Stop working out so much!!

Yup, that's right. A personal trainer and workout fanatic is telling you to workout LESS. If you read my previous post on How to be fit , you might understand where I'm going with this post. The point of working out is to improve your quality of life, not to make you feel run down and sore all the time. Now, this advice is geared towards those of you who find yourselves spending upwards of 6 hours in the gym per week. If you're absolutely in love with lifting weights and/or performing cardio, that's great--I'm right there with you. The problem is when you workout either too intensely or too frequently, or a hybrid of the two.

But Liz, working out is good for you. Lifting weights builds muscle, and doing cardio burns calories and improves your heart health! Stop telling me to get out of the gym!

My friend--you are correct, and I am not going to tell you to limit your workouts, or to train like a little lazy bish. What I am going to advise you to do is think about the quality and overall intent behind your workout frequency. Are you really making the best use of your 2 hour gym sessions, or are you mindlessly moving from machine to machine because you are trying to do everything in your power to change your body? Do you have any sort of plan or routine to follow in the gym? If you don't have the right intentions, and are not in the gym with the primary goal of improving your quality of life, there is no need to spend more time spinning your wheels. If in fact you DO have a set routine that you follow in the gym, and still find yourself spending upwards of 1 hour in there daily--are you putting forth enough effort into each task? When you perform your weight training, are you lifting heavy enough to produce results? Are you training with too much volume, and dealing with major soreness for days following each workout? I'm going to address cardio and training separately, and conclude with my advice for the people who perform a high volume of both weight training AND cardio on a regular basis.

First, let me talk to my cardio bunnies. There is nothing wrong with loving cardio. There is nothing wrong with doing some cardio on a daily basis. The problem arises when "cardio bunny syndrome" takes over you, and you feel incomplete without a day of your 700 calorie burn on your favorite elliptical, treadmill, stairmaster, et cetera. During my 8+ years of working in gyms, along with my own phases of fitness addiction, I've seen countless cases of this syndrome. This person comes to the gym, (usually at the same time every single day like clockwork) sets up shop on his or her favorite machine, and goes for a long cardio session--sometimes lasting upwards of an hour. The machine displays a calorie burn of 600+ calories, and provides some sort of compensatory satisfaction. I am NOT saying that every person who enjoys an hour of cardio is compensating for eating some cookies at lunch, or having 3 glasses of wine the previous night. However, the correlation between cardio and calorie burn yields a pretty convincing motive. Studies have shown that excessive cardio can lead to elevated cortisol and hormonal adaptations that actually have negative impact on overall body composition, and potentially promote fat storage.

Now, let me talk to my meathead friends--those peeps like me who like to lift weights on a regular basis. Make NO mistake, lifting weights and performing cardio on a regular basis is beneficial when it comes to improving your physique and maintaining good overall health. However, a lot of us get bit by the training bug, because it's FUN. When it comes to training with weights, more isn't better. BETTER is better. When we train with relatively heavy loads, (let's focus on the 6-15 rep range typically associated with building muscle aka "hypertrophy") we create micro trauma and localized breakdown within the muscle. Once the "breakdown" occurs, the muscle cells and tissues "repair" with nutrients and rest. THIS cyclical process of breakdown and repair is what yields muscle growth in the long term. When we perform A LOT of training volume, and spend A LOT of time and energy lifting weights, it's important to prioritize both nutrition and recovery in order to allow for the muscle tissue to REPAIR, and GROW as a result.

Now that I've addressed both the cardio and the weights lovers, what do these groups share in common? On the plus side, all of these peeps are committed to a fitness routine...which is a major benefit for overall health and longevity. While it might not be the ideal routine, all of these peeps DO HAVE a routine, which is extremely important when it comes to setting and reaching goals. Now, when it comes to PROGRESSING and reaching goals that you have set for yourself, there should be a method of sustainable progression. If you are constantly going balls to the walls, there is never room to do more. If you are constantly doing the same thing, your body adapts; you become one of those people who just spins his/her wheels. On the flip side, if you are always doing different crazy shit every time you're in the gym, there's no way to pinpoint what does or does not yield favorable results. Every minute you spend in the gym should be intentional. Whether the intent is to perform a low intensity cardio session to relax your mind, or max out on deadlifts to set a new PR before your next training phase--there should always be intent.

When you repeatedly go into the gym on auto-pilot, you can't expect to reach the goals you have in mind. Without some sort of concrete plan to execute, these "goals" you have are simply fantasies. Spending more time, expending more energy, burning more calories...these are usually NOT going to bring you closer to your goals. Tiring yourself out and aiming to be as sore as possible WILL hinder your following workouts. It WILL make you hungrier and more likely to overeat. It WILL mess with your energy levels, possibly causing excess caffeine consumption, trouble sleeping, etc.

My advice for everyone with the tendency to do "too much":

1. Write down your goals

2. Commit to 4-5 days in the gym per week. If you seek a 6th or 7th day, ask yourself WHY?

3. Commit to SOME form of structure to adhere to when in the gym.

4. Consider everything you're doing outside of that 1-2 hours in the gym each day. Nutrition, sleep, supplementation, down time, r&r.

5. HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE!! Don't allow yourself to spin your wheels. Keep a training journal or spreadsheet. Track your progress inside and outside of the gym. Weigh yourself, take measurements, take progress photos every 2-4 weeks. Only change your protocol when progress stalls. This requires you to actually follow a plan LONG ENOUGH to evaluate whether or not your progress has slowed or stalled in the first place.

6. Always make sure you are working out in a way that makes your quality of life BETTER. If you are beating yourself into the ground and feel miserable, what fun is it to have a hotter body? The way you train and live your life should not be mutually exclusive of one another. Be realistic with your goals, your approach, and work hard when necessary.

7. Be kind to yourself, and be patient. Don't make decisions to change your plan based on emotion. Trust in your process and you will get there.

8. Always remember this--MORE ISN'T BETTER. BETTER IS BETTER!

Until next post,

Liz