Every Gym’s Nightmare

Hey, Kelly. I have a tough one for you :).
I have love handles and they drive me crazy. They are pretty much the only part of my body where I have excess fat. I’m 19 years old, 5′5″ and 108 lbs. I do cardio 6 days/week for 40 minutes, keeping my average heart rate at about 180 bpm (I also do strength training 3 days/week). But the love handles won’t go away! I try doing lower back exercises and oblique exercises but nothing works! Any suggestions? Thank you so much!

Ari

Tough one- HA! You can’t phase this….

First of all- your average heart rate is 180? How does your heart not explode? Not trying to scare you- some people’s heart rates run differently, but holy crap that’s high. I can’t even get my peak heart rate past 175 let alone sustain it.

I think this might be one of those things where if I could actually look at you, I would call you crazy. 108 pounds on a 5′5″ body leaves little room for any extra body fat, but Ill give you the benefit of the doubt.

First thing- make sure you are wearing a bra that fits. If it cuts into you, it makes fake love handles- the same way too small pants creates back fat where before there was none.

Ok- fitness advice. Obviously cardio is going to burn excess fat, but since you probably have very little, lets talk strength training.

Love handles are not in the oblique area, although a lot of people make that mistake. The muscle right underneath your arm pits and run down the side of you back, that on really buff people make that nice little V of the upper back, are your lats. Do lat pulldowns till you can’t do lat pull downs no more and barbell rows. Preferably with a weight that maxes you at about 10-12 reps (I like how I can’t make colloquial comments like that, because people take me seriously.)

Keep up with the obliques and lower back, too, because a strong core is very important to getting a sleek back. And preventing injury, and good posture and blah, blah, blah…..

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I joined a gym 5 weeks ago and have been training with a female trainer 2 days a week, doing 30 minutes weight training sessions. I’m so sick of people in the business saying women can’t get bigger because I am. I told her I don’t want to be any bigger in terms of total size. I want to be smaller but firm! Now, my jeans are so tight in my thighs that I really can’t wear them, even though I see fat loss around my belly and firmness everywhere. What is happening? Is this just not for me? Should I be doing pilates? Is my genetic makeup for getting muscular more easily? I want to give this a fair chance, but I’m so annoyed that my clothes aren’t fitting! It’s very inconvenient to say the least. Any thoughts?
Caroline, Sacramento, CA

You didnt give me the specifics of your routine, so without knowing what you are doing, I can only make general suggestions.

The first thing I would point to is that you aren’t doing enough cardio. I dont know if you are or aren’t, but you should be getting in at least 30 minutes 5 days a week (or an hour 3 days, etc- you can slice it up however you want.) Lifting weights is given too much credit in the calorie burning department, even though yes more muscle burns calories at rest, and you CAN get your heart rate up high enough during weight training that it can count as cardio, but you really have to work at it and basically never let your heart rate drop. You have to burn calories to drop weight (or prevent weight gain), and you have to do cardio in order to do that.

You also might be eating too much. If you have adjusted your intake because of your workouts, primarily to eat more calories, this can be the culprit (especially if not doing cardio.) Again, people overestimate calorie burn, and unless you are burning more than 500 calories a day, you usually don’t need to eat more (this is a general statement for the average exerciser- athletes are different.)

2 days week, 30 minutes of weights is not enough to be gaining enough muscle size. You can be gaining muscle, especially if you weren’t lifting weights prior, but you shouldnt be gaining size- you are gaining strength. If your rep range for your exercises is around 10-15, this is definately true. If you are lifting weights heavy enough that you can only do 6-8 reps, then lighten the weights. Some women are more easily able to get muscular than other women, its a hormone thing, but even for them, they have to be doing a lot more weight lifting than that- thats barely the recommended amount of strength training just to be healthy (medical and fitness professionals recommend 2-3 days of strength training per week.)

Be honest with your trainer- thats what they are there for, and that’s why you are paying them. Tell them you are uncomfortable, and you want answers. Ask why you are doing everything you are doing- and tell them the results you want. Something is missing- my guess is its cardio or food, but they may have you lifting too heavy of weights. Tell your trainer you want to switch it up, try more cardio based exercises (which you can still do while lifting weights- like doing circuits or cutting the weights down real low and doing plyometrics, or full body, fast paced movements with weights to get your heart rate up.) If you arent exercising beyond your two day a week sessions, you really need to be. Get in some cardio, try a pilates class, which developes muscles differently (longer and leaner) or find something else, but you really need to be working out 4-5 days a week.

