Answer Fitness®: Practical Fitness Advice for Everyone

Am I Fat? | Why Body Fat Percentage Is More Important Than Weight

Here’s a Little Secret: The scale lies. Learn why you should focus on decreasing your body fat percentage, instead of just your weight.

Stepping on the bathroom scale is a daily ritual for many dieters, athletes and fitness enthusiasts. After all  being healthy and in-shape means weighing less, right?

Scales seem to be everywhere: The home bathroom, the gym or health club locker room, and – of course — the doctor’s office.  We’re a society increasingly obsessed with our weight, but ironically, one that is becoming fatter than ever.

But what if you knew that your trusty scale was deceiving you? What if you found out that losing a pound or two (or even five) doesn’t mean you’ll look any thinner or more in-shape? What if I told you that losing weight is actually making you fatter?

Why Weight Loss Should Never Be Your Goal

Our preoccupation with moving that pointer on the bathroom scale down closer to zero is at the root of most people’s frustration with becoming healthier and more fit.  Crash diets, fad diets, endless hours of cardio, extreme calorie restriction and eating disorders can be traced directly to our desire to step on the scale and see that we’ve lost weight.

Yet the number that you see on the scale each morning is a terrible indicator of body composition.  Weight alone can’t tell you anything about the distribution of that weight. It doesn’t take into account the ratio of fat to lean tissue, which can cause very lean people to think they are fatter than they really are, and fat people to think they are leaner.  

In other words, losing weight can actually be a bad thing, especially if you are doing it at the expense of lean tissue like muscle.  If all you are using to gauge your fitness progress is scale weight alone, you are only getting half-the-picture.

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Do I Need A Personal Trainer? | Fitness Advice from Answer Fitness®

Whether you need a personal trainer depends on your experience in the gym and personal fitness goals.  Learn whether a personal trainer is right for you.

When you think of personal trainers, you probably think of Celebrity Fit Club, the ultra-rich and competitive athletes.

But personal trainers have gone mainstream, and they are more accessible than ever before to the masses.

Getting individualized fitness advice, training and diet and nutrition information from a trainer doesn’t mean you have to be Jessica Simpson or A-Rod.  Housewives, fitness-conscious Baby Boomers, Type-A business people, and even overweight children are increasingly turning to personal trainers to whip them into shape.

But do you really need a personal fitness trainer? And are the benefits worth the price?

Fitness Trainers: Luxury or Necessity?

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that in 2006 there were nearly 250,000 personal fitness trainers employed in the U.S.  In the next ten years, that’s expected to grow nearly 25 percent.

Yet despite their growing popularity, hiring a personal fitness trainer isn’t for everyone.

Although some gyms and health clubs provide free personal fitness training services, most personal trainers come with a price tag. Depending on your location, that could run you anywhere from $30 - $70 a session — and sometimes even more in certain fitness clubs and locations.

So is it worth it? Is a trainer really necessary?

The answer is that “it depends.”

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How Often Should I Workout? | Fitness Tips

Workout frequency is highly individual. Learn how to find your perfect schedule and avoid over training.

How often you should work out is really a matter of your current fitness level, the types of exercises you are performing, the intensity of your workouts, and how much time you actually have available to spend in the gym.

Current Fitness Level

Your current fitness level is one of the primary factors used to determine workout frequency.

Beginners will typically need more recovery time between workouts than more advanced trainees, bodybuilders or well-conditioned athletes or runners.  Nearly everyone has experienced one of those workouts where you “over did” it and couldn’t move for three days. While this can happen at all levels of fitness, it’s more common among beginners who are still gauging their strength, stamina and recovery ability.

The body also makes certain adaptations with training over time that may shorten the required recovery time. So while some people can go heavy in the gym every day, others may need to take a break every-other-day.  

As a general rule of thumb, a good training frequency for someone who is new to the gym, or returning after a lengthy break, is three resistance workouts a week lasting between 45 and 60 minutes. This will allow you to work each major muscle group with at least one exercise and give yourself 48 hours for recovery between workouts.

This full-body workout is ideal because it helps build a solid foundation for later, more advanced training; encourages overall core development; discourages the development of muscle imbalances that can accompany “split routines”; and may burn more calories after training.

And by the way, this is actually also an excellent workout for an advanced trainee. The difference is they will work with heavier weights and may do more total sets for each exercise than a person who is less-experienced in the gym.

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How to Choose A Gym That’s Right For You

Ask yourself these nine questions to make sure you’re choosing the perfect gym … before you sign the contract.

Whether you are looking to get in-shape and choosing a gym or fitness club for the first time or have a current gym membership and are looking to make a change, finding the right place to work out can be a confusing and intimidating process, especially for beginners.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. 

The International Health Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) estimates that in 2006 there were 29,000 commercial fitness centers in America. If you live in a major metropolitan area, you can expect to find between 10-25 fitness centers competing for your membership. In smaller towns, your choices may be more limited, but between local rec centers, nearby colleges, the YMCA and commercial gyms, it’s easier than ever to have access to a gym, regardless of your location.

So with so many options, how do can you be sure you’re making the right choice?

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