Working Out and Going Out

 

Going out at night is counter-intuitive for people who are trying to improve their fitness. Yes, you need fun, but it cuts into sleep time, gives you more hours to eat, (and eat late), and more likely than not, at least for the people who I know, the opportunity to slam the body with hundreds and hundreds of empty calories. Obviously, there is something to be said about balancing work and play, but still, these are some pretty clear impediments for those of us trying to achieve our next level of fitness.

Unfortunately, or however you may want to look at it, working out makes me want to go out.

Last night, I had a great workout. Killed my legs with some squats, and also hit some serious biceps/triceps. I ended with some abs, and then interval training on the Step Master Stair Mill thing (the rotating set of stairs). That interval training is pretty sick and is my favorite cardio thing to do right now because it kicks my ass the most, in so much less time. Of course, I probably look pretty foolish as I run up the Step Mill at full speed to spike my heart rate and then practically crawl to bring it back down, but whatever.

After hitting it hard for a few hours, I showered, and headed home. All I could think about doing on my way home on this Monday evening was to go out. I didn’t have any plans, and for crying out loud, it was Monday night! Going out to party on a Monday night is not exactly the most ideal way I can think of to kick off the work week. Yeah, it would be fun, but my mind/body would pay dearly until the weekend (tough during the weekend, my mind body would be paying anyway).

The endorphins that are released from working out just make me feel so good, that I want to go out and be with people and have fun. It really is like a drug, and is one of the reasons why I enjoy working out (like most of you as well, I am sure); working out is certainly not a chore for people like us.

Working out just makes you feel so good; aside from the endorphins, you know that you are doing something to improve yourself, which gives you confidence. It is no wonder that on any given Friday or Saturday late evening, you may find your gym packed. All the “body nazis” are there before they hit the bars and clubs. I would wager, more likely than not, the people who work out those nights before going out end up having a great night and probably have better overall “hit” results

Unfortunately for me, going out every night after I work out is not something is going to happen, ever (though I always wish I could!!). But, I will still work out to feel good, and hopefully, reap rewards of it on the weekends when I do go out.

fitness

Turn off your phone! (Group Fitness)

A few weeks ago, I was in a spin class, and this girl’s phone went off. Loudly enough for the normally Barbie-esque spin instructor to hear, and scream, “Turn your phone off!” I was pretty surprised by how venomous the reaction was, because the music in the class was already so loud, what was a little bit more noise? Of course, I hadn’t heard the phone go off since I was across the room. Still, I thought that spin instructor was kind of a b*tch for reacting like that.

Yesterday, I was in class, with a different instructor, on a bike next to a different girl who positioned her phone at the front of her bike. Sure enough, I saw the phone light up, and the girl jumped off of her bike and ran out. Two seconds later, she ran back in. Guess it wasn’t the phone call she was expecting. A few minutes later, the same thing, the phone lights up, she hops off of her bike, and runs out of the room. Of course, she comes back.

I shouldn’t really have even thought about it, but I was curious. I wondered, who was calling her and that it must be an important call. Then, I realized, I was just sitting there paying attention to what was going on next to me, and not what we were doing in class.

As I have mentioned before, in my “Is it rude?” posting, that of course, there are times when you are at the gym and you need to have your phone with you in case of emergency, work or otherwise. But if you are running in and out of class to take calls, you probably shouldn’t be in class in the first place.

I know, I shouldn’t let something external distract me like that; probably my fault. But still, focus is important in anything you do, even when you are working out, and fellow members should be considerate enough to have some standards of respect for each other, and that includes not bringing phones out on to the floor or into class.

That said, I have resisted the temptation to bring my phone out on the floor with me to text message as I had previously considered in my posting on “That Guy,” since I had just begun taking long breaks between sets. Also, I no longer think that the Barbie-esque spin instructor was out of line for screaming at the lady who had left her phone on loudly enough to be heard in class.

Work Out is back!

I must admit, that I watched Season 1 of “Work Out” on Bravo last fall. I am always a little embarrassed to admit it, but it turns out that most people I know, especially ones into fitness, also watched it.

