Jul

21

Are Personal Trainers Worthwhile?

Filed Under Exercise, Motivation, Work Out | 3 Comments

One of the most common questions I get on 60 in 3 is a variation on “Are personal trainers worth while?” Now, I think I’ve discussed this topic in the past, but only in passing, so it’s worthwhile to spend a bit more time on it.

What Is A Personal Trainer?

A personal trainer helps you with your work outs by telling you what to do and providing encouragement and support as you work out.  A good trainer will work with you by asking about your goals and then designing a workout meant to achieve those goals.

A personal trainer will not help you with your eating.  They might provide some nutriutional advice, but that’s not really their job.  If you need help with eating then you should be talking to a nutritionist or dietician.  By virtue of their long association with the health and fitness industry, a trainer may have some of their own ideas about what constitutes healthy eating, but they’re not really professionals in this area.

A personal trainer is also not a medical professional.  They should not diagnose medical conditions nor can they tell you what to do about medical conditions.  There are some personal trainers that work at hospitals helping patients recover, but even they are not usually medical professionals.  If you need someone to help you with a medical problem, you should go see a doctor.

Do Personal Trainers Really Help?

That depends on what you’re looking for.  A personal trainer provides you with the following:

  • Work out plan
  • Support and motivation

Do these things help?  Well of course they do, but are they worth the money you’re going to spend on the trainer?

Workout Plan

This is worth it but only if you’re new to working out and only if the trainer is a good one.  A good trainer will spend some time with you discussing your goals, your past workout experience and your likes and dislikes.   Based on this, they will come up with a detailed workout plan that’s very tailored to you.  A bad trainer will ignore your specific needs and see you as just another hour long appointment to get through.  They will have you do some general exercises and then completely forget about you.

If you’re new and if you can find a good personal trainer then this workout plan can be incredibly worthwhile.  The exercises will be ones that are specifically meant for you and for your goals.  The trainer will take the time to show you how to properly do them and should explain what the goal of each exercise can do.  They can also educate you about exercise in general, enabling you to modify and develop your workout on your own in the future.

For people with more experience, this workout plan isn’t really worth it.  I know what I like and dislike, I try out new things all the time and I understand how exercise relates to my goals.  Therefore, I don’t really need a personal trainer to design a workout plan for me.  It’s nice to talk to trainers occasionally and get their opinions on various things, but it’s not worth my money to actually train with them if all I get is a workout plan.

Support and Motivation

Luckily for trainers, a detailed workout plan isn’t the only thing they offer.  A less obvious but more important benefit of training with a trainer is the support and motivation you get from them.  Again, this varies from trainer to trainer, but the good ones will support you through the rough times and motivate you to keep going.  They’ll provide an incentive for you to go to the gym, they’ll keep you interested, entertained and focused as you workout and they’ll keep you motivated through all those times when you just want to quit and go home.  That right there is a priceless benefit.

Most people aren’t unhealthy because of a lack of education.  We all know that we need to eat healthier and be more active and, with a little bit of research, it’s not hard to educate yourself about what that means.  So if we all know how to be healthy, why are so many of us unhealthy?  Well, it’s mostly about motivation.  Yes, we all know what we need to do, but it’s really hard to actually go ahead and do it.  It’s hard to avoid that last piece of cake and it’s hard to motivate ourselves to go to the gym when our favorite show is on and it’s cold outside and why the heck to I need to do cardio anyway!???!

That’s the real benefit of trainers.  The workout plan is a nice bonus, but a good trainer, one who can keep you motivated, is worth his or her weight in gold.

So How Do I Find A Good One?

Talk to people.  Ask your family, friends and coworkers if they know a good trainer.  Ask them if the trainer they worked with really paid attention to them or if trainer saw them as just another job.  Ask them if the trainer kept them interested in working out and motivated them to keep exercising.  Check to see if the people you’re talking to are still keeping healthy and fit since healthy long term customers are the hallmark of a good trainer.  Once you find a trainer, see how they treat you during the first few sessions.  Do they seem interested in what your goals are?  Are they listening to you?  Are they explaining what various exercises are and why they’re having you do them?  Or are they just standing there with a bored expression telling you to do another set of lunges?

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If you need motivation and have a bit of money to spare, a good trainer can be a priceless asset.  Just make sure you get a good one since a bad trainer can sap your will to exercise.

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Jul

7

The How’s and Why’s of Trail Running

Filed Under Alternative Workouts, Work Out | 4 Comments

Remember that old White Snake song? I think it went something along the lines of “here I go again on my own, walking down the only road I’ve ever known…”. Well, maybe you don’t remember it or maybe you’re trying to forget the 80’s, but either way, that’s what was going through my head yesterday morning when I tried out trail running.

