Guest Blog from TrueFitness: Questions and Answers

Some Answers-

Today I want to answer a few of the typical questions that most people have about fitness and what to do to improve your workouts. These are typical of questions asked by clients and athletes and should help you with your program.

How do I turn fat into muscle?
You cannot turn fat into muscle. What you can do is burn fat off while building or increasing muscle. So in essence you are replacing fat on your body with muscle.

How do I get a six pack?
First the bad news is that the appearance of a “6 pack” can be based on genetics. After that consideration, just doing ab crunches will never produce a flat stomach and the appearance of a “6 pack”. The only way to get a six pack is through proper dieting, cardiovascular exercise and resistance training. Doing ab crunches will not help burn off the fat that is covering your midsection so the first thing that must be done is the burning off of the fat covering your abs.

Should I eat before or after my workout first thing in the morning? The answer to this question is in two parts. If you are doing resistance training then you should always eat something before working out. When building muscle you need to have calories in your system in order to have the ability to build muscle. Being depleted will cause the body to burn off muscle which is never what you want to do. The second part of the answer is that if you are doing cardiovascular exercise then it is generally accepted that not eating before will help to burn off a slightly higher percentage of stored body fat which is the reason why most people do aerobic exercise.

If I run everyday do I need to do any other exercise?
Yes you absolutely need to still workout your legs in other ways and your upper body as well. You need to do squats, lunges and other exercises that build leg muscles and leg strength. Running as the only means of exercise can actually be detrimental as this can cause overuse injuries such as stress fractures and tendonitis. Building up bone density and connective tissue strength as is the result that happens with resistance training can prevent these injuries. The additional leg strength will also help with leg power and can improve your kick during runs.

I do CrossFit and is that is all I need to do?
This is another myth and falsehood brought on by blind allegiance to a paradigm. CrossFit is great for working out. Their program will help you improve fitness, burn calories and get in better shape. However, CrossFit is limited in its sports performance application because in only works in the sagital plane, which are straight ahead movements. Sport is a not simply straight ahead. It is multi directional and involves multiple planes with many different movement requirements that simply are not trained during CrossFit exercises. Training for sports performance means training laterally, rotational, forward, and backward as well as preparing for the unknown that is the chaos of sport. Only doing CrossFit will not take care of these sport requirements and although you may appear to be in great shape you are not in great sports performance shape.

Hopefully this clears up some questions some of you may be having regarding your training. As always, if you do have any questions please don’t hesitate to send us an email and we will answer any questions you may have.

Anyone in the San Diego area is welcome to drop in at our studio at 2949 Garnet Ave. 3rd floor, Pacific Beach, CA. We would love to put you through our workout. Please feel free to call or email Spencer Aiken,CSCS (951) 296-7993 email:spencer@truefitness.biz

Article written by Spencer Aiken, CSCS, CEO, TrueFitness