Five lies you will hear about losing fat

In contemporary times when all the hullabaloo is about making money, as any other industry Fitness is also plagued by streaks of lies. Here I bust some of'em.


I'll make you lose fat from your specific body part

Well this is the biggest lie of our times even propagated by some esteemed media houses. Yesterday only I saw a full page article in a leading news daily recommending different weight training exercises to lose fat from belly, thighs, chest etc.
The truth is body parts can't be targeted to lose fat & that has been established with many studies.Fat burning during workout is a complex process.  Doing those torturing crunches & going through hell is absolutely foolish, if your aim is only weight loss. Our bodies are formed according to the genetics. If your genes make you a pear shape obese person, fat will accumulate mostly on your lower body & stick there like a leech,  whatever times you may crunch because you are doing the wrong exercise !
Find here the best fat burning excercises


Steam bath & excess sweating will cut down fat heavily

Why didn't earth crumbled before such dumb claims were made. My dear 'farji' trainers, fat is not water soluble! Steam bath is not a weight loss solution !  The more you sweat more you lose those essential salts(electrolytes) & fluids. More than 90% of sweat is water. A decrease of 5-8 % of body water will result in fatigue, dizziness. Dehydration will give you cramps unless you gulp those rehydration drinks.
Steam & sauna are only purported weight loss solutions with no major, reliable study supporting their claim.


Eat less & all your weight problems will solve
Its not about eating less but eating right & adequate. Cutting down on food heavily will result in lack of necessary vitamins & minerals. On the contrary eating wisely will increase your body metabolism & work as cheat diet. You'll be surprised to know even some fat is necessary for body. Eat well but not in excess.


Whey protein will help you lose fat

This is the ultimate nonsense i have ever heard. Protein isn't going to get inside your body & push the fat out. Whey protein helps in hypertrophy(muscle building). Also when you are working out for longer durations, you may need some protein supplement but i.e. just for preventing muscle breakdown.


Less carbs less weight

Some trainers promote a carb less diet for faster weight loss results. This is again a no brainer, Our energy system needs carbs as fire needs oxygen. You can't burn woods in vacuum, similarly fat burning needs carbohydrates and as i said above it is a complex process.

Train hard Train wise !

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Read about how should you breathe during workout here.

Benefits of proper breathing

In the last blog we talked about how harmful improper breathing is & largely what is 'Valsalva maneuver'. Now lets talk about many benefits of a well breathed workout. Breathing well means, taking long deep breaths into your stomach, using your diaphragm to push air out which is metaphorically called 'belly breathing'. Inhaling from your nose & exhaling from an open mouth.

Best fat burner :
While you are busy surfing, asking your nutritionist/trainer/bulked up friends for the magic fat burner pill, you miss the best  fat burner element present all around you for free. Oxygen is the vital element in fat burning during workouts. When you do that heart pounding cardio, bone cracking weight workout even after all the moaning & groaning it might not be effective. Your calorie meter may give you a satisfying statistic but those calories aren't coming from your fat. Because in absence of proper oxygen supply  it is carbohydrates or in later hours of workout protein taken from you muscle being burned as fuel which is harmful.

Builds rhythm :
Rhythm is important it makes your workout easier & energetic. On contrast random breathing will leave you tired sooner. Synchronize your breathe with the lifting of weights and running. By synchronize i mean exhaling when you apply strength & inhaling when you release weight. For running take two steps(One right, one left) while breathing in, and two steps while breathing out also known as 2:2 rhythm. .      

More weights/more reps :
With more energy & good rhythm you'll see your weights are going higher, you are hitting more reps-more sets.You'll be able to run that extra mile.

Stress buster :
Stress pushes the body into survival mode, body secrets more cortisol which in turn slows down metabolism, stores fat. One also starts eating more.Oxygen fights stress, presence of more oxygen in body means less stress & less weight gain i.e. why Yoga is so helpful.

Good posture :
The muscles which help you breathe also play a part in maintaining body posture. Diaphragm, rib cage are connected with your spine. So if you breathe well you automatically maintain the right posture which is integral part of a healthy workout. Bad posture ruins your form & makes your workout injury prone.

So breathe well & workout harder

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Improper breathing during workouts can even kill you !

Breathing forms the base of any workout but when I walk into gyms I find it is the most abused aspect. There are many forms of bad breathing. Holding your breath while lifting the weights is most common of them. Some do it intentionally others unknowingly.  

The rule is to exhale while lifting & inhale when weights are going down, whether they are in your hands or in a cable pulley. In simpler words ‘Exhale whenever you are applying strength’.

If you are a fitness enthusiast you must have heard/read/seen this principle a thousand times. But did you ever asked why? How does it help? Why it is the right way?

Ask your Personal trainers, floor trainers & bulked up friends who shoot their advices every now & then. I can bet more than 95% will be clueless. Fitness arenas have become a thriving place for quacks.  The above breathing technique is right for many reasons but most importantly because it is the only safe way. On the contrary holding your breath & exerting (pushing or pulling the weights) is called “Valsalva manoeuvre” Which can even kill you!

What is Valsalva manoeuvre?
 
Process
Expiratory effort against a closed glottis, which increases pressure within the thoracic cavity (chest) and thereby impedes venous return of blood to the heart.

The manoeuvre stops the blood from entering the heart & increases thoracic pressure. With release of breath blood trapped in veins rushes, increasing the blood pressure & heart rate.

Risks

The patient may feel dizzy or faint during the procedure. There is a risk that the Valsalva manoeuvre can cause blood clots to detach, bleeding, and abnormal rhythms originating in the ventricle. It can also cause cardiac arrest. Consequently, the procedure is usually performed in a setting where emergency equipment is accessible.-Above taken from a medical dictionary.

Bodybuilding.com says, of the 25 documented weight room-related deaths in the United States between 2008 and 2012, the vast majority occurred due to asphyxiation caused by neck or chest compression during the bench press.

One of my trainees told me ‘I am confused because my much experienced former trainer advised to apply this technique. It helps to lift more weight’. My reply was ‘what is more important, to remain alive or lifting more weights?’

Valsalva is a technique used in certain medical procedures but how come it made its way into bodybuilding is interesting. Power lifters used it first because it increases intrathoracic (chest cavity) pressure, which disperses pressure across the trunk thus decreasing the load on the spine (perhaps the reason behind our tendency of performing this manoeuvre unknowingly) & keeping it safe (research supporting this is however limited). This propelled the popular myth that it helps you lift heavier. Also Power lifting is way different from strength training it has its own demands. Power lifters go for heaviest weights. They don’t have X sets of Y repetitions. They do it for seconds. Time is a great factor in Valsalva method.

So if you want to get healthy in a healthy way, exhale when you push/pull & inhale on the way down. 

As I said above Fitness industry is full of quacks because very few trainers are certified & if they are, than not updated. So keep that “WHY” ready every time you hear an advice & do cross check if you get an answer. This is your mantra to keep your workouts safe.

TRAIN HARD TRAIN SAFE.

If you have any other questions regarding breathing techniques post it in the comments or shoot it to me on Suraj10c@gmail.com