I know thats a frustrating answer, but I dont know your workout routine- your trainer does. If you dont trust them, or if they cant answer your questions to your satisfaction, or you feel like they dont listen to you- you need to move on from them. Training isnt really a “Im the prfessional, do as I say” type relationship, its a “im here to help you, tell me what you want, Ill do my best to get you there, but we are probably going to have to make some changes along the way.” They should be responsive to that, so if not, again, move on.

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Hi Kelly!

Melodie Scoggins

Of course with any injury, I would go to the doctor to get it checked out. Doctor before chiropractor, always! If he sends you to one, cool, but since its your tailbone, not the muscles in your back, it sounds more like a bone issue. You want to make sure you don’t have any stress fractures or anything.

Tailbone pain is common in biking since, obviously you are sitting on it for extended periods of time, but when running and kicking as in Tae Bo, it could be one of two things: the impact of the exercise, or the way you are doing the exercise.

I get the same kind of pain, and it worsens when I use the treadmill, especially at an incline. I talked to a friend who runs, and she said watched me as i walked, and said I “swish my hips” too much, which creates a lot of torque and messes with my hips and lower back. Now I am super conscious of it, and try and keep my hips square at all times.

I would go to the doctor to make sure there is nothing seriously wrong. He can give you a better idea of what it is and what you can do to help alleviate it. Some docs dont know much about gait, so if thats the feeling you get, I would see a sports specialist, or if you are cheap like me, go to a athletic store where they do shoe fittings. They will check your gait and make suggestions, like inserts. Whether you buy anything is up to you, so if you dont mind angry sales people, you can bounce afterwards with just a “thanks.” And, as always, make sure you are doing plenty of core work, planks and the like, to strengthen your back and supporting muscles.

If you have a fitness question you would like me to answer, please email at kelly@everygymsnightmare.com

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People often never know when to workout or when to not workout when sick. Here are some easy guidelines to follow:

If you haver a slight cold: Tone down the intensity. If you have a lower energy level, and feel like you are dragging, listento your body and pull back a bit. Your body needs all the energy it can get to fight the big, so don’t make it expell most of it’s energy at the gym.

If you are achey and congested: skip it. You are full blown sick and your body needs all the energy it can to heal. Working out can extend your amount of sick time.

If you have a fever: this one’s obvious, but keep your freakin’ fever germs to yourself *ahem, clients*

Cramps: working out is a must! It might be the last thing you want to do, but working out gets the blood pumping which speeds up the crampy process and aleviates pain.

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

I have been jogging as a form of exercise for at least 5 years now.. but lately my hip flexors have been bothering me. if i do a semi longer run, or just kind of randomly they will start aching. im not sure if this just means i need to rest them, or if there is some sort of stretch or strength training move i should do to help make them stronger? any ideas? Alessa

Your hip flexors run from about the bottom of your abs to the top of your quads on each leg. When they contract, you flex at the hip.

Runners and desk jockies are notorious for having tight hip flexors- the more you have your hip flexors contracted, the tighter they become. Sitting at a desk all day keeps yours hip flexors in a constant shortened state, and runners flex their hip flexors with each stride thet take, but rarely stretch them to even out the balance.

You probably just need to stretch them. If they continue to hurt, or if the pain is bad enough it keeps you from moving properly, you may need to get them checked out by a doctor.

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

Hi Kelly,

Thanks,
Tara

I get questions about how to do cardio without being able to use your legs a lot. Broken toe, strained knees, pulled muscles, surgeries: tons of things can keep you from using your legs, which is a scary thing when you are so used to your cardio, or trying to lose weight.

The bigger the muscles you use, the your more heart rate is going to rise. Since your legs contain the biggest muscles (quads, hamstrings, glutes) running, walking, biking and ellipticalling are usually the cardio of choice.

When you can’t use your legs, there are still some options to get your heart rate up.

Swimming is always easiest, but still requires your legs, so this works for some people, but not all, (like Tara.) Another drawback is you don’t always have access to a pool.

There is one machine that is awesome to get your heart rate up and only uses your arms. They go by different names: crank bike, arm bike, Upper Body Ergometer, but they are like exercise bikes for your arms.

This one is the Sci-Fit Pro1 Sport from PerformBetter.com.

These used to just be in rehab centers, but you’ll find them more and more in regular gyms. When I went to 24 Hour Fitness, they had only one, and there was woman that used it all the time because she had a pretty severe limp.

Even if you can use your feet, you can get a great workout from this bike. Even though your arms contain smaller muscles than your legs, your arms are closer to your heart, causing your heart rate to rise to levels equivelent to that of regular cardio machines.

If you don’t have access to these, obviously Im not going to tell you to go by one. There are other great ways to get footless-cardio workouts in.

