Common questions related to strength training include “How much weight should I use?” and “How many sets and repetitions should I do?”. Let me first say that every “body” is different and will react differently to the situation. Some people may pack on the muscle while others struggle to gain only a little bit. Strength training is a little more advanced than just simple weight training. Proper form and technique is a must and possible injuries could arise if each and every exercise is not performed correctly. Personal trainers or other fitness enthusiasts are typically available if you have questions about your form.

Beginner Guide to Strength Training:

1. Warm up with a few body weight exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, and crunches.
2. Find a managable routine that breaks the muscle parts down each day (Monday-Chest/Back/Abs, Tuesday-Biceps/Triceps/Abs, Wednesday-Legs/Shoulders/Abs, and so on).
3. Set aside NO MORE than an hour a day for at least four to five days a week.
4. Start with three sets of 10 repetitions and gradually add weight to each set (Set 1: 25 lbs, Set 2: 35 lbs, Set 3: 45 lbs).
5. After a few weeks, begin adding more sets and less repetitions (Week 1: 3 sets of 10 repetitions / Week 5: 4 sets of 8 repetitions / Week 9: 5 sets of 5 repetitions).
6. Rest at least 30 to 90 seconds between each set to allow for muscle recovery.
7. Doesn’t hurt to have a spotter or supervisor.
8. Cool down with proper stretching or a few more body weight exercises.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Strength Training

So the theory goes that there are foods that provide negative calories, presumably because the calories it takes to digest the foods are greater than the calories in the food. While it is true that digesting food burns calories, it is not true that any food has negative calories.

Thermic Effect of Food

The Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) is the reason for the whole “negative calories” concept. TEF represents the energy expenditure above resting metabolism that contributes to digestion and storage of food. In other words, you put energy in (burn calories) to get energy out (calories available from digested food).

However, the TEF is generally estimated about 10% of all calories consumed. You really don’t calculate it for individual foods. Instead, you estimate it based on all the calories for the day. So a 1,500 calorie day uses 150 calories to digest and store food. Because of their fiber content, veggies have a higher thermic effect at 20% of calories consumed, but it still doesn’t pass 100% so it can’t have negative calories.

The other reason food can’t take credit for “negative calories” is that TEF is included in the calculations that estimate a person’s energy needs – total metabolism. Besides TEF, the other components are resting metabolic rate (RMR – calories burned at rest, lying down, and practically sleeping) and also daily exercise/daily living activities (deliberate exercise or normal activities like house cleaning). So when you’re figuring out the calories you need for weight loss, TEF is already accounted for.

Love Low Calorie, Whole Foods

If you feel bummed like the day you learned Santa wasn’t real, turn that frown upside down. Focus on the fact that vegetables and fruits are naturally low in calories and they have vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals your body needs to stay healthy. You have to eat 12 large celery stalks to get 100 calories. That’s a LOT of celery to choke down. However, only four Hershey kisses and you’ve reached 100 calories – a much smaller volume.

So piling up on veggies will nourish you and fill you up without taking a chunk out of your daily calorie budget. You’ll also feel more energy and you’ll be happy knowing you are taking good care of yourself! Don’t worry about the small nuances such as TEF. They really don’t matter in the big picture.

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Negative Calorie Foods Are Just Another Diet Myth

Edward Melanson, an exercise physiologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of Colorado in Denver, says that this has led people to believe that diet doesn’t matter so much, as long as you sweat it out at the gym.

“People think they have a license to eat whatever they want, and our research shows that is definitely not the case,” he says. “You can easily undo what you set out to do.”

Melanson says other experts in his field have been “flabbergasted” by the results.

“Bottom line is that we once thought that exercise would burn calories, especially fat calories, for a long period after a bout of exercise,” says exercise physiologist Gerald Endress, fitness director for the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center who was not involved in the research. “This does not seem to be the case.”

Another overblown fitness factoid is that you burn more fat when you build muscle. While it is true that muscle burns more calories than fat, the difference is fairly negligible. Muscle burns about 7-10 calories a day while fat burns two calories. Most people don’t put on enough muscle to make a significant difference.

The first question that comes to my mind is, what were the studies that brought experts to the earlier conclusions about the 24-hour metabolic benefits of exercise? This new study only followed 65 exercisers. Is that all it takes to topple a long-held scientific belief?

This isn’t meant to encourage people to not re-up their gym memberships. Nothing could be further from truth.

“It’s not that exercise doesn’t help with weight loss,” says Melanson. “It’s that it’s harder to lose weight with exercise than diet.”