I’d actually tried out trail running before.  I had a couple of friends who took my running with them a few times some years ago, but this was the first time that I had ever done it by myself as part of a planned workout and I have to say, the end result was a bit disappointing.

Why Did I Go Trail Running

First, because I like trying out new things.  Anyone who reads this site knows that.  I enjoy finding new ways to challenge myself and work on my physical fitness.  Second, because I heard trail running is an excellent workout due to the uneven nature of the surface you’re running on.  However, I also wanted to see if this was a way to make running more fun.

I think everyone who ever jogged is familiar with the problem of boredome.  Simply put, jogging isn’t the most interesting thing in the world to do.  You’re basically running and that’s all.  Now you can overcome this problem in a number of ways.  For example, bring a friend and chat as you run, bring an iPod and listen to music or you can even watch TV if you’re like me and run on a treadmill.  Whatever it is, you want to do something that relieves the monotony of running and running and running and running…  Well, I thought that trail running might be a good option.  After all, I love hiking so isn’t trail running like hiking only faster?  Well, that didn’t quite turn out the way I thought it would.

What Happened

So at 8am on a Sunday morning, I drove to a nearby park, figured out what trail I was going to follow and took off running.  It was a trail I had already hiked before, so I knew it rather well.  However, I found that running the trail is no where near as much fun as hiking it.  Because I was trying to work out, I didn’t have the time to stop and enjoy the surroundings like I do when I hike.  I couldn’t stop an admire the view or try to see if the sounds I was hearing were a deer.  It was like watching my favorite movie on fast forward.  I could recognize all the things I had previously enjoyed but I couldn’t quite enjoy them as much.

How Good Of A Workout Was It?

As far as the workout itself, it was pretty decent.  The uphills were challenging and the uneven surface certainly helped me work on my stability.  My only concern was the increased chance of injury due to the uneven surface.  Also, the constant impact from the downhills was certainly not a friend to my knees, feet and shins.

The Final Straw

All in all, I didn’t enjoy the trail run as much as I thought I would.  However, I would still go back and do it again if it weren’t for one thing, the drive.  My house is located in a relatively urban area.  In order to get to this part, I had to drive for 15 minutes.  With the price of gas being what is and with this workout adding an extra 30 minutes of prep time (driving back and forth plus finding parking), it just doesn’t seem worth my time.  I believe that one of the main strengths of a workout is being convenient and this was anything but.

Do I Recommend It For Others?

If you live close to a park or if you can bring some friends to run with you, then sure.  Otherwise, I think you’re better off sticking to the gym or your nearest track.

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It was an interesting experiment but I think I’ll stick to running at the gym and leave the hills for hiking.

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Jul

4

The Sprint Workout

Filed Under Alternative Workouts, Work Out | 3 Comments

So there I was, running like a mad man down my street.  I was dodging driveways, jumping over curbs and occasionally startling an elderly woman enjoying a peaceful stroll.  My legs were aching, my heart was pounding and I could barely breath.  Was I running away from something?  Was I chasing someone?  Nope, I was workingout!

The Sprint Workout

In my ongoing quest to try all sorts of new and interesting workouts, I came across something called the Sprint Workout.  Because I love trying out new things and because this workout seemed interesting, I thought I would give it a try.  Let me tell you, 5 minutes into it, I was already reconsidering my decision.

What Is It?

The sprint is sort of like interval training only the intervals are at much higher intensity and the rest periods are almost at full rest.  For example, my normal workout is a steady run at 6.5 mph for 40 minutes.  When I do intervals I change this to 2 minutes at 7mph followed by 3 minutes at 5.5 mph and so on for 40 minutes.  The sprint workout goes even further.  You run all out as hard as you can for as long as you can and then you rest until you can breath, then you repeat the whole thing over again.  In practice, that means 30 to 45 seconds at your fastest speed followed by 2 to 3 minutes at a walk and then repeating that 10 or 15 times.

By the way, you don’t have to do this with just running.  For example, you can do pushups as fast as you can for as long as you can and then stretch for a few minutes while you regain your breath.  The action is different but the idea is the same.

Warning!

Don’t try this workout if you’re new to exercise or if you have some kind of heart condition or any other medical condition for that matter.  You’re quite literally going all out here and for some people, going all out is dangerous.  So please consult with a doctor before doing this if you have any concerns.

Also, if you’re going to be sprinting, you may wish to consider a softer surface than I used.  Sand, grass or even a running track are all better than the sidewalk I was running on.