Boxing with a heavy bag, or just punching air, is a great way to get the heart rate up. You can do this standing or sitting in a chair depending on your injury. Rowing machines and ellipticals are low impact, but these aren’t advised for everyone, so ask your doctor if they are ok.

Strength training can also really get the heart rate up, if you use lower weights and high reps, and don’t rest for too long in between. If you can’t stand, you can perform all of your exercises sitting on a stability ball to take the pressure off of your lower body and to engage your core a bit while doing upper body exercises.

A lot of people think when they are hurt they have to cut back on their calories. Depending on your activity level, this isnt always the case. Daily runners may find it difficult to get the same calorie burning effects without it, but remember that your body is trying to heal and needs all the help you can get. Also, your metabolism isnt going to drop over night if you have to take a week or two off. You will probably find you are just as hungry, if not more, because your metabolism is still running as if you are still running.

For the average exerciser, it may be more neccessary to reduce your calories, but not by much. Use the Harris-Benedict formula to figure out how many calories you need based on your new activity level.

The best option, of course, is to just find different ways to train just as hard. You may find you actually lose weight because of your switch in activity. Changing your routine to something you never have done before is along the same lines as cross training which is one of the best ways to jump start your results and break through plateaus.

Just make sure the intensity level is the same. This is one situation you may want to use a heart rate monitor.

REMEMBER: injuries never mean you need to stop training, unless advised to. I get clients that come in a ll time upset because they are hurt and think they have to stall their results, but the truth is, with any situation, there are always ways to train around it.

But again, check with your doctor to make sure what you are planning to do is ok for your situation. Aggrevating your injury can lay you up for even longer.

Good luck!

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

I have been weight training for a year now. I love it! I currently go to a personal trainer one day a week and do weight training on my own two additional days a week (kettlebells, dumbells, smith machine etc.). I usually weight train 30-45 minutes a session and also do 45 minutes of cardio three addtional days during the week.

I sometimes worry that I am tiring myself out and not getting enough rest and recovery. I have considered taking something for muscle recovery. What do you think? I currently take no supplements (other than a multi-vitamin and Calcium pill). I use to drink whey protein, but got tired of being a slave to it and really just want to eat real food. I also fear adding the additonal calories into my day. I eat a real meal within a hour of lifting. I have considered L Glutamine - any thoughts on that? I just don’t want to waste my time or money on these supplements if I am going to reap very little results. I just want to get the most of the time I spend working out. Beth

Those who have been reading for a while, know my view on supplements- why take them when you can get what you need, plus so much more from whole, healthy foods?

In all honesty, you are not working out enough to need artificial help from supplements. Strength training 3 times a week is what is recommened, for everyone, from 18 to 108 year olds.

If you feel like you aren’t getting enough rest or recovery- rest more. Take a day off. If you honestly feel tired and run down, just don’t workout that day. You aren’t working out a ridiculous amount, so your situation doesn’t really scream “over use injury” to me, but you know your body more than anyone else, so if you honestly feel you are training too much, cut back. But if the reason you feel you aren’t getting enough rest or recovery is because you aren’t seeing the results you want, I would look more to what you are doing, as opposed to how much you are doing.

You don’t need supplements. Your muscles know how to heal themselves, especially when you are getting a rest day in between, which you are. Those kinds of supplements are for professional athletes, bodybuilders and weight lifters who can’t take a day off of training.

A lot of people over estimate how much they workout. Your workout seems to be average in terms of frequency and intensity. Listen to your body if you are starting to burn out, but don’t pump it full supplements and expect it to help. Your body is a smart cookie and is perfectly capable of healing itself on your off days without any extra, expensive help.

If you have a question you would like me to answer, emai lme at kelly@everygymsnightmare.com

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

So I’ve been telling you guys I had a suprise, but I think its more exciting for me than its going to be for anyone else.

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that my boyfriend hasn’t worked out a day that I’ve known him. Up until a little over a month ago, he was a smoker (I think he passed a month last week- go Jerome!) Anyway, in addition to his newly healthy non- smoking attitude, I have convinced him to let me train him.

GASP! I know. My boyfriend. In a gym. With me. I think I might have a heart attack.

For the record, I think my boyfriend looks awesome, wouldn’t change him for the world. We’ve obviously gotten along well enough so far- so our difference in lifestyle’s isn’t an issue with me. BUT, that being said, of course I would love to share my love of fitness with him, and if it turns into something we can do together, I will be the happiest woman alive. I love fitness, I love him- why not combine the two?

So last night, we did a mini assessment.

