The Davinci Code of Fitness
by Michael Hannon
(Rawai, Phuket, Thailand)
Yes even the fitness world has its own Davinci code. Don't get to exited there is no whipping involved and though I would not be surprised to be, I don't think I am a direct relation to Jesus. But their are some false truths out there and I am going to dispel some of them today.
The "crunch of shame."
It is amazing how things that are simple and stupid make it into the spotlight, such as carb free pasta, Big Brother contestants, George W. Bush and the "crunch¯." Never have I seen so many variations on an exercise. There are whole books dedicated to this one exercise. If it was so wonderful you would not need gyms and I would be out of a job.
The fact is if you can't see your stomach muscles its not because you don't do enough sit ups it's because you eat to many doughnuts. If someone actually manages to do a crunch correctly they still do not burn many calories when compared to a squat. Your just going to weaken your neck, encourage thoracic curvatures (forward head posture, rounded shoulders). Acting like an insect on its back having a anaphylactic shock is not going to do you any good. What about strengthening my "core"¯ I hear you say, well the core comprises of more muscles than you might think and these muscles work predominately as side benders, stabilizers, rotators and anti-rotators, not as crunchers. In fact bending forward is where most are strongest so crunching away is just going to cause an imbalance.
Jogging is king
I recently had a client tell me about advice she received from a very expensive personal trainer, whilst in New York. This "trainer" told her that running an hour on a treadmill is the best way to burn fat and become slim, well spending a month in a Somalian village will also help you lose fat and become slim, this does not mean you should do it. This trainer must have fallen off a treadmill and hit her head a couple of times because that's dumb, dangerous and lazy advice. Why is running on a treadmill for an hour stupid.
(1) Why jog inside when you can go out side. The air in a air conditioned building is 10x as worse than the air out side. If you live in a city, think about it.
(2) If you are a woman and want your boobs and butt to be heading south, jog on a treadmill. Most women don't wear a sports bra, which means every time you land your stretching the connective that holds breast tissue in place. Also these forces can place a stress to the upper back and neck muscles, causing strain and leading to bad posture. The butt muscles are switched off whist on a treadmill because the treadmill does the work for the butt. The glutes like the breast tissue is bouncing around, your butt will not tone if that's happening.
(3) Because the treadmill is predominately a hip flexor exercise it has the potential to cause hyperactivity of the hip flexors which can lead to inhibition (switching off) of the glutes, hamstrings and lower abs. Which means for you less tone and a increase likelihood of injury to occur. Every time you land you're placing between 2.5 to 7x your body weight of kinetic forces throughout your body. If you have bad posture, weak glutes and internal rotation of the knees (which is the case for most women) you are opening yourself to problems of the low back, hips, knees and ankles.
(4) No animal with the slightest intelligence jogs. It just does not happen in nature. When was the last time your saw an animal out in nature stop what it was doing throw on some jogging bottoms and go for a grueling run, NEVER. Now why do you suppose that is.
Our bodies have evolved over millions of years to perform certain tasks, jogging is not one of them. Sprint, fight, lift and climb your way to fitness. You should note athletes that perform the aforementioned as part of there sport usually have very lean, toned and strong bodies i.e gymnasts, sprinters, martial artists, rock climbers. Also on a side note if any of you have ever had a friend or relative join the Army, take note of how they look when they get back after 6 weeks of training. They sprint, walk around with back packs that weigh 30-40 and even 50kg, climb, crawl, fight, lift, body weight exercise such as press ups and burpees. I know they jog to but it's not as much as you think and they mostly walk long distances out in the fresh air with heavy back packs on.
(5) Jogging lowers intelligence. If you ever seen those experiments where a rat or mouse is shown cheese but when goes over to the bowl is given a small electric shock. Well what usually happens is this supposed lower form of life learns that being electrocuted is not good and so leaves the cheese alone. Runners on the other hand get hurt, then run, get hurt, then run, feel tired, then run, have physio then run, take pain killers, then run, complain about pain, stiffness, physio are expensive, then run, even when hip and knee operations are on the horizon they keep running. And this is supposedly for the sake of health and fitness?
(6) All supposed health benefits from jogging you can get from walking, sprinting and lifting weights without any of the draw backs of being miserable, injured and weak!
(7) From experience of working with people who jog over 30min consistently, they typically display similar traits of lowered concentration, being in pain, muscles that are as tight as plywood, and a slower progression towards what ever there training goals are. No one trains with me to be a better runner.
(8) Jogging consistently for an hour will work for the first 6 weeks but after that your VO2 max (lungs capacity to use O2) and your weight loss will cease, in fact if you continue it will become progressively more difficult to lose weight.
(9) There has been noted increase in cortisol (stress hormone) levels whilst doing aerobic exercise and this has been correlated with an increase in fat storage around the abdominal area, decreased strength, decreased muscle mass, lowered metabolic rate and decreased length of dendrites, the hands and legs that connect neurons in the brain together making it harder to think. Guess what happens when you get stressed like this, you will tend to crave caffeine, comfort food which is usually some high carb crap, feel tired, confused and have lowered concentration.
(10) Studies have shown that Marathon running damages the liver and gall bladder, causes an increase in LDL (bad cholesterol), lowers testosterone, causes kidney dysfunction, increases the markers of Cancer and acute brain damage and increased disc degeneration.
(10) The first person to complete a marathon, a supposedly healthy activity, died!
Walking fast or slow or sprinting beats jogging every time.
Weight Training will turn me turn me into Arnie
No good genetics, training like a maniac, 10-12000 calories a day, an Austrian accent and a truck load of illegal anabolic steroids will. Yes my friends it may come as a shock but Terminator and his other bodybuilding buddies are steroid takers. Not only that, todays bodybuilders have something called chemical guts because of all the steroids, insulin, growth hormone and other treats there full time pharmacists give them. So don't worry about having bulging biceps so big you have to invest in a foot long toothbrush to clean your teeth, it just is not going to happen. But you will get stronger, more toned, leaner, increased dopamine release which is associated with confidence and motivation, increased protection from injuries, increased flexibility, improved cardio efficiency, increased metabolic rate etc. You want to look like Arnie then look for the big guy in a gym who calls himself "the chemist" or my personal favourite "the Doctor" and say these words, Dianabol and Anadrol if you're a women I can recommend a good shaving foam for your face and if you're a man, well lets say somethings will get bigger but two very important things will go hiding.
There you go, everything that is pushed into the spot light is not always true. Surprise, surprise.
Do you have a question for Michael Hannon? Michael has been passionately involved in helping people reach their health and fitness goals for 6 years. He specializes in achieving fat loss through resistance training and healthy eating habits. Ask The Expert
