Fraction too much fiction
Physiotherapist Lt Rob Orr sets the record straight in the first of a two-part series on health and fitness fact and fiction.
Volume 11, No. 50, August, 24, 2006
THE sheer volume of health and fitness information on TV and available in magazines and on the internet can make it difficult to separate scientific fact from advertising bias and misinformation. Let’s sort fact from fiction.
Weight
Most people hop on the bathroom scales to check if they’re putting on or losing weight. It’s important to understand that weight scales measure the force of gravity against the body – they cannot discriminate the composition of the body.
This means that weight scales cannot tell the difference between bone, fat and muscle.
It is easy to lose weight yet gain fat, just as it is easy to gain weight and lose fat. Why?
Muscle, being a living tissue and not just storage cells, is about 1.2 times more dense than fat; therefore it weighs more.
Although not as simple as hopping on your bathroom scales, the following methods are a more reliable gauge of whether physical training is altering your body shape.
- How your clothes fit. If your body shape changes your clothing may become tighter or looser.
- Before-and-after photos are brutally honest. Avoid relying on the mirror because changes are gradual and you won’t notice minute changes.
Muscle toning
Did you know that you have about the same muscle tone as Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well, you do. Muscle tone is a misconceived term derived from muscle tonus, which is the sustained partial contraction of muscle.
Therefore the lack of tone cannot be associated with softened muscle. While the muscle may feel firmer during training, this feeling of tightness is created by the increased cellular fluid and blood in the working tissues expanding against the skin.
What we would call a toned look may be attributed to muscular definition and low body fat rather than a change in muscle composition.
How do you achieve this?
Not by endless repetitions. Instead, concentrate on fat-burning aerobic sessions, resistance training that stimulates muscle growth and a good diet.
Will I become too bulky?
This is a common fear for many people, particularly women, when advised to incorporate resistance-training exercises.
Do not fear. Yes, there will be gains initially but the increased muscle will take up less physical space than the fat you are losing.
Ask any intermediate or advanced resistance trainer and they’ll tell you that centimetres of muscle mass gains come extremely hard. Furthermore, the potential for muscle gain is largely dependent on the type of resistance training program (sets, reps, rest) and your diet.
Shaping vs bulking
There is no difference to the tension development in the pectoral (chest) muscles during a “pec dec” or bench press, or to the quadriceps (legs) during a leg extension or squat.
Yes, one is an isolation exercise and will hit the target muscle only, where the other is a compound exercise that will hit the target muscle and use assisting muscles (which develops those additional muscles as well).
Muscles do not know the difference between exercises; they simply develop tension to overcome the resistance to their movement. The pectoral muscles for example perform horizontal shoulder flexion, whether the exercise is a “pec dec”, “pec flye”, bench press or push up.
Sweating it out
Do you lose weight in a sauna or when training with thick clothing? Yes.
Are you losing fat? No.
You lose water when you sweat, which accounts for the loss in weight – remember, scales cannot discriminate. Your body then becomes dehydrated and the possibilities of heat-related injuries increase. What’s more, the next time you have a drink the weight returns.
The next article will look at muscle turning to fat, the fat burning zone, spot reduction and training the “core”
