Test Your Fitness Knowledge

by Jesse Cannone, CFT, CPRS, CSPN

As a certified personal fitness trainer I get tons of calls and emails from individuals who tell me that they’ve tried everything but they still can’t seem to see any results. They tell me, “I’ve been exercising for years” or “I read Muscle + Fitness Magazine all the time”. After digging a little deeper I find out that they don’t know nearly as much as they thought.

So I’d like to test your fitness knowledge… let’s see how much you know. Ready?

Question 1 – What nutritional breakdown is best for fat loss?

a. low carbs, high protein, and moderate fat

b. low fat, high carbs, and moderate protein

c. moderate protein, moderate fat, and moderate carbs

d. no carbs, low fat, high protein

Question 2 – Which exercise or activity is best for fat loss?

a. walking

b. aerobics/cardio

c. pilates

d. strength training

Question 3 – What type of workout should you do if your goal is muscle toning?

a. pilates

b. yoga

c. aerobics/cardio

d. strength training

Question 4 – Which foods should one avoid when trying to lose weight?

a. high fat foods

b. carbs

c. proteins

d. sugars

Question 5 – You shouldn’t eat after 7pm

a. true

b. false

Question 6 – If your goal is to build muscle, how often should you strength train?

a. 1-2 x per week

b. 3-4 x per week

c. 5-6 x per week

d. everyday

Test Your Fitness Knowledge – Part 2

by Jesse Cannone

So how do you think you did? Are you ready to see the answers? Good, here we go…

Question 1 – What nutritional breakdown is best for fat loss?

Answer: c – moderate protein, carbs, and fats

It’s funny how it used to be a low or not fat diet was the way to go and it just caused thousands and thousands of deaths and diseases due to nutritional deficiencies. Now it’s low carbs and high protein that’s the latest craze and it too is off the mark. High protein and low carb diets don’t make sense because the brain needs carbohydrate to function properly and active people feel like crap because their muscle glycogen is always low or depleted.

It seems it always has to be one extreme or the other. The BEST approach is a balance of carbs, proteins, and fats. Two popular examples of this approach are “The Zone” and “Balance”.

This approach not only makes the most sense as far as fat loss goes, but it also offers more stable energy levels and far more healthy. The carbs should come from vegetables and whole grains. The proteins should come from meats, chicken, seafood, eggs, dairy, beans, and vegetables. Your dietary fats should come from sources like olive oil, fish, nuts and seeds, dairy, and avocado to name a few.

For more information on why a balance of fats, proteins, and carbs is the best nutritional breakdown, check out the following resources:

http://www.gunnarlindgren.com/nutritionx.pdf

http://www.drsears.com/

Question 2 – Which exercise or activity is best for fat loss?

Answer: d – strength training

Many people are mistakenly led to believe that an activity like walking will really help to shed those excess pounds. The problem is, walking is not very stressful and therefore, it does NOT burn a lot of calories, it does NOT give you a large increase in metabolism, and it does NOT deplete muscle glycogen which means if you overeat later that day, it is likely to be stored as fat and not be used to replenish muscle glycogen.

Strength training on the other hand, burns far more calories per unit of time, causes a greater increase in metabolism, depletes muscle glycogen, and if done progressively, will build and maintain muscle tissue which is the key to a fast metabolism.

Question 3 – What type of workout should you do if your goal is muscle toning?

Answer: d – strength training

Pilates, yoga, tai chi… these are some of the popular fitness trends and many people are wasting their time with these activities. Let me first say that I am NOT saying that these activities have no benefit, just that many people are misled to believe they will deliver the results they want.

For example, none of the activities mentioned above will deliver long term physical changes (muscle tone and definition, strength, etc) because they are not progressive in nature.

If you want to see noticeable improvements in muscle strength, tone, and definition, you need to do some form of progressive resistance training. The workouts must not only be progressive but they must also provide sufficient stimulus. This means the exercises need to be hard and your goal is to force the body to make improvements.

Activities like pilates and yoga can be great additions to a progressive strength training program but the can NOT replace it! For more detailed information on progressive strength training please take advantage of the free articles on my website here: www.achieve-fitness.com/free_resources.htm

Question 4 – Which foods should one avoid when trying to lose weight?

Answer: d – sugars

The firsts thing to go from your diet should be sugars (soda, juice, ice cream, cookies, candy, high-sugar cereals, etc). Not only do sugars cause spikes in blood sugar which result in the excess being stored as fat, but they also do the most damage to your health.

Since about 1960, people have again been misled to believe that fat is not only bad for your health, but also that it makes you fat. It’s the most ridiculous thing and it drives me mad when I hear “fitness and nutrition experts” tell people to follow a low-fat diet when trying to lose weight.

Once you understand how the human body metabolizes food, you’ll realize that not only does fat not make you fat, but that anything that results in excess blood sugar can be stored as fat. So those nice and healthy salads with your fat-free dressing CAN be stored as fat just like anything else. The confusion stems from the fact that fats contain more calories than proteins or carbs, BUT that does not mean they are automatically going to be stored as fat.

Look at how obesity and diabetes have continued to sky-rocket in the US and it all started when they started telling everyone to follow a low-fat diet. I strongly recommend you do some research and learn not only about dietary fat s but also about human metabolism.

Here are some great resources:

http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/lowfatcapitalism.html

http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/guidelines.html

http://www.westonaprice.org/know_your_fats/know_your_fats.html

http://www.mercola.com/2001/sep/8/omega_3.htm

Question 5 – You shouldn’t eat after 7pm

Answer: b – false

Why not? Why can’t you eat after 7pm ? It’s ridiculous! Again, people misunderstanding human metabolism. The clock doesn’t strike 7pm and then your metabolism shuts off.

Your body burns fuel 24 hours a day and therefore you should eat after 7pm but you need to just give your body the right amount. So if you’re not highly active after 7pm you still eat, but you eat something light and preferably a snack consisting of fat and proteins because they are slower burning than carbs and they results in less of a spike in blood sugar.

So forget the “don’t eat after 7pm ” and stabilize your blood sugar by giving your body just what it needs.

For more info on this please read my article, “How to Maximize Fat Loss With Little or NO Exercise” which can be found here: www.achieve-fitness.com/free_resources.htm

Question 6 – If your goal is to build muscle, how often should you strength train?

Answer: b – 3-4 x per week

While most bodybuilders will disagree, 3-4 strength workouts would be the most you would want to perform if your goal was to build muscle. Working out more will likely lead to over-training and then your workouts are just a waste of your time.

The keys to building muscle:

1. provide a stimulus or reason for the body to add muscle
2. train in a progressive nature
3. allow enough recovery between workouts
4. do it again – but with a stronger stimulus than before

For more information on progressive strength training please read my articles “Success with Strength Training” and “Real Muscle… Real FAST” which can be found here: www.achieve-fitness.com/free_resources.htm

Well, how did you do? Did my answers surprise you? If not, great. If they did, I recommend you do some reading, and not of fitness magazines. Look for another fitness quiz in the coming weeks.