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Help me study for the NASM (personal training / fitness), have fun and learn stuff!
manwiththemachinegun
METAL GEAR?!Registered User regular
METAL GEAR?!Registered User regular
So, as something kind of fun. I'm supplementing my career in education with personal training. I've started getting back in decent shape over the past year, and have enjoyed teaching classes at a local gym. Now, I want to make it official, so I'm taking the National Academy of Sports Medicine certified personal training or CPT test.
So how this is going to work is, if you know anything about the NASM, feel free to ask me questions that come from their curriculum.
If you don't know anything about the NASM, that's cool. Just ask me any basic fitness question you want and I'll answer it as best I can with information directly from the textbook. And people can yell at me if I get it wrong! Everyone wins! :P
So how this is going to work is, if you know anything about the NASM, feel free to ask me questions that come from their curriculum.
If you don't know anything about the NASM, that's cool. Just ask me any basic fitness question you want and I'll answer it as best I can with information directly from the textbook. And people can yell at me if I get it wrong! Everyone wins! :P
manwiththemachinegun on
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What is the best cardio that isn't running that will get rid of my tummy?
So what's something I can do indoors that won't trigger my asthma or make me feel sick?
Were you being really good about doing exactly what Couch-to-5k was telling you to do? I know when I first started I kinda felt like I knew better than the program and tried to be more aggressive than it told me to, which was bad. Were you starting at week 1 and not jumping ahead (like some places occasionally recommend?)
You could also maybe repeat week 1 a few times so your knees get a chance to toughen up on the lightest part of the program, but if even that gives you knee pain then I'd definitely reevaluate.
Knee pain is most often a result of poor form and/or improper footwear (usually both). Check out POSE running technique*, and go to a proper running store to have someone check your gait to fit you for an appropriate shoe. If done properly, there should be very little impact on your joints from long distance running. Don't be afraid to slow your pace down while you get it sorted out.
*Basically, keep a relatively upright posture with a slight forward lean. Land on the middle/ball of your foot directly under you - don't reach out and land on your heels. Rinse/repeat. In the immortal words of Buzz Lightyear, it's falling...with style.
Losing your beer belly is done entirely in the kitchen - (almost) no exercise routine is going to undo a shitty diet. There's tons of things you can do if running isn't your bag - swimming, biking, rowing are all great cardio workouts, but so are tennis, pickup basketball, and ultimate frisbee. Find something you enjoy and do it consistently - the consistency part is far more important than what specifically you choose to do for a workout. (Also, if you hate cardio in general - don't do it. Weight training, gymnastics, yoga, whatever. Seriously, everything works as long as your diet is in order. Life's to short to do an exercise you don't like).
So, basically the same story as above, but in the other direction. If you want to gain muscle mass, that's done mostly in the kitchen. All of the working out in the world won't build muscle mass unless you eat enough to support it (that mass has to come from somewhere, after all). Eat more, and eat more protein. Combine that with some sort of strength training protocol* and you'll be well on your way.
*If you have access to a gym, check out Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. That said, you don't need weights to strength train - check out Overcoming Gravity or Convict Conditioning for bodyweight options.
I heartily disagree. A beer belly just means extra fat on your body that just happens to be on your belly, and so any standard weight loss philosophy applies. And while yes, good diet is very very important, I also think it's extremely hard to maintain a calorie deficit with diet changes alone. Weight loss through just diet and no exercise also very often leads to rebounding and regaining the pounds you just lost.
Where I will agree with you is that it's important to find cardio you enjoy. In terms of efficient use of your time, swimming and bicycling are two of the 'best' cardio activities aside from running, but the real best cardio is something you can enjoy and maintain as a part of your regular routine.
Good point. Ok, here's my NASM question for the OP.
Is it true you can't lose fat and gain muscle at the same time? I want to do regular 3-5 mile runs as well as some strength training, but the internet seems to tell me that I'm wasting my time if I'm not trying to do dedicated cut and bulk phases. I have a hard time believing that running 15-20 miles a week and lifting weights here and there isn't going to leave me with more muscle and less fat.