I asked him: On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest, how do you rate…

Your commitment level? 7.5

Your motivation level? 3

Your stress level? 6

The quality of your sleep? 5

Then I asked him his 3 main goals, in order of importance to him. He replied:

1. Breathe better (from smoking)
2. Gain Physical Strength
3. Increase Flexibility

Look at that- I didn’t even have to prod him, and picked goals in all areas of fitness: cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength and flexibility. Smart boy.

Then we took his measurements:

Push-up Test (Full push ups in 1 minute): 41

Crunch test (crunches in 1 minute): 48

Sit and Reach Flexibility Test: 8 inches

So what’s the plan?

Based on his goals, the main thing that we need to do is hit the weights hard. For him to breathe better we need to focus a bit on cardio- but since he’s no longer smoking, and due to his previously mentioned hatred for cardio, it doesn’t need to be a major focus. Stretching after our warm ups and at the end of the workouts will be sufficient enough to increase his flexibility.

Since his motivation level is low, it tells me that if I try and make him workout on days he has something else to do, or (since we will be at my gym and he lives pretty far away) if I try and make him make an extra trip out to see me every week, its not going to work and he’s going to get fed up- I have to make it fit into the schedule he already has.

So- we always see eachother on Mondays (cause it’s Heroes night) so Monday is a mandatory gym day. On Wednesdays i wrote him a super simple at home workout he can do with no equipment and very little time to ease him back into it.

Once we get further along and I can teach him some new exercises, I’ll make it more exciting. Then, one day each weekend we will workout together- at the gym if scheduling permits, or do something else. Its up in the air, but just as long as we get it in.

I wrote these down and had him sign, promising to stick to the workout plan.

In 8 weeks, I will reassess him and see how he improves. Since he has very little body fat, and weight loss isn’t a concern, I have zero doubt that we will see improvements IF he does what he needs to do.

He seems pretty into this though, and I know that when he puts his mind to something he gets it done. And he’s also a good sport, letting me turn it into blog fodder.

I’ll keep you guys updated on his progress and workouts weekly, and let you know how he’s doing!

I just hope he starts to love it and it turns into something he keeps up forever.

But first we’ll have to make it through these 8 weeks.

Every Gym’s Nightmare, fitness, health, yoga, pilates, strength training, personal trainer, cardiovascular, cardio, exercise, wellness, weight loss, blog, blogging, fitness blog, weightloss blog,

I won a giveaway!

I know, right?!

Mara from What’s For Dinner? sent me this beautiful scarf that she MADE with her own to hands.

When rolled up, its an arodable little roll of sushi….

But worn, it’s amazing and cuddly!

Thanks, Mara!

Today is the first day in ages that I don’t have to go back to work tonight to cover doubles, so Im taking full advantage to get some major cleaning done.

I have a one bedroom apartment- but I don’t use the bedroom. Rather, its completely full of clothes and boxes and old furniture. I figure its about time I get organized and make the most of my space, so today will be devoted to laundry and throwing out crap.

While i do this, I will be using one of my favorite ways to multitask: The List.

On my list this time?

It seems like a lot but I’m going to be cleaning ALL DAY. I also have my alarm set to go off every 2 hours to walk the dog around the block. Helps keep him calm (he freaks out when i start cleaning- I think he thinks Im packing to leave or something) and it’ll give me a nice break to keep me motivated.

Oh- and I have a suprise for tomorrow. I think I’m more excited about it than any of you will be, but humor me. Preparations for that are tonight, as well!

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So I was all ready to show you guys the pictures of Valentine’s Day weekend, but none of them turned out. Im not exactly sure what happened, but rest assured, we had a great time.

In my quest to ramp up my workouts, I’ve decided to increase the frequency as well, getting back to do something everyday.

Im a HUGE fan of lists. My planner is just daily to-do lists, I have goal lists, errand lists, grocery lists- I have a horrible memory and its the only way I can make sure everything gets done. Something I tell my clients to do is make a big list of all the possible things you can do to fit in some exercise, listing out your workout DVD’s, gym time, things you can do at home, etc. When you have more of a variety, or are short on time, its easy to just check your list and pick something that fits with your day.

A lot of times, someone will say “I dont have time to go to the gym” and skip their workout completely (myself included.) Having a list of things that involve different amounts of time, different equipment, different types of weather, etc takes that excuse away.

I keep this list of the fridge for easy access. Today, I came home from work around 12:00 noon, and have to be back at 5:00pm. I have ANOTHER list of errands I have to do today, like the dishes, walk the dog to the bank, computer stuff, and so on, and I decided to do a few miles on my treadmill at home.

Off to eat some lunch and then head back to work- bleh. more later!

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