Are There Benefits?

This workout really pushes your limits.  After doing repeated sprints for 30 minutes I felt like I was about to die.  However, after resting a bit, I jogged the rest of the way home and it felt easy.  It was like I had challenged my body to give all that it could and now that I was just asking for a little bit, my body had no problem with it.  Also, for a short workout, this one takes a lot of energy.  You end up with a very high heart rate in a short period of time.  I’m not sure about the science, but it sure felt like i got an hour’s worth of working out in 30 minutes.

Are There Downsides?

Yes, the major one being the injury risk I mention above.  Also, people look at you a bit funny when you’re sprinting.  I guess they’re worried about what’s chasing you and wondering if they should run too.

Will I Do It Again?

Probably, but I doubt this will become a regular part of my workout routine.  It was fun, but too uncontrolled for my tastes.  However, if you’re interested in a different kind of workout, by all means, give it a shot.  Just be safe about it.

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A new day, a new kind of workout.  Even though I didn’t like this one as much, it was still nice to try something new.

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Jul

2

Whole Body or One Body Part At A Time; Which One Is The Better Workout?

Filed Under Building Muscles, Time Management, Work Out | 1 Comment

A few months ago I talked about my four day workout.  At the time, I was splitting up my routine to work one or two parts of the body per day.  Since then, I’ve changed my routine to work my entire body each time I work out.  I’ve had a few questions from readers on which style I found best.

Whole Body Workout

A whole body workout means just that, work out your entire body.  It’s 24 different exercises and I usually do 1 set of each for a total of 24 sets.

Body Part Workout

The body part workout works one or two individual body parts per day.  I would typically do abs and back one day, legs the second day, biceps and triceps the third day and chest and shoulders the fourth day.  You can do different splits but it’s still the same idea.  I would usually do 6 different exercises and 4 sets of each one for a total of 24 sets.

Advantages of the Whole Body Workout

  • Speed - I get through the whole body workout faster even though it’s the same number of sets.  This is because I don’t have to rest as much between sets since I’m not constantly working out the same body parts.
  • Schedule Flexibility - With the whole body workout, if I miss one day, it’s not as bad.  I still workout my whole body on other days.
  • Variation - This workout keeps me more interested in the workout since I’m doing a new exercise each time.

Advantages of the Body Part Workout

  • Targeted - You’re working out a specific body part every day and you’re really targetting that part.  I seemed to be getting a better workout overall when I was consistently doing a body part workout schedule.
  • More Rest - After doing an abs and back workout, you have a week before you workout that area again.  That lets you rest that area and allows the muscles to recover.

Which One Do I Recommend?

Well, it depends on how serious you are about your time in the gym.  If you have at least three or four days to spend and a good amount of time on each of those days, you should probably go for the body part workout.  You’ll get a better workout for each body part and you’ll see better results.  However, if you’re like me and you’re trying to juggle working out into an otherwise very busy schedule, I think the whole body workout is a better option.  It guarantees you that you workout all your muscles equally, it’s quick and you’ll still see good results, if not quite as good as those of the targetted workout.

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There’s really no right answer here.  Neither workout is clearly better or worse than the other.  Try them both and stick to what works for you, but don’t be afraid to change things up and try something new once in a while.

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Jun

18

The Burnout Workout

Filed Under Work Out | 2 Comments

Last week I talked about the blowout workout, a workout in which you use a lot more weight and fewer reps as a way of breaking through plateaus and challenging yourself to improve. Well, here’s an odd thing, the opposite changes work too, although in a different way.

The Burnout Workout Basics

Over the weekend, I received an email from a 60 in 3 reader who suggested I try out something he called the “burnout workout”.  I had heard of the idea before, but never tried it myself.  It’s pretty simple, take whatever exercises you’re doing, lower the weight and double the number of reps.  So if before I was doing a set of 10 lunges with 100lbs, now I would try to do 20 reps with 70lbs.  It sounded so simple and easy.  I mean come on, less weight?  This is going to be like a vacation!  Oh, how wrong I was.

Set The Bar High (But Not Too High)

I thought I could do 75% of the weight I usually do while still doing 20 reps of each exercise.  I quickly found out that was way off.  It’s amazing how hard it is to do 10 extra reps without a break even with 25% less weight.  Your muscles start aching at about 12 reps, and you begin experiencing difficulties maintaining form and lifting the weight at about 15 or 16 reps.  At least that was my experience.  20 reps was doable for the first few exercises but I quickly found myself too sore to maintain my 75% weight goal.

