Weight training will not make you "bulky," "muscle bound," or look like a bodybuilder unless you train that way. The look of a bodybuilder takes years of hard work and dedicated training that is specific.

 

Muscle is highly metabolic tissue.

The more muscle tissue you have the greater your metabolism is increased and the more calories you burn at rest.

 

You do NOT have to do cardio to lose fat. Although the most optimal way to lose weight is to have a sound nutritional and fitness program that includes both cardio and resistance training, resistance training and diet alone can produce dramatic fat loss. This fact is proven by some competitive bodybuilders who don't do any cardio when dieting and extreme fat loss is needed before a show. Cardio provides only a brief raise in metabolism while the muscle tissue gain associated with weight training creates a constant increase in metabolism. This constant raise in metabolism allows you to burn more calories while sitting on the couch. See My Transformation for an example of how you can lose fat without cardio.

 

If you stop working out, your muscle will not turn into fat.

Muscle and fat are two entirely different tissues. But losing muscle tissue will slow down your metabolism and predispose you to gaining unwanted fat.

 

Using the scale alone is not a good indicator of how well you are doing with your diet or fitness program.

Muscle tissue weighs more than fat and therefore misleads people into thinking they are actually gaining fat when in actuality they may be loosing fat but also gaining muscle.

The best way to see what kind of progress you are making is to use the scale in conjunction with having a body composition analysis done. See my Training Fees on how to have this simple procedure done.

 

4 out of 5 Americans experience low-back discomfort, 80% of these low-back problems are muscular in nature and are preventable by strengthening the muscles of the low-back and abdominals.

 

Resistance training, and exercise in general, is based upon many different principals. Most notably the progressive overload principal and the principal of specificity.

The progressive overload principal says that in order to make consistent gains in muscle or strength the overload (weights, frequency, duration, volume) must be increased to make your muscles work harder. If you are not consistently making your muscles work harder you will at the very best only maintain your current fitness level and not make improvements in strength and muscle.

The principal of specificity and how it relates to resistance training, states that in order to train a specific muscle or muscle group to become bigger, stronger, powerful, or have endurance you need to train accordingly. For instance, if you wanted to increase your one repetition maximum (power) on the bench press you wouldn't do multiple reps and if you wanted to increase your muscular endurance you wouldn't do only one repetition. The principal of specificity also applies to exercise selection. If you want to work your triceps (back of arms) you wouldn't do biceps curls, you would train the triceps with appropriate exercises that are going to target the triceps muscle group. 

 

Simply doing crunches, sit-ups, or leg raises will not give you a washboard stomach.

In order to achieve the look of a washboard stomach or six-pack you must also lose the fat that is covering the abdominal muscles. So in addition to doing strengthening exercises for your midsection, you should also incorporate cardio and follow a nutritional program to optimally shed the fat so that your abdominals show.

 

Your abdominals are like any other muscle group. After training them they need time to rest, rebuild, and grow stronger (approx. 48 hrs.).

Too many people think they have to train them everyday. Furthermore, technique is paramount when training abdominals. Don't fall into the trap of trying to do as many as possible with lousy form. Read more.

 

You cannot "spot reduce" or lose fat in a specific area of your body.

Fat loss occurs all over your body not just in one spot over another.

 

Becoming overzealous and training with more frequency will not necessarily elicit faster results.

Not giving your body enough rest between workouts will cause overtraining and will actually contradict your efforts. That's why it is important to have a qualified professional tailor a fitness program to your specific goals and schedule.

 

Your legs are the largest muscle group of your body and should account for approximately 60% of your total muscle mass. Therefore if you don't train them you stand to lose a larger amount of muscle mass than any other body part. If you do train them, you can gain significantly more muscle mass.

 

Your muscles have an internal memory in them. This is a great benefit for someone who has taken time off from training due to illness, injury, vacation, or whatever other reason. This allows you to gain back your strength and muscle much faster than it initially took for you to achieve. Once you get back to your previous fitness level you may plateau. Read more.

 

ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends for general strength conditioning: 2-3 times a week, 1-3 sets per exercise, 8-12 repititions, and at least one exercise per bodypart.