I'm not saying that exercise doesn't matter, but coming in with a question of "what exercise do I need to do to lose my beer belly" is almost assuredly coming from the wrong place, when the answer is "any of them, as long as you are consistent". So you hit the gym for the 5am spin class and put in the highest intensity hour of your life. Great. It's all gone when you stop at Starbucks on the way to work and pick up a mocha and a muffin. The point I am trying to make is losing weight is all about diet first. I know lots of people who hit their goal weights doing nothing more intensive than walking, but no exercise in the world is going to shed your belly if you keep pounding the pizza and beer that put it there in the first place.
Edit: your point on rebounding after dieting is a good one, but I think that's more common with people who simply starve themselves down to their goal weights (ie, eat the same shit as before, just less of it). Actually changing your lifestyle to a healthier diet is a much more sustainable change. Also, transitioning from weight loss to maintenance is something that doesn't get talked about nearly enough, in general.
As to your question - my experience is that it is possible gain muscle/lose fat simultaneously, it's just really really slow. 3-5 mile runs aren't really long enough to hamper any strength training goals, but what you will find is that you'll reach a point where you just don't get any stronger unless you start eating more.
Lots of things! What do you enjoy? Walking? Cycling? Rowing? Kickboxing? Using running as an example thought, the important thing about cardio, which I didn't know until recently, that there's really not much difference in how many calories you burn walking vs running. Running and high intensity exercise have additional benefits, don't get me wrong, but in terms of calories lost? Walking three miles will burn you roughly the same amount of calories as running, especially if you're walking fast! We're talking a difference of only around 10-20% between walking as fast as you can, and running a 6:30 mile! The more miles you go, the more easily this is seen. As long as you're putting in the effort and sweating for more than 10-15 minutes, you're getting a full cardio workout and all the benefits that come with it! Someone who walks 5 miles will always burn more calories than someone who runs 2.5 mile as fast as they can.
Doing a bunch of sits or ab routines will strengthen your abdominal muscles, which is good (to a point). But it won't flatten your abs or decrease your body fat percentage by itself! Your body fat percentage is waaaaay more important than how many sit ups you can do or what your weight is when it comes to abs.
I love how technical NASM gets sometimes, so here's the next weight loss thing: the law of thermodynamics! To lose weight, calories burned must be greater than calorie intake. It's that simple. There's no mythical fat burning zone with cardio, nor will you screw up your metabolism by eating a large dinner so long as the total calories you eat per day are lower than what you need to maintain your current weight, you will lose weight. The reason WHY people are told to to spread meals out is to help with saiety, or, how full you feel. If you're full, you don't feel the need to eat as much. So, find a nutritious diet that works for you. Have fat be between 20-35%, carbs between 45-65% and protein between 10-25%. Those are averages, some people will need more protein in their diet, others more carbs, but that's a good place to start! There's no medical benefit for a diet that includes less that 15% fat on a daily basis.
In general, don't exercise for more than 90 minutes at a time! If you're super dedicated you can always work out twice, but the idea is not to get dehydrated or run out of glucose for your body to run on.
I actually sort of messed up my knees as well after a medical procedure. The procedure itself was minor, but I changed how I walked and after a few months my knees started clicking. I'm better now, but for a while it hurt to do any kind of cardio which sucked!
You may have muscle imbalances in your body just like I did. There are several tests you can take to see if you have any major ones. All a muscle imbalances means is your body isn't functioning at an optimum level mechanically. MOST people have at least one, so it's not a big deal. The three big ones are lower crossed, upper crossed, and pronation distortion syndrome.
The long and short of it is, if you have one of these, do some mild exercises to strengthen your weak muscles and stretch your tight muscles. When you're walking around, check yourself to see if your feet are pointing forward, your hips are under your skull, your back isn't arching forward or backwards, and your shoulders aren't hunched. Once you start correcting those imbalances, it should help with the pain. To start getting back to running, start slowly! Try a few minutes of walking, then run at a steady pace for one to two minutes, and then go back to walking. I'll go into more detail about these imbalances later because assessing them, for me, is an important job.
