The Truth About Wii Fit and Weight Loss!

"You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?" - Galatians 5:7

The Wii Fit has gained popularity in the past year with the hope that it may help people lose weight. The fitness gaming system might be able to keep players in shape as it offers many types of activities - from running to pushups to yoga - but not if they don't play it.

Although more than 1.5 million homes have a Wii Fit, it has become little more than an exercise fad that will most likely come and go (just like all the fitness gadgets and gizmos they sell on late-night television).

According to this article, few people use it consistently for more than a month.

"I don't know a single person who has bought the game who uses it routinely after a month," said Brian Crecente, managing editor of the popular gaming blog Kotaku. He also stressed that getting results from the game requires dedication and real physical exertion.

Although the Wii Fit is a great marketing tool and a clever way to appeal to gamers that may not exercise, it takes more than a game to change people's habits. It takes hard work. And although the Wii Fit may be fun at first, the novelty eventually wears off and the hard work no longer seems fun.

I, personally, may not believe that the Wii Fit will make much of a difference in weight loss or getting people into shape. But it's better than no exercise at all if used consistently with a high level of effort.

If you're going to use the Wii Fit - great! It would be great to see if it makes a difference in our nation's obesity epidemic. Time will tell if it fades away like other fitness fads or if it actually makes a positive impact (as mentioned in the article about the study that will be released later this year).

Whether you decide to use the Wii Fit or another type of sport or activity for exercise, be sure to at least include 2-3 days of resistance training each week to help build muscle, strength and increase your metabolism.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, strength is very important for increased conditioning and a higher quality of life - especially as you age. I'm not sure of all the Wii Fit's capabilities, but it may not have as many resistance training options that you could get with dumbbells, barbells, odd objects or bodyweight exercises.

Just don't forget that making better choices nutritionally will be the key to your success (along with a strong support system and hard training).

Program Design Tips!

"For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil."

- Proverbs 1:32-33

If you have been resistance training for a year or two and have knowledge of how to perform various exercises but don't feel satisfied with your results, then it may be time to develop a training plan to help you make consistent progress in the gym.

Most beginners and intermediates go to the gym and perform whatever exercises they feel like doing on that particular day. I have seen many people follow a bodybuilding program where they perform chest and triceps one day, back and biceps another, legs one day (if they actually work their legs) and shoulders, calves and abs another day.

This is only one variation of many that I have seen that require a minimum of four days per week devoted to resistance training in addition to any type of energy system development or cardio that they perform in addition to the resistance training workouts. When you add it all up, it requires 6-7 days devoted to training at approximately 60-90 minutes per session. I don't know about you, but I just don't have time to train that often!

There are a few problems with a bodybuilding training plan if you're not a bodybuilder or don't have plans to compete as a bodybuilder or want to look like a bodybuilder:

• First, if you are a beginner or intermediate lifter, you may not see many results after your first few months of training. Once your body adapts to the exercises and overall volume and frequency, it will stop making gains. At this point, many lifters try to add more volume to their workouts or add additional workout days.
• Second, most people that want to get in shape don't have four, five or six days to train (which is typical of most bodybuilding programs). If you have problems getting to the gym more than three days each week, a bodybuilding program is not going to give you the best results.
• Third, a bodybuilding program typically has the lifter performing long workouts with a high amount of volume while targeting each bodypart once per week. For those of you who are time challenged, then this type of workout plan won't help you get the results you want in the time you have available.
• Fourth, most people don't want to look like a bodybuilder. Many people prefer a more athletic physique and want to lose fat, gain strength and muscle, have some sort of athleticism and be healthier than they currently are. If this sums up your goals, then a bodybuilding training plan won't help get you where you want to go.

There are more reasons why a bodybuilding training plan is not ideal for most people (other than bodybuilders), but the above bullet points give you something to think about.

I was speaking with a friend recently that asked me for some tips on what she should be doing in the gym. This is what I recommended, and it's a good way to help you design your own training plan so you can continue getting the results you want to meet your goals.

Program Design 101

First, keep it simple. How many days do you have available to train at the gym (or at home if you have a home gym)? How much time can you devote to training each session? If you have 30-60 minutes, two-to-three times per week, then the following tips will be very useful for you.

