Your Workout Questions Answered

Here are the answers to some of your more pressing questions sent in by readers this week...
(<==== me & the pooch answering your questions)

Q: I need to be in my best shape for September 1st. What is the best interval program I can follow to lose the last bit of fat by that day - using machines only?

Answer:
No problem, here's what you need to do for the next 4 weeks.

First, you'll use 2 different interval workouts. You'll have Workout A and Workout B, and alternate between them. If you train intervals 3 times per week, follow this schedule:

Week 1: A, B, A

Week 2: B, A, B

And so on.

(Note: Each interval workout is to be done on a different day...do not do them both on the same day.)

For workout A on the treadmill:

• Warm-up for 5 minutes.
• Run 60 seconds.
• Walk 60 seconds.
• Repeat for 6-8 intervals.
• Cool down for 5 minutes.

For Workout B on the bike:

• Warm-up for 5 minutes.
• Work for 30 seconds.
• Rest for 60 seconds.
• Repeat for a total of 6 intervals.
• Finish with 3 sets of 10 burpees with 30 seconds rest between each.
• Cooldown for 5 minutes.

Q: Can you please answer this...If you have knee issues (i.e. patella tendinitis), should you be doing lunges? I've been told that people with bad knees should avoid stationary lunges, and that squats are better?

Answer:

I would start with floor-based lower-body exercises such as hip bridges (aka hip extensions) and ball curls (you can find those in the beginner bodyweight workouts) prior to using standing lower body exercises.

Build up the strength of your glutes and hamstrings and then progress to standing "wall squats with the ball" (the ball is placed between your back and the wall). If pain free, you can move on to free squatting. And from there, to low step-ups, higher step-ups, then to split squats, and then to lunges.

Over this time, your posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, etc.) will get strong and this should reduce knee pain.

As well, lose fat to reduce overall stress on the knee joint, and eliminate inflammatory foods (i.e. processed foods) from your diet that also contribute to knee pain.


Q: Why does so much fitness information seem to contradict other fitness information?

Answer:

Great question.

Here's my opinion:
http://turbulencetraining.blogspot.com/2006/07/big-fitness-complaint.html

And to finish off, here's part of an interview between Jason Ferrugia and Alwyn Cosgrove (thanks to Jason at http://www.j1strength.com/ for letting me use this...).

I will have more of Alwyn's interview tomorrow.

JF: What kind of diets do you prefer for fat loss and how do you determine what to prescribe to a given client?

AC:
I like to use a low-JUNK diet for fat loss.

It ends up being low carb, as most of the crap people eat come from refined carbs, but in reality

I never restrict fruits and vegetables, or good carbs.

A lot of stuff gets written about how many grams per pound etc, and how many calories pre and post workout..and to be honest most of the people writing this stuff are clearly not working with anyone real.

An average fat loss client arrives at my gym typically eating 2 meals a day and about 30g of protein (and no breakfast). So am I supposed to cut their calories? And add training to it? No way.

I just recommend that these people eat 4-5 meals per day from a list of "approved" foods (ie proteins, vegetables, oatmeal etc) and try to hit a higher protein intake. The diet then builds itself without having to focus on numbers. Calorie control is important, but it's rarely an issue with beginners in my experience.

There you go, let me know if you have any additional questions,

CB