Are exercise machines a waste of your time?

YES!!!

I can not say this enough, but machines are pretty much a total waste of your time and money! Anyone (including trainers) who tells you otherwise, are wrong haha. They are just a big lie by the fitness industry to get you to buy their expensive equipment or get an overpriced gym membership so you can achieve maxim results! Alot of people don’t know enough to believe any different unfortunately….Just so we’re clear though, I’m not referring to rowing machines, they are good! I’m not really talking about treadmills or bikes either, those can have their place. For things like injury rehab and running during the winter. What I am referring to are machines for curling, back extensions, ab crunches, legs, lat pull downs, etc....and of course I can’t forget ellipticals (i.e. the “I’m lazy and I know it” machine....lame joke I know lol)

Now you may be wondering why these machines are a waist of time since they’re great for muscle isolation exercises and seem completely safe if not safer than free weights or bodyweight stuff. Both of which are true to some extent, but they’re also the problem with using machines. Let me explain:

- Isolation exercises are not a good way to train. Sure they will build your individual muscles, but not in a healthy way. In any activity outside the gym (especially athletic) your muscle work together, no matter what you are doing. When you train with isolation exercises though, you do not engage your stabilizing muscles. This can lead to injuries (due to distability of your muscles & joints), and will really prevent you from reaching your athletic potential. You need to do exercises that cause your muscles to be used together. Your body was designed to work this way! It doesn’t matter if you’re new to working out either, it’s still safer to never use machines. And if you don’t believe me, see what these Russian fitness experts have to say: "The novice must be taught from a base of mobility to progress to stability, just as an infant learns to stand by first moving, staggering and exploring the environment" - Prof. Verkhoshansky & Dr. Siff

- Another downside to using machines is that you will be building up micro-trauma (small injuries) for future problems. When you train in a fixed way it repetitively loads the same muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints in the same pattern, encouraging micro-trauma which can lead to injury. If you want to learn more about micro-trauma Wikipedia has a nice article about it.

- Machines are the easy way out. When you’re sitting down you’re body doesn’t have to work as hard, and thus doesn’t burn as many calories. Go to any gym and more often than not you will see overweight or out of shape people sitting on their butts using machines thinking they’re getting good exercise. When they’re really just hurting themselves in the long run.

If you are one of these people that uses machines, that’s ok! You probably didn’t know any better, I used to be in the same boat. Now that you do know though, it’s time to stop using stuff like this

and start using your own bodyweight....In my next blog post I will finally get around to showing alot of alternative exercise moves you can do with little to no equipment, and yet still get into really good shape! :)

Staying Motivated

This is something that everyone struggles with, myself included. There are many different “legit” reasons for this: feeling tired, not enough time, too much homework, don’t like going to the gym, injuries/chronic pains, working out gets boring, feel too old, etc....Completely understandable reasons, but really just lame excuses I think. And here are some ways I find useful in keeping myself motivated to get exercise even when I have 5 excuses not to.

1. Listen to music. So simple, and yet so effective! Personally I highly recommend some type of metal/hardcore and/or rap/hip-hop. Dubstep is also good. I mean listen to whatever gets you pumped and your adrenaline going, but frankly josh groben or brad paisley aren't gonna do much for you haha. And it has been proven that termites eat wood twice as fast when listening to heavy metal ;)

2. Workout with other people, or don't workout with other people. Personally I find working out with other people makes it more fun and you can constantly help push each other to new heights. Conversely though, you might be tired of having to deal with other people all day and want to get away, or you just aren’t comfortable working out with other people around. Nothing wrong with that, and in the future I'm going to post workouts that you can do at home with basically no equipment.

3. Find exercise that you enjoy. It's much easier to get a good workout when you enjoy what you're doing. Playing sports, hiking, swimming, biking, running, zumba, parkour, rock climbing, etc... Point is, get off your butt and do something! Now, I still recommend a well balanced workout schedule to keep your muscles/joints healthy and strong. But you don't have to hate every minute of exercise you get, having fun is ok too :)

4. Have other people keep you accountable, especially if you’re new to working out. Surrounding yourself with other people to yell at and/or encourage you to workout even when you don't want to is a great way to stay consistent. This also applies to eating healthy.

