Four Fitness Scams you Must Avoid!
Hello everyone, the fitness world, not unlike the fashion world, does recycle trends every few years. Carbs are in, carbs are out, Circuits are awful, circuits are great. Sadly, there are four scams that like zombies, refuse to die. Video here.
- The X 3 Bar.I must admit, it is one of the greatest scams ever.
You set up a bunch of rubber bands, an aluminum bar and charge 500$ for it.
What is the hook?
Train only 10 minutes a day?
Why?
Because you are training the muscle in the strongest phase, when it is contracted. When training with bands, resistance increases as you stretch the band.Sounds great?Yes, but it is wrong.
The muscle is at its weakest in the contracted phase since it can’t really produce force.
To make matters worse, most of hypertrophy happens in the stretched position , which is precisely where bands do not provide any resistance . So no, it doesn’t work but then again if the founder of the system sports a fake PhD..
- Hit Intensity Training aka Mentzer Style
This has been around since the 80s and it hasn’t worked. Ever. The premise sounds great: Only do one set exercise to failure and make more gains than athletes using a higher volume. 20 minutes per workout, three days a week will get you the dream physique.
Sounds great but it simply doesn’t work.
We can fill libraries with studies showing that higher volume training ( think 20 sets per muscle group per week ) illicit much greater muscle gain… by the factor 4.
Essentially, HIT is a great system for people who don’t really want to put the work in. As long as they do not expect results, that’s fine.
- Intermittent Fasting or eating only in a certain window of time.
IM has been touted as the greatest thing for fat loss, to the point where it is a cult. Why do I say this? because apparently as long as you eat during that ( random) window , calories do not matter.
But, they do!
If you overeat, you will gain weight. PeriodAlso, if you confine your meals to a 6 hour time frame you are not able to spread out the protein intake during the day. This will hinder muscle growth.
4 High Intensity Cardio burns twice the calories of low intensity
This was also touted as a sort of ” 10 minutes of this do more than 60 minutes of that”.
The reasoning was that doing short sprints would raise EPOC.
What is EPOC?
EPOC is the result of an elevation in oxygen consumption and metabolism (Resting Energy Expenditure), which occurs after exercise as the body recovers, repairs, and returns to its pre-exercise state.
Due to faulty data, the difference was believed to be several hundred calories when in reality it is rather the same ( the differential thought to be 16 calories).HIgh Intensity cardio has a lower adherence rate , simply because it is harder. It is much harder to tell a trainee to walk Central Park 3x a week than to put him on a treadmill and have him doing 12 30 seconds sprints.
As a trainer, I now have a choice: Do I risk the client burning out for an extra 16 calories or do I play it safe, thereby increasing the chances of maximum success?
These four scams are often bundled up in a neat package and sold for hundreds of $
. Do not fall for it!
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Maik
So, if you want to participate in our transformation and win 10 K $ in cash along with a trip to NY, training at my gym and a photoshoot simply reply yes to this email – maikcwiedenbach@gmail.com
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