I did start writing out a new exercise tip last night, but I had second thoughts and wanted to post something a little more wholesome today. Todays post is more of an underlying concept than a specific tip, but it will help you a lot i'm sure.
Firstly, it has to be said that I am well aware that it is frustrating for you as exercisers that you are constantly being given contradicting advice. "Do THIS to lose weight. No, do THIS instead" etc.
Should you do aerobic exercise? Anaerobic exercise? Free weights with heavy weights, free weights with light weights, kettlebells, bikes, light jogs, intense sprints??? It goes on and on, and I'd like to tell you that I am aware of this, and understand it must be hard.
That's one of the main reasons I'm here, and in the following posts I will be not only explaining why my own methods and strategies work, but also why some others DON'T. This will help you better understand your exericse regime and will help when constructing one of your own.
So today, before we get to the 180 principle, there is another pricniple I'd like to share, called the 80/20 Principle (or the Paretto Principle).
Paretto was an italian scientist who died over a hundred years ago, but he came up with a theory that whilst we all strive to achieve 50/50 balance in everything we do, it rarely happens because the world, naturally, is NOT balanced, nor is it meant to be.
He theorised that balance was usually distributed at a range of 60/40 to 95/5. So whereas it is called the 80/20 principle thats actualyl a generalisation, nevertheless the message is the same.
The first application of this principle was to business, where is was found that in a typcial company, 80% of the sales made were done by 20% of their employees.
Other figures then started emerging that made this principle famous:
80% of total profits were generated by 20% of the companies in that field (e.g. Mcdonalds take 80% of the entire profits within the fast food industry, despite having only 20% market share).
What has this got to do with exercise and fat loss?
Well, I started applying this principle to different things, and realised it does actually apply to virtually EVERYTHING we do. For instance, I'm willing to bet that:
-You wear 20% of the clothes in your wardrobe 80% of the time
-You spend 80% of your time with only 20% of your closest friends
- You read only 20% of the books on your bookshelf 80% of the time. etc
Then I started applying it to exercise, and figures from my degree course told me that 80% of people who start an exercise program drop out within a year, leaving only 20%.
THEN I realised that within a workout, 20% of the exercises you do will give you 80% of your overall results! (And these 20% will always be the biggest compound exericses that use the most muscles - Squats and Deadlifts!)
Then I read an article from a well respected Strength and Conditioning coach named Charles Staley, who talked about what he called the 180 Principle.
Now, he based this on the fact that of all the people who exercise at the gym, only 20% get the results they want. So why do 80% fail?
The answer is suprisingly simple. Staley suggested that you look around your gym, and look at what 80% of people are doing (in relation to your goal - in this case fat loss).
Im again willing to bet that 80% of those looking to lose weight are jogging at a low to moderate intensity, performing aerobic exercise for up to 2 hours per day, gazing up at the TV screens, or lifting weights that are far too light to cause any metabolic disturbance (In other words, even their 'resistance' training is just MORE aerobic exercise!).
Staley then brings in his 180 Principle, which simply states that you turn 180 degrees from what the 80% are doing, and instead exercise in a similar fashion to how the 20% who are getting results are!
This also reminds me of a quote from Oscar Wilde - "Everything popular is wrong."
So, the point I'm trying to make with this post is that hopefully now you can better understand why now more trainers (probably around 20% of trainers in the business) are recommending counter-intuitive exercise such as heavier free weights, more intense interval style training and to reduce the time of each session to an hour or less.
Basically, steady-state aerobic exercise is out-dated and unreliable when it comes to fat loss. It has its place, but not in a fat loss program. Neither to single joint exercises that only challenge one or two muscles at a time, such as sit ups, leg curls, bicep curls, or tricep kickbacks.
Trainers have tried these approaches for a couple of decades now and its not got people anywhere. Obesity rates are still rising, health levels are still declining, and more and more people are becoming diabetic.
I am here on this forum to help spread this message that what probably 80% of you would do for a fat loss program will likely be ineffective over the long term.
I'd like to share with you the 20% of the information you will recieve that will be of more benefit to you and will help you reach your goals.
Okay guys, like I said this was more of an underlying concept message rather than a tip but I did feel the need to write it for some reason or other. Somethings just nag away at me and this was one of those things I wanted to get off my chest. I'm sick of so much rubbish info being spewn out by the media, the government, scientists, and 80% of exercise professionals out there. And to be fair, its not thier fault that their knowledge is out-dated, because that's what they've been taught at university and college courses, whose syllabus' are also out of date.
So the take-home message to all of you here who are trying your best to reach your goals is this:
80% of the consequences come from 20% of the actions. Look for that 20% of actions and you'll find most people aren't doing them. I want to help you discover that 20%, which will then get you 80% of your results.
And to do that, we need to go in a 180 degree direction to what most people are doing, and what most people are telling you.
If you have any thoughts or questions regarding my thoughts above, please let me know. I apologize if you feel you haven't attained much from this post, but as I said its just something I've wanted to get off my chest for a while. there'll be more specific exercise help and tips coming soon!