While this may seem frustrating and confusing, in actuality it brings home the point that the main thing to focus on is simple math. You take the number of calories in minus calories out. If you have a deficit, you will lose weight.

To lose a pound of fat, you need to create a deficit of about 3,500 calories. To lose a pound a week you can reduce your eating by 500 calories a day or burn an extra 500 calories each day through exercise.

(via: MSNBC)

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Metabolism Not Stoked By Exercise

According to KidsHealth.org there are two kinds of metabolism that occur at the same time. One is anabolism (constructive metabolism), which consists of building and storing while it supports the growth of new cells, maintenance of body tissues, and the storage of energy for future use. The second is catabolism (destructive metabolism), which is the process of producing the energy required for all activity in the cells. The cells break down large molecules to release energy which provides fuel for anabolism, heats the body, and allows the muscles to contract and the body to move.

Some people have a hard time gaining weight, while others gain it rather quickly. This is due to a few common factors: amount of activity or exercise, the amount of muscle and fat in the body, and the basal metabolic rate (BMR). The BMR is a measure of the rate the body burns energy in the form of calories while at rest.

For example: a person with a low basal metabolic rate burns calories slower than a person with an average or high basal metabolic rate and will tend to gain more pounds of body fat over-time. There are a few simple ways that the metabolism can be increased or sparked:

1. Exercise in the morning.
2. Eat spicy foods.
3. Drink ice cold water with meals.
4. Stay active throughout the day, especially after meals.
5. Eat several smaller meals rather than a few large meals.

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5 Ways to Increase Metabolism

Today she told us that she even uses her own team of doctors for her contestants, not the Biggest Loser doctors who merely tell Bob and Jillian if they’re allowed to do something with a contestant. It was in using her own endocrinologist that she discovered an issue with season four’s Julie Haddon. Jillian recalls in Julie’s first weigh-in, usually one of the most substantial on the show, she had only lost two pounds. She didn’t understand it, but her endocrinologist did, and pointed out that Julie had PCOS and insulin resistance, two bio-chemical disorders affecting her metabolism.

More after the jump

“I didn’t understand it until that moment,” says Jillian, who used that knowledge to help Julie become the second place contestant on season four. Jillian began working with those doctors to better understand her own metabolism. In her new book, “Master Your Metabolism,” which releases April 7, she shares the culmination of 17 years of fitness knowledge, with revelations about her own health and experience with weight loss. Her doctors told her that she had hypothyroid, estrogen dominance and low testosterone. Years of eating “frankenfoods” (her name for fake, preservative-filled, chemical foods), yo-yo dieting and what she calls treating her body “like a lab rat” had harmed her natural biochemistry.

“Oh my god! This is the key to the kingdom. I have to understand this,” she says. She worked with medical professionals, and co-writer Mariska Van Aalst, to break down the information to make it digestible and understandable for everyone. Much moreso than the work of say Diana Schwarzbein, whose book on a similar topic Jillian says will make your head hurt to read. “It was like reading quantum physics!,” she says.

In “Master Your Metabolism,” Jillian outlines a smart and approachable plan to remove all the fake foods from your diet and replace them with whole, natural foods. “You’ve got to start taking processed foods out of your diet,” she declares, explaining that those foods do cause diseases like cancer or diabetes, they disrupt your body’s biochemistry and attach the growth hormones. For some, these will be drastic dietary changes, but she says she can either “appeal to your mortality or your vanity,” and when you follow her three-step plan for diet and fitness, you’ll likely win on both sides. The plan also pays moderate attention to fitness, requiring about four-to-five hours per week in the gym, using both strength and cardio training.

If you’re ready to understand your metabolism and how you can work with it to attain healthy weight loss, then cracking open “Master Your Metabolism” is worth your time. Be prepared to change your eating habits for the better, and get fit under Jillian’s expert tutelage.

See part two of our interview, as Jillian discusses her future on The Biggest Loser.

Tweet to win a Jillian Michaels Prize Pack. Learn more!

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Interview with Jillian Michaels Introducing Master Your Metabolism

In Master Your Metabolism, Jillian will help you understand how to work with your hormones in a three-phase plan.

1. Remove “anti-nutrients” from your diet
2. Restore foods that speak directly to fat-burning genes
3. Rebalance energy and your hormones for effortless weight loss

The book releases April 7, and will include shopping resources, food charts that trigger hormones, how to buy “power nutrients” on a budget, dining out guides, healthy recipes, and how to regulate hormone-related health concerns like PMS, PCOS, menopause and metabolic syndrome.

Learn more about Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Empire.

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Jillian Michaels Announces New Book, Master Your Metabolism