Where's the Magic?

So where does the magic happen? Is it the during the warm-up? Is it when you are busting your tail doing a "1000" workout? Is it somewhere in the middle of your run when you've finally hit your stride and get that runners "high"? Or is it not even in the gym at all?

It is all too common that gym goers only focus their attention on the calories they are burning and the progress they are making during the actual workout. This however is not when the "magic" happens. If you were to take a tissue sample of your muscles during a workout, tests would show that resistance training destroys muscle mass! We know this isn't true because the only way to build lean muscle is through resistance training. So what is actually happening?

When we exercise we are placing physical stress on our muscles and cardiorespiratory system. During the workout and immediately following this stress (breakdown) is greater than the rate of rebuilding, so temporarily we are weaker than before we started. The magic happens somewhere between 12 and 24 hours after the workout (outside of the gym). This is when the rate of muscle and cardio rebuilding occurs at a greater rate than it is being broken down. It is during this period that our bodies actually get stronger and results are made.

The same concept holds true with burning calories. During a typical moderate intensity cardio workout the average gym buff will expend around 400 calories. His or her general metabolism however may burn around 1500-2000 calories a day. With this in mind, it is to this person's benefit to focus their workouts around increasing their daily metabolic burn instead of just the workout burn. This is possible by buidling lean muscle and increasing exercise intensity. If the workout yeilds only 400 of the 2000 total calories burned, once again the magic is happening mostly outside of the gym!

I am not at all suggesting that what we do here at the gym is un-important or irrelevant to your goals and results. In fact, each style of exercise you choose to do elicits very specific physiological responses. The way you prepare and care for your body outside of the workout also effects the response your body has to the stress. Here are 5 tips to help ensure you are getting your piece of the magic once the workout is over...

1. Exercise Nutrition: As I wrote in the previous blog, the way you feed your body around the actual workout greatly effects the way your body performs and recovers during and after the workout. Research has shown that feeding your body carbs and protein immediately following the workout can accelerate your recovery time up to 6X as fast!
2. Rest: I know you are motivated and want to see results, but sometimes less is more... especially in the beginning. As I stated above it takes between 12 and 24 hours before our bodies are rebuilding fast enough to combat the breakdown. It actually takes around 36 hours to realize the full benefits of a good workout. Therefore make sure you do not schedule back to back hi-intensity workouts. This will result in very little progress and can cause overtraining related injuries. If you want to workout every day, make sure you alternate intensity and the areas of focus.
   
3. Intensity: When faced with the choice of duration vs. intensity, research has shown that harder workouts increase your metabolism and fat burn greater than long-slow workouts. In a very recent study, two groups exercised and burned an equal number of calories (400cal/workout) doing either hi-intesity or slow paced exercise. After 8-weeks, while the number of calories burned between the two groups were equal only the hi-intensity group showed losses in belly fat while the slow group lost no belly fat at all. Imagine working out for 8-weeks and seeing ZERO results...
4. Sleep: There are certain hormones and recovery mechanisms that occur at a greater rate during sleep. If you are not getting 6-8 hours of solid sleep every night you are simply slowing down your rate of results.
5. Change your workouts: Your body adapts to the stresses you place on it. Therefore if you don't occasionally surprise your body you will become used to your routine and will stop seeing changes. Ways to change your workouts include, varying intensity (reps, weights, tempo), modality (weights, bands, machines, cardio), and duration (sets and time).

The take home message here is that focusing all of your attention on the calories you burn or the weights you lift in the gym is a short sided approach to working out. The reality is that the magic mostly happens outside of the gym and many of the choices you make in during the 160+ hours you're not working out have a greater effect on reaching your goals. If you need help planning your workouts or need more ideas on how to get results email cheston.bogue@gmail.com