Justin
Firstly, it has to be said that I am well aware that it is frustrating for you as exercisers that you are constantly being given contradicting advice. "Do THIS to lose weight. No, do THIS instead" etc.
Should you do aerobic exercise? Anaerobic exercise? Free weights with heavy weights, free weights with light weights, kettlebells, bikes, light jogs, intense sprints??? It goes on and on, and I'd like to tell you that I am aware of this, and understand it must be hard.
That's one of the main reasons I'm here, and in the following posts I will be not only explaining why my own methods and strategies work, but also why some others DON'T. This will help you better understand your exericse regime and will help when constructing one of your own.
So today, before we get to the 180 principle, there is another pricniple I'd like to share, called the 80/20 Principle (or the Paretto Principle).
Paretto was an italian scientist who died over a hundred years ago, but he came up with a theory that whilst we all strive to achieve 50/50 balance in everything we do, it rarely happens because the world, naturally, is NOT balanced, nor is it meant to be.
He theorised that balance was usually distributed at a range of 60/40 to 95/5. So whereas it is called the 80/20 principle thats actualyl a generalisation, nevertheless the message is the same.
The first application of this principle was to business, where is was found that in a typcial company, 80% of the sales made were done by 20% of their employees.
Other figures then started emerging that made this principle famous:
80% of total profits were generated by 20% of the companies in that field (e.g. Mcdonalds take 80% of the entire profits within the fast food industry, despite having only 20% market share).
What has this got to do with exercise and fat loss?
Well, I started applying this principle to different things, and realised it does actually apply to virtually EVERYTHING we do. For instance, I'm willing to bet that:
-You wear 20% of the clothes in your wardrobe 80% of the time
-You spend 80% of your time with only 20% of your closest friends
- You read only 20% of the books on your bookshelf 80% of the time. etc
Then I started applying it to exercise, and figures from my degree course told me that 80% of people who start an exercise program drop out within a year, leaving only 20%.
THEN I realised that within a workout, 20% of the exercises you do will give you 80% of your overall results! (And these 20% will always be the biggest compound exericses that use the most muscles - Squats and Deadlifts!)
Then I read an article from a well respected Strength and Conditioning coach named Charles Staley, who talked about what he called the 180 Principle.
Now, he based this on the fact that of all the people who exercise at the gym, only 20% get the results they want. So why do 80% fail?
The answer is suprisingly simple. Staley suggested that you look around your gym, and look at what 80% of people are doing (in relation to your goal - in this case fat loss).
Im again willing to bet that 80% of those looking to lose weight are jogging at a low to moderate intensity, performing aerobic exercise for up to 2 hours per day, gazing up at the TV screens, or lifting weights that are far too light to cause any metabolic disturbance (In other words, even their 'resistance' training is just MORE aerobic exercise!).
Staley then brings in his 180 Principle, which simply states that you turn 180 degrees from what the 80% are doing, and instead exercise in a similar fashion to how the 20% who are getting results are!
This also reminds me of a quote from Oscar Wilde - "Everything popular is wrong."
So, the point I'm trying to make with this post is that hopefully now you can better understand why now more trainers (probably around 20% of trainers in the business) are recommending counter-intuitive exercise such as heavier free weights, more intense interval style training and to reduce the time of each session to an hour or less.
Basically, steady-state aerobic exercise is out-dated and unreliable when it comes to fat loss. It has its place, but not in a fat loss program. Neither to single joint exercises that only challenge one or two muscles at a time, such as sit ups, leg curls, bicep curls, or tricep kickbacks.
Trainers have tried these approaches for a couple of decades now and its not got people anywhere. Obesity rates are still rising, health levels are still declining, and more and more people are becoming diabetic.
I am here on this forum to help spread this message that what probably 80% of you would do for a fat loss program will likely be ineffective over the long term.
I'd like to share with you the 20% of the information you will recieve that will be of more benefit to you and will help you reach your goals.
Okay guys, like I said this was more of an underlying concept message rather than a tip but I did feel the need to write it for some reason or other. Somethings just nag away at me and this was one of those things I wanted to get off my chest. I'm sick of so much rubbish info being spewn out by the media, the government, scientists, and 80% of exercise professionals out there. And to be fair, its not thier fault that their knowledge is out-dated, because that's what they've been taught at university and college courses, whose syllabus' are also out of date.
So the take-home message to all of you here who are trying your best to reach your goals is this:
80% of the consequences come from 20% of the actions. Look for that 20% of actions and you'll find most people aren't doing them. I want to help you discover that 20%, which will then get you 80% of your results.
And to do that, we need to go in a 180 degree direction to what most people are doing, and what most people are telling you.
If you have any thoughts or questions regarding my thoughts above, please let me know. I apologize if you feel you haven't attained much from this post, but as I said its just something I've wanted to get off my chest for a while. there'll be more specific exercise help and tips coming soon!
Justin
) but I am lucky to be getting 1000 in reality. I'm sure eating more than you usually do is as difficult as eating less than you normally do!! :break_diet:
