Fat Loss Lie #8: "It takes just minutes a day"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"2 MINUTE ABS"
"A FEW MINUTES IN THE MORNING!"
"THE ONE WORKOUT A WEEK FITNESS REVOLUTION!"
"CHANGE YOUR BODY IN 30 MINUTES A WEEK"
As if all the rapid weight loss claims weren't enough, the latest bombardment of advertising hype says that you're spending too much time in the gym and that if you follow their "secret" training program, you can get in tip top shape in just "minutes a day."
What do I think about that? well, you definitely don't have to "live in the gym" or train for hours every day to get great results. And you should always, of course, look for ways get the most benefit from every minute you spend in the gym. That's called "time efficiency," and that is a good thing.
But you should be very cautious of the claims about getting more results in less time. You really CAN get more results in less time with higher intensity workouts, but "higher intensity" translated, means "hard work." If it sounds too good to be true... well, you know the rest...
It's an error in thinking that you can bypass the law of cause and effect and it's a flaw in character to expect better results without putting in the necessary time and hard work(refer back to "The quick and easy lie.").
There's a fine line between training enough to stimulate growth and overtraining. We are warned continually not to overtrain or we'll "hold back our strength and muscle gains." We are also cautioned not to do too much aerobics or we'll "lose the muscle" we already have.
It's true that many people are overtraining. But just as there's fine a line between optimal training and overtraining, there's also a fine line between optimal training and undertraining.
The minimalist "less is more" approach is highly appealing because it represents the ultimate "lazy man (or woman's)" approach. And most of all, it SELLS!
The promoters are basically saying, "Hey, you're spending too much time in the gym and it's holding back your gains. Buy my secret miracle training program from Bulgaria, and you only have to train once or twice a week for a few minutes and you'll double your results."
Briefer and less frequent workouts are only good to the extent to which they prevent you from overtraining and they optimize hormonal response to training. Minimalism as a marketing appeal is a completely different story. Make sure you recognize the difference between the two.
I thought the "just minutes in the morning" idea was ridiculous (but brilliant from a marketing perspective), now someone just wrote a book called 2-minute abs. What's next? 30-second abs? Massive muscles in five minutes? The one rep muscle revolution?
Your body is begging for exercise - it's an amazing machine that was designed to be used often and vigorously. In fact, your body is the only machine that wears out faster when you don't use it!
Training for basic health benefits and training for maximum fat loss and muscle growth may not be the same thing. To get maximum changes in body composition, you need a much higher frequency, duration and intensity.
You can get health benefits from very small amounts of exercise. Even walking to work or class, or raking the leaves in your yard can have health benefits. But you get even greater health benefits from larger amounts of exercise.
You can get a training effect (muscle growth and strength increase) in as few as two or three thirty-minute workouts per week, especially if you use highly time efficient training methods such as high intensity interval training for cardio and supersets, circuits and short rest intervals for strength training.
However, you cannot expect to become super lean and highly muscular without putting in the time and effort.
Here's what it all boils down to: You reap what you sow... The rewards you take out will always come in direct proportion to the work you put in. The best bodies - with the best body composition and fat-to-muscle ratios - are built with high levels of physical activity. There's simply no quick fix.
