Q&A for: 30-Jul-05
260. Q:
Is doing one exercise which works the triceps and biceps more beneficial than working on one machine which isolates the triceps followed by another which isolates the biceps.
A:
Honestly I can't think of any exercise, machine or otherwise, that significantly works both triceps and biceps at the same time. Biceps and triceps are responsible for opposite actions (elbox flexion vs. elbow extension). It's more likely that one of two is being worked while the other provides some stabilization. This, for example is the case with dumbbell shoulder presses -- biceps stabilize the arms while triceps get a good workout helping the deltoid muscles push the dumbbells up. But this would not constitute a good bicep workout. So to answer your question, you'll probably want to work both of them separately to make sure they both get a good workout.
261. Q:
My butt is pretty small for a female, because I gain most of my weight in my stomach. I am trying to lose about 10 lbs but I don't want my butt to get any smaller. Is there a way to maintain it's size by replacing the fat with muscle, or better yet to maybe even build it a little bigger without getting big muscles all over?
A:
You do not have any control over where your body prefers to store and to lose fat, so you can't target your butt for fat loss or fat retention. You can however definitely target your butt and your lower body in general for muscle gain! Probably the best single exercise for the butt is in-place and/or walking lunges (walking lunges is walking forward taking very big exaggerated steps with the forward leg bent 90 degrees or more at the knee and the trailing leg has the knee touching the floor at its lowest point). The squat will also work your butt a lot. You can find information about those exercises on my Essential Exercises page. Finally, if you have access to the gym, you will probably find some sort of a machine which essentially perform the motion of pulling/pushing one leg straight back at a time -- that works your butt as well. You can duplicate the effect of that exercise at home by kneeling down on the floor with your lower legs and your hands on the floor. Then straightening one leg out and lifting it up before lowering it. Alternate legs to work both sides.
Going back to fat loss however, you can only lose fat over all and let your body decide where exactly it wants to lose it. My fat loss article is here. If you follow an aggressive lower body workout program that includes exercises I described above, you should be able to offset whatever little fat loss happens at your butt with building some new muscle there and come out better overall. Good luck!
262. Q:
What do you think about the Slim Fast 'Optima' shakes as far as how well-balanced & healthy they are? (With skim milk of course)
A:
To be perfectly blunt, those things make HORRIBLE meals. I mean you might as well eat a cheesecake. Skim milk hardly makes it any better. An Optima shake + a cup of skim milk has ohhhhh around 50 grams of carbs almost ALL of which are pure sugar. It's absolutely the last thing you want to eat or drink, no matter what your goals are (and, of course, especially when trying to lose fat). Bad bad bad bad choice.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, look at any of my fat-burning diets (I assume you're mainly after losing fat) recommended in the Nutrition article. For breakfast you should have some complex rich carbs of which plain old-fashioned oatmeal is the perfect example. Full of natural goodness (not something Slim-Fast Co. squeezed into an aluminum can), full of fiber, full of slow-digesting carbs that will keep you going ten times longer than a sugar rush will. Add to that some strawberries for more vitamins and minerals. Add to that cottage cheese or whey powder for some protein. And now you're talking about a real breakfast.
If you're not thinking about just the breakfast, then look at other meals. They have few carbs and whatever carbs are there come from vegetables! Again, tons of minerals and vitamins, tons of fiber, something that will last you a few hours. Plus fish or chicken or meat for protein. No simple sugars!
And in case I haven't said it enough Slim-Fast products are H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E!
263. Q:
I have been doing a vertical bench press at 90 pounds now for 4 weeks but I am not able to go beyond 90 pounds.And I dont like to workout till i feel a burning sensation. If I do feel a burning I immediately stop. Is this a good idea. I do this cause I don't want to get injured.
A:
Well, you certainly don't need to go to absolute muscular failure on exercises, but you do need to push yourself to some degree and you certainly should feel some muscle tiredness and discomfort in the last couple reps of any set. As long as you maintain good proper form, you will not suffer an injury. Eventually you will hit strength plateaus like this, but right now you just need to start pushing yourself more in the gym.
265. Q:
Will strength training build muscle or is it only designed to strengthen the muscle? Is there even a difference?
A:
The two of course go hand-in-hand, but there's some difference in program structure and in ultimate results. However it is very beneficial to use both approaches throughout your long-term training, whether your goal is to build muscle or to get stronger. If you care more about muscle size maybe only spend 2-4 months out of the year training for strength. If you care more about strength, spend 2-4 months out of the year training for size.
266. Q:
What would you suggest someone who is totally broke (like me) do about eating healthier? It's disgusting how much cheaper it is to buy frozen dinners than it is to buy chicken! (The government is so focused on making pills cheaper when they should really focus on making healthy food cheaper...thus eliminating the need for pills! But don't even get me started!) I saw your suggestion for the college student, and the eggs & tuna fish are great suggestions, but I can't have that for every meal every day. Any other suggestions?
