A Too Familiar Scene
Roger: “Hey Bill, where are you going?”
Bill: “To the gym”
Roger: “Again? You practically live at the gym”
Bill: "Gotta hit the treadmill again for at least 45 minutes to burn off all the stuff I ate and drank over the weekend!”
Roger: (Thinking to himself) “Sounds like a good plan, but why doesn't Bill ever look any different after all these years of walking on that treadmill?”
This scenario is played out by countless people every single day. They mistakenly believe that the answer to all their fitness and fat loss needs can be solved by logging endless hours a week doing steady state (long moderate intensity) cardiovascular exercise and “burning away the calories with each step they take”. Sadly, they are mostly "burning through countless pairs of athletic shoes" not to mention precious time.
The truth is, while cardio is an important component of a well rounded fitness program , it is only ONE component.
Not only that, but after years of going to gyms and seeing the same people, on the same equipment, actually get bigger (and I’m not talking about bigger muscles or increased height), it’s clear that this is a faulty strategy. Basically, all those miles on the treadmill aren't getting them anywhere and not just metaphorically!
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that if fat loss is the goal, the nutritional aspect is ultimately about 80 percent of the equation but that won’t be the focus of this post since it's not my area of expertise (you should get advice from a Registered Dietician or nutritionist regarding nutrition).
That being said, weight loss in by itself does not equal fitness. There are plenty of people who are "skinny fat". What this means is that they may not carry a lot of body mass, and may not have the same health risk factors as someone who is overweight or obese, but they have limited work capacity. For this type of individual, doing basic everyday tasks like climbing stairs and carrying groceries may leave them out of breath.
So it's the combination of right nutrition with effective, intelligent exercise that equates to true fitness.
It's Better Doing Something Than Nothing Isn't it?
Certainly doing any form of regular exercise is better than being completely sedentary. But doing the same thing over and over again is not only relatively ineffective but it can actually cause musculoskeletal issues over time .
In terms of it not being very effective, the body adapts to any stress placed on it so that it doesn’t have to work as hard. Therefore as your body adapts to the same treadmill routine, it becomes more efficient and hence burns less calories.
From a musculoskeletal standpoint, doing the same exercise over and over, by definition, neglects other movement patterns. This means you are overworking some muscles while neglecting others, which can lead to “Overuse Injuries”.
Third, there is an “epidemic of bad form” that is so rampant it takes every bit of self control I can muster to NOT run over to people at the gym and plead with them to "come down off the machines" in an attempt to rescue them! Okay, perhaps a “slight” over exaggeration, but not by much. :)
Getting Your Props Can Be A Bad Thing
One of the most common form problems is created when people prop themselves up with their arms, often w/ hyper extended elbows.
This pretty much “shuts down” the core and its intrinsic stabilizers as well as the mechanisms responsible for balance of the body (not to mention being an unfavorable position for their arms, shoulders and neck). So they are taking an already repetitive form of physical activity and creating even more potential for injury because the biomechanics of their bodies are so distorted and misaligned.
To use an analogy: If you've ever injured one of your feet and you had to hobble around for any length of time, chances are you probably didn't feel very good in your hips, back and neck due to the misalignment of your physical structure. This is similar to what folks do when they distort their bodies on a treadmill or stair climber. It's more subtle, but over time these awkward body positions are bound to "catch up with them".
Some Ways To Fix The Various Problems
Mix up your program: Even if you insist on doing primarily cardiovascular exercise, at least change the mode of activity. Instead of ONLY using a treadmill, use an elliptical or an exercise bike. Still this is very much one plane of motion (forward and back aka “Sagittal plane”) so it’s not ideal but still better than only using one piece of equipment.
Better still would be to mix in other, more multiplanar (multiple directions of movement) activities such as kickboxing, aerobic stepping, agility based training, various dance forms, anything that allows your body to move side to side or with some rotation of the hips in addition to forwards and back.