Is This A Cardio Workout?

Even more unexpected was the burnout workout’s impact on my heart rate.  I felt like I was sprinting!  I never elevate my heart rate so much while lifting weights.  Sure, I get a bit winded with some exercises but never like this.  Half way through the workout I felt like I had run for miles and I soaked with sweat.  This workout was kicking my ass!  I was forced to go as low as 60% of the normal weight for some exercises and I was starting to see a need to go even lower.

The End Is Near

By the end of the burnout workout, I was burned out.  I was barely doing twenty reps with 60% of the weights and I was taking longer than usual breaks between sets.  The last exercise, shrugs, was performed with 50% weight and I was struggling to lift even that at the end.  I climbed on the elliptical and tiredly marched on but my heart just wasn’t into it.  It was telling me “hey buddy, you already did cardio, now go take a break.”  I did manage to do my cardio for the day but I really had to push myself to do it.

Was It Worth It?

Hell YES!  You know that feeling you get during your first few workouts?  Your body isn’t quite used to the strain and you’re sore, but you also feel really good.  You challenged yourself and you made it.  Your muscles have done something they haven’t been able to in a long time and your whole body is tired and yet bursting with energy.  I haven’t felt that after a workout in several years now.  I enjoy workouts but they don’t wear me out anymore like they used to.  Well, this one did.  I was well and truly worn out but I also felt incredibly good.

So Which Will I Do?  Blowup or Burnout?

Why pick one?  I intend to do both.  I’m going to start my week with a standard workout, 10 reps at 100% weight.  Mid week I will do a blowout workout, 5 reps with 150% of the weight.  Then finish it out on Friday with a burnout workout, 20 reps with 50% to 75% of the weight.

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Vary things up a bit, try out new ideas and never be afraid of making changes to your workout.  You may find something you love.  I know I just did.

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Jun

6

The Blowout Workout

Filed Under Exercise, Motivation, Work Out | Leave a Comment

Every once in a while I like trying out a new way of working out. It keeps my workouts interesting plus it lets me try new things. As with eating, I believe that variety in exercise has many benefits.  However, variety is not what today’s post is about.  Instead, I’d like to tell you about the workout I tried out on Wednesday and how much I liked it.

The Need For Continuous Improvement

If you’re a long time reader of 60 in 3 and have read some of my past series like the 4 day workout, you’ll know that I prefer to do sets of about 10 reps (repetitions).  That means I do an exercise like squats ten times.  I usually use weights that I know I can lift for those ten reps, but I try to pick something heavy enough to be challenging.  That means picking weights that I don’t think I can do for many reps than those ten.

In the past, I’ve been increasing the weights I use at a slow but steady pace.  This reflected the improvement in my overall fitness level.  For example, when I started working out I could barely bench press the bar on its own, about 45lbs.  These days, I usually bench press around 150lbs for my reps.  Unfortunately, I just haven’t been able to improve any of the weights I do for the past few months.  In fact, I was feeling as though I had reached a sort of plateau and that further improvement was impossible.   In and of itself, that’s not a bad thing.  Everyone has a point past which they cannot go.  Our bodies have limits and it’s good to know that limit.  However, I felt like I should be able to lift more but I simply couldn’t take that next step forward.

The Blowout Workout

I happened to mention this to a friend over the weekend, and he suggested I try out a new kind of workout.  He called it the Blowout Workout but it’s also known by other names.  Essentially, the blowout workout means you do half the repetitions with about 25% to 50% more weight.  So if I normally did ten bench presses with 150lbs, on Wednesday I tried to do 5 bench presses with 180lbs.

At first, this was a bit intimidating.  I was having enough difficulties with 150lbs, did I really want to try out this much more weight?  Yes, it was just five repetitions instead of the my usual 10 but that’s a lot of weight!  But I tried it anyway and I’m really glad I did.

The Results

I was able to do the five reps with the extra weight on each and every exercise I normally do.  In fact, in many cases I kept going and did 8 to 10 reps.  It was like my body had always been capable of this kind of performance but I was holding back for some reason.  All it took was a willingness to try.  I had convinced myself to try out the higher weight by telling myself that I was just going to do five reps instead of 10 and once I tried it, it just wasn’t that bad.

Breaking Through Self Imposed Limits

All this time, I was perfectly capable of exercising at a much higher level than I was.  So why didn’t I?  I’m not sure of the answer but I think it’s because I had convinced myself that I just couldn’t take a little more extra weight before the current weight became easy.  Well guess what, the current weight was never going to become easy until I tried something harder.  It was only when I challenged myself with something more difficult that I noticed how easy my current workout had become.

