fat percentages. An alternative to that is to take a picture in minimal clothing to document your progress.

The key thing to remember is that muscle will burn calories while you just sit on the sofa. Fat will just sit on the sofa with you.

Next up will be what I consider the number one challenge of a workout.  “How do you motivate yourself to exercise?” and  “Am I lifting enough weight?”

** consult with your doctor prior to beginning any exercise program.