I think it is safe to say that the vast majority of people consider the following statement to be true:
“I don’t eat badly, I’m overweight because I’m lazy and I don’t exercise”
No, I’m afraid not.
Nobody ever gained fat because of lack of exercise. They got fatter because they ate too much.
Or they ate the wrong foods or a little from column A and a little from column B.
Simple as that.
I know that sounds a little stupid for a trainer to say this, but it’s true. If somebody just wants to lose weight, their diet will do most of the work but don’t get me wrong, training still has its place. Let me explain before I get 50 emails from personal trainers telling me I’m an asshole.
Exercise will speed up the fat loss process slightly but the real benefit of exercise is that it makes you look and feel better, not just weigh less on the scales, which is what we all want, right?
The number on the scales means nothing really. Nobody is going to be looking at you across the bar saying: “I wonder what that person weighs”.
Exercise helps you for a number of reasons, i.e. It can help you build muscle. Muscle… it’s very presence burns fat and makes you look better. Yes, even women should seek to build muscle. I know this point is being emphasised all over facebook and in every email you get from online fitness gurus, but I need to reiterate it here because some people (women and men alike) still think you are just going to get huge by lifting some weights.
Like it’s going to happen by accident and wake up one morning an absolute monster. It doesn’t work like that. Trust me.
Lifting weights and doing bodyweight exercises, combined with a strict diet and some conditioning work, is the most time efficient way to lose fat and sculpt a lean body.
Exercise is also great because it keeps people on track. If somebody is exercising, they tend to stick to their nutrition plan more rigidly too. Happy days.
Eat clean, lift weights, do bodyweight exercises and do some conditioning work in that order and you will look great in no time, not just weigh less and look pretty much the same.
Bryan Kavanagh BSc CSCS
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