5.  Make working out part of your lifestyle, not just something you do. If you build a consistent habit of getting exercise everyday, it will be much easier to do. The workout really hard for awhile and then stop type of lifestyle doesn’t work, and will catch up to you when you’re older.

6. Pre-workout supplements. These can be a great tool but I don't recommend it for everyone. It is way too easy to use this as a crutch, especially when first starting to workout. In fact I don't think you should use them at all unless you're going to do very intense and long workouts, such as Sealfit. Also, I wouldn't use them if you have heart problems as they cause your heart rate to elevate faster and drop slower. That being said, if you're looking for an extra push I find them very helpful and I can cruz through a 2 hr workout with no problem.

7. Set goals for yourself. If you have something to work towards you'll be less likely to slack off because you know you'll be farther away from reaching your goals. Also, a note on setting goals. I recommend having ultimate goals that you will probably never reach, because as Bruce Lee once said "A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at." This will help keep you from getting complacent, so you will always be trying to improve your fitness and health. However, it can be easy to get discouraged if you just look at your end goals. So I think it is also a good idea to have smaller goals (i.e. do 10 pullups in a row instead of 5 within the next 4 weeks) to help measure your progress.

If these tips still don’t help you to stay motivated, take a look at this picture. Not sure about how accurate the percentages are but I’d say they're definitely true to some extent. Just think about how much money you can save on medical bills in the future! That should be motivation enough to start consistently working out and eating healthy.

          Anyhow, that was probably a bit lengthy but hopefully something I've said can help you stay motivated.....Next week I'll be posting about why exercise machines are a waste of your time, exciting right? ;)

My Fitness Journey

Ever wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and think to yourself “I wish I looked as good as Jacob Chartrand.”? Well, you probably never will haha. But if you want to try, here's how I got in such good shape.

1. Do consistently hard workouts
2. Eat consistently healthy

Sounds simple enough right? And it is, but simple does not mean easy. In fact it can be quite hard to do both, and up until about 2 years ago I didn't really do either. Now I've always been athletic and gotten a good amount of exercise, and even eaten fairly healthy. But I've also always really liked sweets and never followed a good workout program. Both of which needed to change.

First step, doing consistently hard workouts. Saw an infomercial about p90x at the beginning of summer 2010, and decided to do it with my brother. The first two weeks were brutal and I don't think I've ever been so sore in my life lol. However, after those two weeks it started to get easier for me and I started to see results. This gave me more motivation to continue and to workout even when I didn’t feel like it. After I finished all 90 days of it I went right into p90x+, then p90x one-on-one, then a combination of p90x and Insanity. I continued to to get stronger and improve my cardio throughout this time, but then I discovered Crossfit.....Hardest/most intense workouts I had ever done! Which I personally I really enjoyed. Soon after that though, I found out about Sealfit. Which is basically Crossfit style workouts, just 3-4 times longer (i.e. one of the hardest workout programs ever, if not the hardest!). And well I’ve been doing that ever since. Except recently I’ve been subbing in bodyweight moves for some of the weight lifting moves, which I am becoming a big advocate of and I'll explain why in future posts.

Second step, eating consistently healthy. This has been quite a long process, but it all started by giving up soda. Decided to do this kind of just randomly, but it was definitely inspired by God. And although I wouldn’t say it was easy to do at first, over time I've missed it less and less (haven't had any in over 2 years!). This has further expanded to sweets and pretty much any type of unhealthy foods. I've been working more and more on a balanced healthy diet. Which can be hard at times, especially when I’m really busy with college and friends want to go out to eat. But I’ve been able to maintain about 80% healthy - 20% not so healthy diet, and it’s probably more like 90%-10%.....Anyways, you can see the results for yourself:

August 2010 February 2012

P.S. Don't worry, in all future posts I will be covering many topics such as motivation for exercising, bodyweight workouts, how to get a six pack, etc....and not talking about myself really. Because frankly, who cares! ;)