Q&A for: 25-Aug-05
415. Q:
MIke, pretty much every time i do leg days, i end up getting nautious 3/4 the way thru my workout.. ahve to sit and eventually end up throwing up in the parkinglot of my gym.., why does this always happen to me?
A:
Props to you for working out that hard! But you should be able to continue working that hard and not throw up. There are usually two causes of throwing up in or after the gym. One is your pre-workout meal and two is lack of hydration.
If you don't allow enough time between your pre-workout meal and the gym, you're much more likely to throw up after a heavy exercise bout (such as legs). Give it more time, perhaps a full hour or even more to settle and digest.
Some meals take a lot less time than others to digest, but one universal truth is that the more water or othe fluid you drink right before, during, and after your meal, the longer it'll take to digest and the more likely it'll cause stomach discomfort. This happens because water dilutes the acids in your stomach which break down the food you eat. So try to drink as little water as possible during your meal and insted drink it in between meals. This is also true if your pre-workout meal is a protein shake -- use as little water as possible in it.
If you time your pre-workout meal well, then you should not feel the food rising back up during your workout. Because the food is already digested and because you're exercising and sweating so heavily, you should drink quite a bit of plain water in the gym. Plain water does not require any digestion and should not cause any stomach discomfort if you've allowed enough time between your pre-workout meal and the gym. Don't drink a lot at once, but take a few gulps after every set.
Doing those two things (eating right/allowing enough time to digest before the gym and drinking plain water during the workout) should help you fix this problem.
416. Q:
how do i get rid of love handles and slim down in my waist area in 3 months
A:
Please read this article and follow its directions. 3 months may not be enough time to lose the lovehandles completely since optimal sustained fat-loss is a slow process of losing 1-2 pounds per week -- the slower the better. If you're significantly overweight, you can aim for 2 pounds per week (reduce portion sizes to speed up weight loss), but I would advise against losing faster than that since you'll just end up losing a lot of muscle and killing your metabolism way before you reach your final goal. So adjust your diet for 1-2 pound/week weightloss.
You should see good progress after 3 months, but it is probably not enough time to completely lose the love handles. The progress you do see should provide enough motivation to continue however. Good luck!
418. Q:
Hi, ive begun to do some weight training in the last few weeks to help work on my flabby chest and stomach areas. Ive been doing bench presses for the chest but have been put off as it appears to me that it is making matters worse by pushing the flab out, making it look more unnatural. I was wondering if I should stick with the bench presses or if this will it continue to emphasise the fat?
I am only really having this problem on the right side of my chest (where as right handed i presume i was already more built up) - i am quite happy with progress on the left side. is it normal to have this unevenness and are there any tips to even things out?
Many Thanks
A:
I recommend that you continue with the bench press but even more importantly make sure that your diet and your other weight-training are appropriate for your goal of losing fat. If you're not sure, check out my Fitness Guide -- it will give you a full weight training program, cardio, and sample diet recommendations.
The bench press is an excellent exercise, but it works maybe 20% of your entire muscle mass which means that you're losing out on 80% of potential fat-burning. Remember: your body will not burn only chest fat just because you do bench presses -- the fat loss will be from all of your body and exercising as many muscles as possible will ensure that all of that fat, including the chest and stomach, is gone as soon as possible.
As for your second question, such asymmetry (one side bigger/stronger than the other) is quite common. It will even out with time and weighttraining and you can help it along by doing more dumbbell exercises than barbell exercises while making sure that both sides lift the same weight the same number of times. So for the bench press, do it with dumbbells most of the time and throw in barbell occasionally for variety.
419. Q:
Mike, when I take the day of from the gym, should I still take my creatine and protein? Thanks.
A:
Yes, you should. Your body is repairing the muscle tissue on your off-days and it needs the basic muscle building blocks -- protein -- to do so. And by continuing to take creating on off-days you make sure that its levels in the muscles are always high. If you don't take it for a couple of days, then you'd need to go through the equivalent of mini-loading phase before the next gym day. In short, keep taking both on off-days.
420. Q:
mike i'm a 13 year old kid and i have man boobs i wanted to know how i can get ride of them please tell me how. Rafael
A:
First of all, keep in mind that you're still young and haven't hit your main growth spurt. Therefore you should NOT try to lose weight and you should NOT push yourself so hard while exercising that you risk injury. A serious injury can permanently stunt your growth, which is probably the last thing you want. So when you do exercise, do it under adult supervision whenever possible and do NOT go to failure on any exercise. And a weightloss diet is even more likely to have negative consequences and lead to underdevelopment, so don't try that unless you're truly obese.
Having gotten that out of the way, the good news is that at your age all you have to do is clean up your diet and be generally active (sports, weight training, any recreational activities, and even work around the house) and your upcoming growth spurt will take care of all the baby fat you might have on you, including chest fat.
Cleaning up your diet means eating healthy foods like veggies, especially green veggies (spinach, lettuce, broccoli, green beans), fruits, whole grains (old-fashioned oatmeal, brown rice, and whole-grain bread), lean meats and poultry, fish, nuts (but not oil-roasted) and olive oil for your salads and veggies (but not in cooking). Things to avoid are candy and sweets, soda and soft drinks, junk food (burgers, pizza, chips), juices (eat real fruits instead), white bread, white rice, and pasta. In general avoid pre-packaged foods in favor of healthier alternatives whenever you can. For example, have plain old-fashioned oatmeal instead of Captain Crunch for breakfast. Or have tuna sandwich on whole-grain bread instead of Lean Pockets. Ask your parents to help you eat healthier, buy more veggies and fruits -- they'll probably be more than happy to oblige.
Have some patience, don't look for quick fixes, just start eating healthy and exercise. By the age of 15 you'll look great while your peers are getting more and more out of shape all around you. And by the age 35 you'll really thank me :)
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