A:
Eating healthy does not have to be expensive. While things salmon and skinless boneless chicken breasts add up fast, you can still have a very healthy diet with a little creativity:
- Eat lots of legumes. Lentils and beans of all sorts. All legumes are nearly 50/50 protein/carbs and carbs are of the fiberous complex variety that you want. Just don't eat canned -- cook them yourself.
- Eat more veggies in general. They're relatively cheap and are very healthy. Compromise and go with packs of frozen veggies if needed.
- Eat plain old-fashioned oatmeal! It's supercheap and is my favorite which just doesn't get any respect. It's great with cinnamon or some fruits or berries thrown in.
- Consider joining Costco or Sam's Club. You can get very good deals on lean beef, lean turkey, salmon, chicken breasts, eggs, bananas, etc.
- Eat plain-roasted almonds and use olive oil in your salads. Both are very calorie-rich and very good for you in moderation. Just remember that they're nearly 100% fat, so don't overdo them. But they're very cheap per calorie.
- Consider buying whey protein powder. It may look expensive, but it's actually cheaper per gram of protein than almost any meat or fish you can buy. You can get a 5-pound tub of whey which has around 1700 grams of protein for around $25 which works out to 1.5 cents/gram of protein. Contrast that with $3.99/lbs chicken breasts which work out to about 4.0 cents/gram of protein.
- Looks for sales, clip coupons.
If you want to eat only organic foods, than that will really cost you a lot, unfortunately. But otherwise eating healthy on a budget can be done. I personally spend an average of about $10/day on food and that's usually 7 home-made meals and around 3500 calories! Most people wouldn't eat that much so it'd be even cheaper for them. It's not a lot of money considering that just one meal in any place this side of fast food will easily cost you $10.
267. Q:
What exercises (other than running) do you recommend for building as much muscle in the calves as possible?
A:
Calves are the one muscle for which cardio exercises (running, etc.) may build the muscle even better than weight training. But as far as weight training, you should do calf raises of all sorts. Your gym should have machines for standing and sitting calf raises where you can adjust the weight. I have one of these listed on my Essential Exercises page. Finally you can try to walk on your toes around the house as much as possible -- it really works :) Just have patience, for some people calves can be very difficult to build up while others gain them quickly.
268. Q:
My son just turned one and I want to start him off eating right. It really bothers me to feed him only mac & cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. I almost always give him some vegetables for dinner, and we always share a banana in the morning (he also has oatmeal) but I am at a loss as to what to feed him for lunch, so he usually has peanut butter & jelly. Any suggestions for a one year old?
A:
Hats off to you for trying to instill the right instincts in your son! I have no children of my own and my clients are usually a little older :) so I am not sure I have much of useful input here. I would do more of what you are doing already -- fruits, vegetables, healthy complex natural whole grains. Avoid anything signficantly processed and/or that has a ton of 15+ letter ingredients you've never heard of. If you have the budget for it, consider getting organic foods for him. I really feel that with all the pesticides that go into growing fruits and veggies, buying organic can make a difference, especially for a child. That's just my personal belief. (And having said that, I rarely buy organic because it's so expensive.) But it sounds like you're already doing all the right things for him and this is really out of my area of expertise. Good job again, though!
269. Q:
Do you have anyone you trust as far as workout video people such as Tamilee Webb or Minna Lessig? Their sessions are the ones I use most because they seem to push me the hardest.
A:
Unfortunately I personally have never seen more than a short clip of either of their videos. Just by going to their website and seeing some clips, it looks to me like Minna Lessig's routine incorporates a little more resistance-type training (lunges, squats, abs) which I feel complements cardio training that's common to both. Honestly you would probably be a better judge of it yourself -- pick one that incorporates more of the moves that would tire you out in 30 seconds as opposed to in 30 minutes.
Whichever one you pick however, I would strongly encourage you to have a dedicated weight-lifting component to your training in addition to the workout vider. And of course, maintain a clean healthy diet for overall well-being and reaching your goals the fastest.
270. Q:
I have been working out for an hour (30 minutes of light weights and 30 minutes of cardio) faithfully 3-4 days a week for the past nearly 4 months. I have seen a little definition in muscles, but the fat on top has barely budged. My caloric intake is probably about 1500/day (I am a female) but nearly half of my calories come from crappy foods. Could my diet really be affecting my weight loss THAT dramatically?
A:
Yes, your diet certainly DOES affect your results dramatically and getting half of your calories from junk is no way to continue! Clean up your diet and replace junk calories with good stuff. The other thing is to not be afraid to move on to heavier weights and whole-body exercises (not just stuff like bicep curls or shoulder presses). As long as you're not gaining weight (and at 1500 CLEAN calories you won't be), heavy whole-body training is your best ally in burning fat. Right now with those light weights, it's pretty much just more cardio. Increase the weights significantly and do whole-body movements like I recommend in my sample programs here. Good luck!
271. Q:
What is the difference between burning fat and burning calories? If you burn 400 calories in one workout session aren't you just burning 400 of the 3500 calories that are in a pound of your fat or is that wrong?