If you can perform 2-3 resistance training workouts each week, then I would recommend using two full-body workouts (A and B) that you can alternate 2-3 times each week. The A-B split, as it is known, was popularized by Charles Staley (for a good article and sample training plan suited for intermediate and advanced trainees, see this article).

For the "A" workout, choose a leg exercise (squat variation), a horizontal push variation (bench) and a horizontal pull variation (rowing) as your three main exercises. Perform as a circuit moving from one exercise to the next with fairly short rest periods (sets/reps to come). Finish the "A" workout with some arm and ab exercises (keep it under 10 minutes total).

For the "B" workout, choose a leg exercise (deadlift variation), a vertical push variation (overhead presses) and a vertical pull variation (chins/lat pulldowns). Do them as a circuit like the A workout. Finish with some abs and arm or extra shoulder/upper back/rear delt exercises (keep it under 10 minutes).

For the sets and reps, try something like this:

Day 1: 4x6 or 5x5 (make this your heavy day)

Day 2: 3x8, 3x10 or 3x12 (this is your medium day)

Day 3: 2x20 or 2x15 (this is your light day)

The reason I like to use different sets and reps each day is because your body can only handle so much heavy lifting. By dividing your days into heavy, medium and light, it will help prevent potential overuse issues and joint pain and problems.

It also helps keep your body from adapting too quickly to the workouts while helping you train for strength, hypertrophy (muscle gain) and strength endurance (or speed strength) all in the same week. This is a term called undulating periodization and has been popularized by Alwyn Cosgrove (see this article for more information and tips).

Using the above sets and reps, you can alternate your "A" and "B" workouts like this:

Week 1

Day 1: "A" workout (sets/reps above, i.e. 4x6 or 5x5)

Day 2: "B" workout (sets/reps above, i.e. 3x12 or 3x10)

Day 3: "A" workout (sets/reps above, i.e. 2x20 or 2x15)

Week 2

Day 1: "B" workout (sets/reps above, i.e. 4x6 or 5x5)

Day 2: "A" workout (sets/reps above, i.e. 3x12 or 3x10)

Day 3: "B" workout (sets/reps above, i.e. 2x20 or 2x15)

Weeks 3 (same as week 1) and Week 4 (same as week 2).

At the end of week 4, you would change the exercises for your next four-week phase and change sets/reps so you don't perform the exact same set/reps as your previous training block.

You can continue to use this type of training template for a long time and make consistent gains (or losses if you are trying to lose fat)!

One benefit to the training template above is that you only repeat each workout every three weeks. This makes it hard for the body to adapt and also helps keep your motivation high knowing that you don't repeat the exact same workout too frequently while still seeing results.

You can perform your cardio or interval training after your resistance training workouts for conditioning and fat-loss benefits or on your "off" days depending on how much time you have available to train each week. You can easily adjust the above template to fit your time constraints.

If you only have 30 minutes to train, perform a general 5-minute warm-up and then perform one warm-up set for each of the three exercises in your circuit. Rest 1-2 minutes and then perform your work sets for each exercise for the amount of sets/reps required that day.

Since you will be using compound exercises that hit more muscles of the body, you will get a sufficient full-body workout using only three main exercises each workout requiring only about 30 minutes.

If you have more than 30 minutes, then you can add the extra arm, shoulder and ab exercises that I listed previously and also devote some time to a proper dynamic warm-up and any additional exercises or cardio that you may need to perform.

If you have questions about this type of training template, feel free to post some comments below. I can list suggested exercises to use and even a sample training program. With these basic program design tips, you'll be able to get more out of your training and continue seeing results!

Low-Carb and Mediterranean Diets are Both Winners for Fat Loss!

"You cause grass to grow for the livestock and plants for people to use. You allow them to produce food from the earth..."
- Psalm 104:14

In one of the longest and largest studies comparing dueling weight-loss techniques, a low-carb diet and a Mediterranean-style regimen helped people lose more weight than a traditional low-fat diet.