What exactly is the show about? It is about Jackie Warner, the owner of Sky Sport and Spa in LA, and her travails in building her brand and gym, which seems to focus on one-on-one personal training. When I first heard about the show, I (naively) thought, oh sweet, I’ll probably see a reality show that really cuts into some serious fitness and personal training issues. Boy, was I wrong. The only thing that really stuck that I had never consciously thought about before was that one should never go grocery shopping when hungry.

Did I pick up any other workout related tips/ideas? Not really. Some of the episodes contained some emotional tales of weight loss from regular people (who I am surprised would be able to even afford personal training sessions at an upscale one-on-one personal training facility), and even some celebrities, like Jodie Watley.

Another theme involved the interactions between the Jackie and her trainers, and especially whether or not they were good enough to work for her. I do remember Jackie coming out on the floor to correct a trainer in the middle of a session with a client. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I remember thinking something like, wow, 1) your “elite” trainers do not know how to show a client how to do a simple tricep pushdown?! And 2) you would actually go and point this out in front of someone who is probably paying a buttload a session.

Even though the show was soft on fitness, it certainly was heavy on drama. What ended up being the most entertaining part of the show was Jackie’s relationship with her girlfriend, Mimi. This is probably the thing that kept people coming back to watch; there was always the potential for some hot lesbian action, and always the certainty of glass shattering catfights!

According to the previews for Season 2, which is set to launch in March, Jackie and Mimi appear to be trying to work things out, and Jackie goes out and hires a new trainer, and trainers Rebecca and Peeler are still rebelling against Jackie’s law. Do I hope that they will delve deeper into the fitness aspect of the show? Undoubtedly. Do I think they will? Of course not, but hey, I’ll be watching.

Getting to the gym – There is no option

 

I’ve written in detail before about how motivated I am about working out (see my “Discipline” post), whether it is going to the gym or running/cycling/swimming. When I had a traditional work schedule, I would go in the early morning, and, when I say early, I mean early because I worked Latin America market hours. (Thank god I belong to a gym that is open 24 hours a day) I would put in a 10-12 hour workday, and hit the gym again or go running outside. No sweat.

Now, I have more flexibility in the day, and choose to go work out for a few hours at one shot, partially because NYC is so damned cold these days.

Like clockwork, I usually get to the gym around 4 or 5, and stay there until about 7 or 8 every day. Yesterday, though, I had a momentary lapse, and really had to struggle to get there. That lapse really led me to question myself as to why I needed to go. I mean, I am in pretty good shape, what would one day matter? I was tired and I hadn’t had a great day, and I was just thinking about how easy it would be to just throw in the towel and stay in my warm apartment. Fortunately, I convinced myself that I had no option in the matter.

Physically speaking, if anything, maybe my body might have liked the rest. But, mentally, doing nothing would have just triggered more future excuses to sit on my butt when I really should be running or lifting or whatever. Momentum is very important for me.

Lots of people ask me for advice on how to stay motivated. Really, it is just something you have to tell yourself that you have to do. Don’t make excuses, and do think of it as something your body absolutely needs, just like eating or drinking or sleeping. It is one of those things in life where there is no optionality. Obviously, goal setting is an important factor in this. Right now, my goal has been to slap on a few more pounds of muscle and keep getting stronger. I have almost reached this, and pretty soon, I hope to get into a leaning down phase that will merit a lot of cardio. Hopefully the weather will help me out in this department.

Sex and Working Out

We all know that working out helps your sex life. You look better, feel better, and you have more stamina and strength to do, shall we say, more interesting things.

But, does more sex hinder your physical prowess? Mike Tyson was 37-0 when he lost to “Buster” Douglas in 1990, which was considered a pretty major upset at the time. I remember hearing that one of the possible reasons for the upset was that he indulged in a little nookie just before the fight, sapping him of his energy and aggression.