It's really up to you! Walking, cycling, rowing, kickboxing, anything that's requires use of the oxidative energy system in your body is considered cardio. In the OPT model, cardio is broken into three zones, 1, 2, and 3. 1 is 65%-75%, 2 is 76-85%, and 3 is 86-90% of your maximum heart rate. A quick way to find your max HR is 220 and subtract your age. The top number is 100% It's not perfect, but it's fast and dirty. If you have any medical concerns, check with your doctor to make sure there aren't any underlining issues. There are a few cardio tests you can do to find which zone you should start in. It's also important not to overdo cardio right out of the gate. If you feel dizzy or sick, slow down to a slower intensity and make sure you're getting adequate fluids. If it doesn't go away after a few more minutes, stop, and only continue if you feel up to it. Fitness is the tortoise and the hare, you'll become healthier as long as you keeping pushing for reasonable, measurable goals.
Once you find out where to start, you can always move up or down the intensity! So there's always room for progress, the main thing is consistency and knowing your body's limits. It takes time for your body to adapt but it WILL adapt if you're consistent.
It sounds like though you want to gain muscle mass, I'll go into the basics of strength training. But the basic rule is, if you feel sick, slow down or drop the weight, and make sure you're drinking enough water. Every 20 minutes of exercise you do, you should drink at least a little water. Looking back, it seems like I didn't answer much of your original question! :P But look at the next question where I cover some weight training stuff.
It is true that you can't out train a poor diet. So no hijacking is in progress. :P
In a technical sense, no, that's not true for the average person. In fact, nearly everyone can benefit from a good cardio routine. The tricky part is balancing your diet so you're burning carbs and fat while you're doing cardio, not protein aka muscle. You're probably not going to be running a 6:00 mile and bench pressing 500lbs unless you're Batman though! :P Your goal sounds quite reasonable, and you can measure your progress fairly easily. In fact, keeping track of your progress every week or so is going to help you see the gains you're making!
There are five training phases of the OTP model which you cycle through every four weeks at different levels depending on your goal. There are three general categories, weight loss (phase 1 and 2), muscle gain (3, 4, 5), and improved sports performance (1, 2, 5). If you want to increase muscle size while still doing cardio, plan your days so you have light cardio when you have a big weight training routine, and heavy cardio with a lighter routine. For increasing muscle size, you want to do 2-4 exercises per body part, and 3-5 sets of THOSE exercises for phase 3. Repetitions should be between 6-12, with a 0-60 second break after each set. Aim for around 15-20 sets. The weight should be heavy enough that you feel like you can't do one more rep before you stop. You should feel sore the next day, but not in pain.
Give your body rest days as well. It's different for each person. I'll go into the maximum strength training phase later. But long story short, yeah, you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. I have. It just may not be as fast or efficient as doing one at a time, which is probably why people who have been lifting or running for years advocate one or the other (cardio or muscle gain). I'll break down different kinds of weight training more in a future post, but the three basic levels are muscle endurance, hypertrophy (growing the size of the muscle) and maximal strength (you see a lot of one rep maxs here).
It's difficult (but not impossible) for example to train for a marathon while keeping your weight lifting muscle mass, because your body's energy needs and physical adaptions are competing against each other. Running long distance requires huge energy, which eventually draws on protein, muscle, if it runs out of carbs and fat. Lifting weights on the other hand, in a non circuit routine, isn't cardio, because it draws on a separate short term energy system your body uses called the ATP-PC system, and the glycolysis system. This is a short term energy system which only lasts for 10-15 seconds and 60 seconds respectively, but replenishes quickly. If you ONLY lift weights using those energy systems, you're going to feel like you're going to die if you start running, because your body has been training with another energy system. :P Make sense?