This is applicable in more than just weight lifting by the way.  If you’re trying to do something that’s a bit challenging, don’t just raise the bar a little, raise it a lot!  Challenge yourself way beyond your comfort level.  Maybe you won’t achieve 100% success, but that big jump in difficulty will make that little jump you were trying to make seem a lot easier.

Try It Out For Yourself

If you’re interested, the Blowout Workout is a very easy idea to implement.  Take every weight you’re using right now and increase it by at least 25%.  Now try to do five reps.  If you can do more, that’s great, but tell yourself that your goal is just the first five reps.  That will keep your focused and make everything seem more doable.  My only warning is that you need to be careful. You may not be used to this much weight and having another person around you to make sure you don’t do something silly is probably a good idea.

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Trying out new things is great.  Trying out things you think are impossible is even better.  It will make the things you think are possible but difficult seem very easy.

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May

14

Ready For Your Workout?

Filed Under Exercise, Healthy Habits, Work Out | Leave a Comment

Thisentryis part 6 of 6 in the series SERIES - Common Workout Mistakes

Maybe you read 60 in 3 in the morning, right before you head to work. Maybe you read it in the evening before you go to sleep. You might even read 60 in 3 during the day, while you’re at work. Whenever you read this article, it’s still a good time for your ten minute workout. Yes, that’s right, you’re going to get up and workout regardless of time of day and where you are.

Lunges - Start with the lunge, one of the best exercises ever invented. If you don’t know what a lunge is, click on the link and you’ll get instructions complete with a video courtesy of Cooper’s guns. One note, we’re not going to be going as fast as the guy in the video. We’re going for a 5 by 5 rep. That means it takes you 5 seconds to go down and another 5 seconds to come back up. So while the guy in the video takes about 2 seconds to complete a lunge, you’re going to take 10 seconds.

Deadlifts - We’re going to follow the lunge with the deadlift. Again, click on the link if you don’t know what that is. Unlike the video, we’re going to do this with no weights. We’re also going to use the 5 by 5 rule again. So stand up and then slowly bend at the waist for 5 seconds until your fingers dangle down and hopefully touch the ground. If you can’t touch the ground, that’s fine, just try. Then take 5 seconds to straighten back up.

Leaning Press - Keep going with the press. Now the video shows a man lying on the ground doing these. We’re not going to do that. This is supposed to be a workout you can do anywhere and lying down at work is probably not acceptable. So instead of a lying press we’re going to do a leaning press. All you need to do is lean forward against a wall and then press yourself back into an upright position. Again, take 5 seconds to go forward and 5 seconds to push yourself back up.

Trunk Twist - Now lets work out that core for a minute with the trunk twist. It’s a very simple exercise as you can see from the video, and when you slow it down with the 5 by 5 rule, it becomes even more effective. Make sure you have some room around you since you don’t want to hit anything as you swing those arms; trust me, I’m talking from experience :)

Squats - And we’re going to finish it up with the squats. From a standing position start bending your knees until you reach a squatting position. Now stand up. Rinse and repeat using the 5 by 5 rule to make sure you slow it down.

A Note On Weights

This is supposed to be a quick workout that you can do anywhere. It’s halfway between a workout and a warmup routine and isn’t supposed to be very challenging. It’s just supposed to get you up off your butt and doing something physical. However, if you want to increase the difficulty a bit, feel free to hold something in your hands while doing this. I just did this routine while holding my laptop in my hands.\

Medical Disclaimer

Again, I’m not a doctor, nor do I know your specific medical issues. If you have some kind of problem, don’t be silly and attempt this workout. For example, if you have a serious back issue, don’t do the deadlift just because “that guy on 60 in 3 told me to do it!” Know your body’s limitations and check with a doctor before you do something dumb.

Time

5 exercise, 10 reps each at 10 seconds per rep. That’s less than 10 minutes. If you’re at work then think of it as a break that will make you more productive. If you’re at home, think of it as something a bit more productive than catching up on that last episode of American Idol or checking out new pictures on cuteoverload.com.

Not A Workout Substitute

Again, this is supposed to be a simple workout / warmup. It’s not a substitute for a real workout.  This is something you do in addition to a regular workout.

Repeat

Don’t just do this once.  You need to keep active all through the day and if you have a desk job like me then you should do something like this at least once every two to three hours.  So bookmark this page and then come back to it every two to three hours.  Make this a habit.

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Our bodies were designed with regular physical activity in mind.  They are not meant for sitting behind a desk for 8 hours.  Make sure you break up that monotony with a quick workout.

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