A long standing belief in sports has been that athletes should abstain from any type of sexual activity to keep themselves primed, aggressive, and ready to tear someone’s head off (I know I am ready to do this if it has been a while). However, is this physical or mental? By abstaining from sex, am I really going to have some great workouts and see the physical improvements I desire? Obviously, I would never even think of doing that, but I am curious.

In sports, lots of coaches do not even necessarily believe that it is the lack of energy or release from sex that reduces testosterone levels, which increases aggression, but rather, that the time thinking about it and trying to get it causes lack of sleep, which ultimately leads to poorer performance.

In fact, not having sex for a long enough time probably reduces testosterone, which would make for a pretty good reason to go out and get laid before a competition, or even a workout. Besides, ever notice that whenever you are getting it, you want it more and more (even if you are not getting it, you want it, but it is a little bit different).

So, anything that naturally leads to increased testosterone levels must be good for working out. If I get some before I hit the gym, are my workouts going to result in T’rone filled, head ripping lifting sessions, or will I just have no energy? Not being a scientist, I can’t say for sure, but I will definitely be experimenting. Also, if I get all turned on, that has got to be beneficial for my workouts and a pretty good reason to keep surfing internet porn!

Fat Trainer

A friend sent me this article on “fat” trainers awhile ago. If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, let me summarize.

The gist of the article is that there are more and more “fatter” fitness instructors and trainers at gyms these days. Gyms are more open to hiring them, and people are more open to working out with them.

Well, not necessarily everyone. As my MySpace buddy, Scott White, points out in the article, “It’s a disgrace. It’s like going to a mechanic who has a broken-down car or a financial advisor who’s poor.” That sounds kind of harsh, but it is still a fair assessment.

If I were to go to my gym today, to hire a trainer, I would want him to be in better shape than I am. If he looks out of shape, then his workouts could be crap and he might not know his stuff. Granted, this trainer could be extremely knowledgeable, and just not practice what he preaches. But, I wouldn’t want to take that risk. From a trainer’s perspective, he should want to look like he is in great shape to attract clients. I guarantee that if a fit trainer and a fat trainer were both working the floor for clients, the fit trainer would get more business.

The article cites that many people, though, prefer instructors who do not look like they are in great shape because it is “less intimidating.” Okay, I would say that, at the very least, I am above average in the fit department, so I can’t relate to the intimidation problem. Even if I were grossly overweight, and I took a class with very fit instructor, I couldn’t imagine that I would feel intimidated. In fact, I would probably be more motivated to go to classes with that instructor in hopes of achieving their level of fitness. And, frankly, when I do go to a spin class that is being taught by some master cyclist in incredible shape, I feel that I get a much better workout than some run of the mill overweight instructor.

Since the start of 2007, I have had three friends ask me to help “train” them. Now, I am not a certified personal trainer, but my friends have asked me to help because they know how motivated I am when it comes to working out. However, along with the motivational aspect, they have seen my results from my own fitness regimen. If I were overweight or out of shape, in spite of all my training, I highly doubt they would have asked me to help them.

Sometimes, I wonder how trainers and instructors at gyms could possibly look the way they do. Especially in the case of fitness instructors, who, normally, are not only leading the class but also participating. Imagine teaching 5 spin classes and 5 sculpt classes, on top of doing your own workouts, and still not being in great shape. To me, that probably means you are doing something wrong, such as eating too much of the wrong foods. It could also be the result of some medical condition, but you really don’t get to know that during a first impression. All you know off the bat is how they look.

I definitely do not support discriminating against people who look out of shape. If they know their stuff, they should be hired, especially if they have/can get clients or students. However, some of the best marketing for a trainer or instructor is his or her physical appearance, so it is sort of mind-boggling that they wouldn’t already be (or at least strive to be) in great shape. While the NYT article had cited that the notion of “heavier” trainers is more common, at least from what I have seen, it is a very tiny portion of the fitness industry who fall into this category.