The low-carb diet also helped improve cholesterol more than the other two. All three approaches (the low-carb diet, a low-fat diet and a Mediterranean diet) achieved weight loss and improved cholesterol, but the low-carb diet and Mediterranean diet were the clear winners.

Average weight loss for the low-carb group was 10.3 pounds. Those in the Mediterranean diet lost 10 pounds and those on the low-fat diet dropped 6.5 pounds. The low-carb group had the most improvement in several cholesterol measures, including the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL (the "good" cholesterol).

Most of the participants were men and all men and women in the study got roughly equal amounts of exercise (but it did not state what type or how much exercise).

As for how the diets were broken down, the low-fat diet restricted calories and focused on low-fat grains, vegetables and fruits with no more than 30 percent of calories from fat.

The Mediterranean diet had similar calorie, fat and cholesterol restrictions, with an emphasis on poultry, fish, olive oil and nuts.

The low-carb diet set limits for carbohydrates, but none for calories or fat. Dieters were encouraged to choose vegetarian sources of fat and protein (and not a lot of butter, eggs and cream).

Once again, low-carb diets prove to be healthier and more effective for fat loss. However, I should clarify that a low-carb diet doesn't mean you no longer eat vegetables and fruits. In fact, a low-carb diet should include as many fibrous vegetables as possible along with low-calorie, low-sugar and low-carb fruits such as berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries), apples and oranges.

A lower carb diet is easy to follow if you remember the following tips:

• Eat protein with every meal from lean meats (organic beef, chicken, fish, bison, venison, etc.), eggs (whole eggs, preferably organic) dairy (organic milk, yogurt, cheese and cottage cheese), raw nuts and protein powders
• Eat plenty of vegetables with each meal - the greener and more colorful the better (broccoli, spinach, green beans, asparagus, peas, zucchini, brussel sprouts, green peppers, lima beans, squash, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, etc.)
• Eat plenty of healthy fats from olive oil, raw nuts and seeds, avocados, natural peanut butter as well as fats from lean meats, whole eggs, dairy products, etc.
• Limit starchy carbohydrates such as grains (bread and corn), potatoes, rice, pasta and sugar.

In fact, Mike Roussell recommends following the six pillars of nutrition:

1. Eat five or six times a day.
2. Limit your consumption of sugars and processed foods
3. Eat fruits and vegetables throughout the day.
4. Drink more water and cut out calorie-containing beverages (beer, soda, juice, etc.)
5. Focus on consuming lean proteins throughout the day.
6. Save starch-containing foods (in small quantities) until after a workout or for breakfast.

If you follow the tips above and consume a lower carb diet, you will be able to lose fat and improve your health. Adding exercise to your nutritional program in the form of resistance training and high-intensity interval training will increase the benefits to your health and body composition.

Dara Torres Overcomes Age With Exercise!

"God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect."

- Psalm 18:32

At 41, former University of Florida swimmer Dara Torres has qualified for her fifth Olympics - despite taking several years off, giving birth just two years ago and undergoing two surgeries within the past eight months.

Many people are amazed at this feat (or screaming "performance enhancers"), but exercise experts say Dara's success at least partly reflects advances in training - and that many of us could come closer to similar achievements than we think.

Sure, we can't forget about genetics and other advantages such as opportunity, motivation and incentive to train hard. But besides genetics, those advantages are not impossible for anyone to achieve.

It shows us what we can do. It's just that most people won't push themselves to do what Dara has done. Instead, I hear people in their 30s, 40s, 50s (and some in their 20s) who make excuses for the fact that they've gained weight, lost strength or no longer have the athletic physique they once had in high school or college.

Rather than doing something about it, they act and respond in a way that is self-defeating and shows that they don't have the motivation, desire, dedication, discipline or work ethic to make changes (or they suffer from "paralysis by analysis" and spend more time thinking or debating rather than doing).

For athletes at any level, a gradual decline in endurance and speed occurs in the 30s and 40s, roughly half a percent a year, even with continued training. However, strength can be gained and maintained well beyond the 30s, 40s and 50s (look at Jack Lalanne!). Not everyone will make it to the Olympics, but with plenty of hard work, a proper nutritional plan and a few of the traits mentioned previously, a lot of improvement can take place. Healthy people can significantly improve their athletic performance with the kinds of exercises Dara does.