Vary the intensity level: On machines the two main options are to increase the speed or resistance (for example, on a treadmill you can vary the incline to increase the resistance). You can use various types of “interval” training where you vary “work and recovery” ratios (I have a blog post on this which gets into more detail: http://time4youfitness.blogspot.com/2009/08/interval-training-key-to-increasing.html
Strengthening Your Position
Implement some resistance training to your exercise program: Strength training builds lean body tissue (i.e. muscle mass) which in the end will help you burn more calories 24 hours a day. Steady state cardio pretty much burns calories only during the actual activity, not much of an “afterburn” effect (known as EPOC “Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption”). Plus steady state cardio doesn't do much in the way of building muscle (unless one is very deconditioned).
Not The Same Ol' Thing
Try to mix up your resistance training program as well by not always doing the same exercises with the same amount of resistance (weight), in the same order. Again, while it’s certainly better than nothing you’ll severely limit your progress and again risk overuse issues.
Also I recommend that you limit your use of machines that isolate specific muscles (like "leg extensions", "leg curls", "biceps curls"), instead it is best to focus on multi-joint movements such as leg presses, squats, presses and rows. These are infinitely more time efficient as well since you are working several muscle groups at the same time and by all accounts they create a greater metabolic effect as well (which means greater caloric expenditure!).
Getting Informed
Try to be conscious of the form you are using: This applies to both cardiovascular and strength training. As mentioned above, try to avoid propping yourself up on the machines, you should be able to balance from your center of gravity.
This may require you slowing down your pace on the machine as you work on having good alignment in your movement. Also make sure you have good footwear, if your feet aren’t contacting the ground properly because of what you are wearing it affects your entire body in a negative way.
The same holds true with resistance training, get someone who is knowledgeable to help you learn the proper biomechanics of the exercises. You may not be able to afford to have a trainer all the time but if you’re at a health club usually someone there will help you learn the basics of the equipment.
Please STOP Doing That!
The "Bad Form Epidemic" isn't limited by any means to what I see on the cardio equipment. I can hardly workout at a gym without wanting to beg people to stop what they are doing because it hurts my spine just watching them.
An example is the dangerous form folks use as they perform seated long pulley rows. Nine times out of ten, they are using too much weight, their head is thrusting forward with each rep, as their arms "flail back and forth” banging the weight stack each time without any sense of control.
Of course I restrain myself, but it takes a lot of effort on my part not to say anything. I desperately want to help them but since I don't work there I really can't cross that line as a fitness professional.
I promise that what I'm saying here isn't coming from a place of "trainer arrogance" but a real concern for the damage these folks, with the best of intentions, are potentially causing themselves.
Unfortunately they just haven't had the opportunity to learn how to train correctly, often because they haven't had the exposure to good information and proper instruction.
Additionally, it seems that people often workout under the mistaken notion that the machines will automatically correct their alignment, but this is not the case. In fact, often the machines aren't a good fit for their frame which means they are placing a force against a "line of pull" far from optimal at best, injury inducing at worst.
"Applied" Knowledge Is Power
There’s some great books available that I highly recommend regarding resistance training such as “Resistance Training Instruction” by Everett Aaberg or “Effective Strength Training” by Douglas Brooks. Both of these gentlemen are highly educated and respected fitness professionals and authors.
Another suggestion might be to hire a personal trainer periodically to design a program for you and instruct you on proper form of those particular exercises. This way you can have hands-on teaching so you'll know what the exercises should feel like (called "kinesthetic awareness") when done properly.
You will generally want to change your program every 4 weeks or so in order to elicit new adaptations. The price you pay for the trainer will surely be a lot less than almost any treatment you may need if you injure yourself. Plus you are optimizing your time and effort which means better results, which is why you're there anyway right?
In Closing
So in summary, be aware that while some exercise is certainly better than nothing, doing the same thing over and over again and/or exercising with bad body mechanics may not be giving you the benefits you seek. In fact it may be actually be causing you more harm in the long run than the benefits you receive in the short run.
Also, to get the best results, please don't limit your training to only one mode of exercise, be it cardio or resistance training. However, if I had to choose between them, resistance training, especially performed in a circuit training style, would be my choice hands down!
Note: Beyond the elements of Cardio and Strength mentioned above, there are also many other aspects of fitness that contribute to a well balanced fitness program (such as flexibility and balance training to name a couple). Any sound program should address those elements as well and I've discussed them in other blog posts so please refer to those.
2010 Scott Fishkind / Time4YouFitness
http://www.time4youfitness.com
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