Get ripped in only 10 minutes! (No thanks…)

I was chatting online with a good friend of mine from Greece last week, and he was telling me about how he had started using this contraption called the “Powerplate,” that runs anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000, depending on the model. Now, he told me that all he had to do was use the device for 10 minutes a day, every 3 days. He tells me that the workouts make him sore and he has started noticing changes in his appearance. My friend, who I will refer to as Salonica, served in the Greek military, and had always kept up swimming since I first met him. So, he was by no means starting from a low base of fitness.

I am, of course, very skeptical of this thing. I do see some merits in a machine like this, however. I do certain exercises on a swiss ball where I try to get up on my haunches and balance on the ball, and eventually stand straight up, the whole time keeping my body stabilized and moving contrary to the direction the ball starts moving. However, anything that sells itself as a 10 minute workout and nothing more belongs in the garbage, in my opinion. It kind of reminds me of that Christie Brinkley/Chuck Norris infomercial for the “Total Gym,” for no other reason than they say that the “Total Gym” is for people who do not like to go to the gym or workout. Not for me, no thanks.

If there were a magical pill that I could take that would suddenly leave me in incredible shape, I would still put in the time and effort to get into that much better shape. Sure, one of the reasons why I lift or run or swim is because I want to look good, but that is only a small part of it. I enjoy the challenge, I enjoy setting goals, and I enjoy working my tail off to reach those goals. There is a large amount of satisfaction that I derive from doing this, and I would imagine, most other Fit Fiends are the same way.

Still, I understand that people have different goals, and many people also do not have the time or desire put in an effort of more than 10 minutes a few days of the week. Also, I am curious if my friend, Salonica, really gets much of a cardiovascular workout using that machine. Maybe he doesn’t want or need one. Again, that speaks to his personal objectives.

Call me an old fuddy duddy, or whatever you want when it comes to sweating out a good workout, but I still subscribe to the “no pain, no gain” school of training.

Cardio, before or after?

The answer to this is pretty straightforward, and anyone who is not a novice to hitting the gym and exercising knows that if you are strength training, you should always do cardio after. This is intuitive, considering that when you are trying to get stronger, you need the energy to push your muscles harder. If you run 5 miles, then try to lift, you will not see the power gains you hope for.

However, all you need to do is a little digging on fitness websites or in the MySpace fitness groups to find there are many people who pose the question, “should I do cardio before or after I strength train?” If it is so obvious to the people who have been doing this for years, then you must wonder why novices might be so clueless. Well, it is not completely their fault.

For one thing, not all weight training is the same. Some people lift to get bigger, some to get stronger, and some people weight training may actually be trying to get leaner. One of the things that I have heard people (trainers included) say, is that intense cardio before gets your heart rate up such that when you lift, your body is in more of a fat burning mode. This does make sense if you wish to get leaner/your objective is to burn calories. Of course, if you have been strength training or bulking up, you are probably burning more calories by default because of the added muscle. Still, many people, train to get leaner/lose weight, so intense cardio before might not be such a terrible idea. When I am trying to get leaner, though, I still will lift before my cardio; I just do much more cardio than I normally would, and lift lighter/more reps.

Less experienced exercise freaks, though, may not even identify this type of goal when they workout; they just want to get “in shape.” The masses generally believe that cardio before is the way to go, and as such, they do this first. I think one of the reasons for this fallacy is because of the “warming up” aspect. I never think of a warm up as the same as cardio. The purpose of the warm up is to get the blood flowing and your body stretched and ready to really pump it, but not for much more. On one MySpace post I read, a person decided to include her warm up as part of her cardio, though the majority of her cardio was going to be completed after her strength training.

What works best for me is to split my workout times, once for strength training, and once for cardio. This is great if I can train twice a day, once in the morning, once in the evening. Unfortunately, I don’t always get this chance, so when I do workout once, I do a slight warm up, then lift, then kick my ass with some intense cardio. Normally, I have so much energy after the cardio that I can do more abs or whatever else I feel like. But, this only works if I have done my main strength training first.

In any event, energy is the most important factor in improving at the gym, and doing cardio before saps you of it. I would suggest to anyone who asks this question to first evaluate what their true objective is, other than merely “getting in shape.” I would be very hard pressed to suggest doing any real cardio before serious strength training.