So how does Dara do it? Her training regimen includes a lot of resistance training. This includes free weights, bodyweight exercises, weight machines and other tools to strengthen her entire body in addition to skill specific training (swimming, in this case). Dara's intense resistance training program has helped her achieve the best shape of her life, allowing her to beat competitors half her age.

Resistance training works. The key is to follow a customized training program built for your individual needs while avoiding overtraining and taking time to warm-up and cool down.

So what are you waiting for?


Here's a good article about Dara's recent accomplishments - Click here!

Burn Fat and Increase Metabolism With Resistance and Interval Training!

"When you walk, you won’t be held back; when you run, you won’t stumble." - Proverbs 4:12

I've discussed resistance training and interval training in previous blogs. Resistance training and interval training has been proven to be more effective for fat loss, cardiovascular conditioning and increased metabolism than steady-state aerobic training.

Here's a good study on interval training:

University Of Guelph (2007, June 29).
Interval Training Burns More Fat, Increases Fitness, Study Finds.

Read the article here: ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 22, 2008.


Here's another good study posted by Alwyn Cosgrove that shows how metabolism is increased for 38 hours or more following circuit-based resistance training:

Schuenke MD, Mikat RP, McBride JM.
Effect of an acute period of resistance exercise on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC): implications for body fat management.

Eur J Appl Physiol 2002 Mar; 86(5): 411-7

This group looked at the effects of circuit weight training on EPOC. The exercise routine consisted of three exercises (the bench press, the power clean and the squat) performed with 10RM loads as a circuit. The circuit was performed four times (i.e. twelve total sets) and took 31 mins.

EPOC was elevated for 38 hours post workout. The duration and magnitude of the EPOC observed in this study indicates the importance of the role of high-intensity resistance training in a fat loss program.

(Although the study showed that EPOC was elevated for 38 hours, it could be more than that - the researchers stopped tracking it at this point. Further studies are needed to see if EPOC can be raised for many more additional hours.)

This type of information should go a long way in helping fitness professionals design and implement effective fat loss programs. It's not the workout - it's the effect of that workout on EPOC.

EPOC stands for Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption and is defined scientifically as the “recovery of metabolic rate back to pre-exercise levels.” It can require several minutes for light exercise and several hours for hard intervals.

In layman’s terms, it means you keep burning calories at an increased rate after a workout. We call this: Metabolic disturbance - elevating EPOC to maximize caloric burn for the other 23+ hours per day.

Is there much of a real world effect of burning 300 calories per workout (e.g. aerobic work) if I don't elevate EPOC? If we could elevate EPOC even an apparently insignificant 1/4 of a calorie per minute for the 38 hours that the study showed, then that 31-minute resistance training workout would burn maybe 300 calories during the session plus an extra 570 calories over the next 38 hours.

That becomes very significant. In the past, fitness professionals and researchers have looked at how much fat is burned during the exercise session itself. This is extremely short-sighted. As my colleague Alan Aragon said:

"Caring how much fat is burned during training makes as much sense as caring how much muscle is built during training."

Think about that. If we looked at a weight training session that started at 9am and finished at 10am, how much muscle would we see built if we stopped looking at 10am? None. In fact, we'd see muscle damage. We could make the conclusion that weight training does not increase muscle. In fact, it decreases muscle, right?

It's only when we look at the big picture and look at the recovery from the session that we find the reverse is true: Weight training builds muscle. (Muscle is broken down during training and then is built during the recovery period to become bigger and stronger.)

Fat loss training is the same way. If someone talks about the benefits of the "fat burning zone" or "fasted cardio," it is a sure sign that the individual has stopped looking at the end of the exercise session. They have come to the conclusion that fasted, lower intensity steady-state exercise burns the most fat, and they have made a massive leap of faith to suggest it is best for real world fat loss. Using that same logic, these same people would suggest avoiding weight training if you want to grow muscle.

Take home message: Focus on the metabolic disturbance created after training not just what happens during the exercise session.