A:
NO! There's a huge difference between burning calories and burning fat and it's very important to fully understand it. Your body does not just burn fat for calories. It also burns muscle! Depending on the combination of diet, exercise, age, physical condition, health, etc. your body may well burn more muscle than fat for energy, leaving you weaker, with lower metabolism, but with nearly as much fat as before, and MORE vulnerable to gaining new fat.
If I had to describe all my advice and articles in one phrase it would be: HOW TO BURN FAT AND NOT BURN MUSCLE! Also please check out Q&A #58 for more on this subject.
272. Q:
I was reading one of your answers and I noticed you said to completely avoid even diet soft drinks. Other than what the carbonation does to your body (and your teeth), and of course water is always the wiser choice, what is the main reason you suggest completely avoiding diet sodas?
A:
It's a mix of all the health reasons you've mentioned and personal experience and observation. I've noticed that people who drink a lot of diet soda appear much more likely to have food craving within an hour or so after drinking it. As the result they tend to cheat on their diet a lot more. This is just an observation, I don't have any hard study to back it. But between that and obvious health reasons, I strongly advise everyone to stay far away from all sodas, diet or otherwise.
274. Q:
do you think a person who has a body composition of 16% and who has very little visceral fatis healthier than a person who has a BC of 11% but who has a significant amount of visceral fat.Visceral fat is a major factor in getting certain diseases.
A:
This is probably a question better answered by a doctor, but from my point of view I see no reason why the 11% BF person would have more visceral fat than the 16% BF person all other things being equal. If you had 16% BF at one point and after some time, through healthy diet and exercise, dropped to 11% BF, I think it's very very unlikely that at the same time your visceral fat would have increased.
If we're talking about an 11% BF person who is, for whatever reasons, more predisposed to having health problems and that is evidenced by high visceral fat, then no, I would not call him healthier than an average problem-free 16% BF person. But I think that's comparing apples to oranges. All other things being equal, I don't see how lower overall body fat can result in higher visceral fat concentrations. However I am not a doctor either :)
275. Q:
comment on Q 274: you said 'I don't see how lower overall body fat can result in higher visceral fat concentrations'.
But it is true that a person with an 11% body fat composition can have a fatter stomach than someone with an 16% BC.
A:
It's virtually impossible that an 11% BF has more subcutaneous fat than a 16% BF person. It is probably possible that the 11% BF person has more visceral fat (deep inter-organ fat) than the 16% BF person. But having or not having high visceral fat is by no means a consequence of having low overall fat. So I still think comparing BF% and visceral fat concentrations is comparing apples and oranges. It's kinda like asking 'isn't it possible for the 11% BF person to have cancer'? It's certainly possible, but it doesn't have anything to do with his BF%.
276. Q:
I was able to get from a body fat percentage of 27% to 18% while eating an average of 1.5 medium chocolat bars a day.Does this mean that chocolat is not fattening or is it my genetic predisposition to being thin which allowed me to eat junk while losing weight.
A:
It's impossible for me to comment on that without knowing more about the rest of your diet (hopefully chocolate wasn't the only thing you ate!) and the exercise program (if any) that you followed. However, I can definitely tell you that chocolate IS fattening and that you could have had the same or better results faster if you had a cleaner diet.
I can also tell you that if you are interested in dropping your BF% further that it will be more and more difficult. Assuming you are a guy, you went from signficantly overweight and even obese to about average. That is a relatively easy thing to do and can be accomplished any number of ways, not all of them optimal obviously. Continuing your fat loss much past your present point will be more and more difficult and will require cleaner diet and good exercise programs. Your good genetic predisposition may be there, but it alone is very unlikely to get you to, say, 10% body fat. Having said all that, good job dropping those 9% of body fat already!
277. Q:
Comment on Q275: fat distribution is different for everyone. when some people gain weight a lot of it can go to the stomach and for other people it is better distributed. my brother in law has a better body fat percentage than me but he has more stomach fat than me.
A:
If you are talking about plain old subcutaneous fat on your stomach (which is not the same as the visceral fat that's been getting some publicity as a health risk), the I am going to disagree with you. If your brother has a significantly lower BF% than you (say, 4+ percent less than you), then it is HUGELY unlikely that he has more stomach fat than you, no matter what the appearance is (assuming you and him are roughly same height/weight). If you're within 1-2% of his BF%, then I suppose it's possible his fat distribution is such that he carries more than you on his stomach. But the more the difference between your BF% and his, the less likely is that you'll have less subcutaneous stomach fat.
But again, subcutaneous fat (immediately under the skin) is not the same as visceral fat (deep around your organs). Visceral fat is the one that's getting a lot of press now as being high health risk. And visceral fat can be lost through exercise the same way as subcutaneous fat, so lowering your overall BF% will lower your visceral fat unless some other health problem occurs that encourages visceral fat buildup. So, going back to you original question/point, there's still no reason to say that an 11% BF person may be less healthy than a 16% BF person unless you know for sure that he has some other serious medical problems. Yes, it is theoretically possible that he's less healthy but it's VERY unlikely, all other things being equal.
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