Perhaps I just took you too strongly when you said "losing a beer belly is done entirely in the kitchen," which made it sound like you were saying weight loss was done through diet and not exercise.
So if I understand you right...
Current Universe: I am running a few times a week, eating sensibly, and I am happy to see the number on the scale go down and cinch my belt a bit. But without me realizing it, I'm losing a bunch of muscle along with losing fat.
Alternate Universe: I am running the same amount, but adding some strength training to the regimen. I will still happily see the number on the scale go down, but now it'll moreso be just fat that I'm losing?
Slowly improving performance, you want your strength to go up with weights, and your time to go down with cardio. Which is doable. If you're trying look better (which overlaps with performance in most areas), a body fat percentage of 10-20 for men and 15-20 for women is gonna look pretty dang good if you've been doing resistance and cardio training. Hip-to-waist ratio is also a good indicator of health and attractiveness in body types. Just divide your waist by your hip measurements. A waist to hip ratio of above .95 for men and .85 for women is a sign that you probably need to lose some weight for health purposes.
Here's a couple.
If a client is rounding their upper back during back squats, what corrective exercises should be done?
What energy pathway is used during heavy weightlifting?
How do you detect anterior pelvic tilt and how would you correct it?
I went with NASM after talking with a number of people and doing some research. I understood it was a good mix between difficult and appropriate for someone just starting out in the business, especially since I don't have a background in sports training or physical ed. A few people I know have ACE, which seemed to be rather easy, and many people / sites I found mentioned many gyms across the country accept NASM which is important as I may be moving soon. I don't know much about NSCA, but I'm always open to getting future certifications.
Depending on the number of reps, the ATP-PC system is used for explosive bursts such as a short sprint or several reps near a lifter's one rep max. The glycosis system is used for resistance for sets between 6-12, but no more than one minute. Recovering these systems can take anywhere from one, to several minutes depending on how much weight is being lifted.
If a client is rounding their upper back during back squats, it shows a weakness in their abdominal core stabilizers, hamstrings, and glutial muscles. Also the... Gastrocnemus? I'm not 100% sure on that one. In any case, the overactive muscles of the latissimus dorsi and erector spineii (sic) should be stretched on a foam roller or with static stretching between 30-60 seconds, along with the... bicep femoris? The underactive muscles should be strengthened with exercises such as the ball squat. Marching is also a good begining exercise for strengthening the core muscles.
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How was that? :P
If anyone wants to keep asking questions, go ahead. And same rules apply, if I mess something up, feel free to speak up, or just present an alternate training strategy. I'm happy to learn, and also to share info.
I back off at that point because of the numbers, but if I just went by how my body felt I wouldn't have felt any need to back off, and I probably would have felt fine pushing myself even harder if I wanted to.
The more fit you are however, the lower your heart rate will be at rest and during exercise.
Basically just exercise smart. There's nothing wrong with strenuous exercise done right. The trick though is that after a while it should start to feel like less of an effort at that same level. And depending on how far you're running, just make sure you're getting adequate water before, during and after. Unless you're doing exclusive long distance endurance stuff, up to 90 minutes of difficult training is going to be plenty for most people, and that's not counting twice a day training.
These things are scams, right?
Good to know!
In terms of turning a gut into six pack? Absolutely they're a scam. :P I'm assuming it's doing something like electrical stimulation of the muscles so you're burning a few extra calories walking around the house. Here's the thing, it won't fix a poor diet, and you can do two core exercises moving around the house, bracing and drawing in, both of which work your core muscles and are super important building blocks for your whole body. Bracing is squeezing your abs and glutes tight while performing an exercise like lifting something heavy (in addition to lifting with your legs of course). Drawing in is pulling your naval as close as you can towards your spine, while still breathing and moving normally. So sucking in your abs and holding it there for up to a few minutes at a time, remember of course to breath normally.
Body fat percentage is the single most important thing to having a flat, defined stomach. And that means cardio, lots and lots of cardio, in addition to strength building exercises. :P