Blog Schmog Part 4
Welcome back to my schmog. In my first couple of installments, I mentioned that many people come to me with some type of weight loss goal in mind. Not everybody who seeks personal training is seeking weight loss as a goal, but many are. This makes sense as we (in the United States) live in an obecegenic culture, which really simply means that it is really easy for us to gain weight here. We are surrounded by easily accessible, inexpensive, high calorie foods everywhere and at all times. I am stating this as a scientific fact, and also as a person with a box of more donuts than makes any damn sense in my kitchen, 20 feet away, as I write this.
Please do not misunderstand me, I am not making a judgment about what anybody’s goal should or shouldn’t be. I am on the body positivity band wagon, not a fat shamer, but not a diet shamer either. You are entitled to your own goals, as far as I am concerned and that is that. As a trainer, I don’t see it as my work to determine your fitness goals, but it is my work to do everything I can to help you reach the goals you set for yourself.
Speaking from my experience, generally, most people are looking to figure out what to do in the gym, get stronger, and hopefully lose some weight along the way as well. For a good amount of time when I start working with you, I will want to focus on the getting stronger part of your goal, build healthy habits both in and out of the gym, and develop some trust and familiarity before we dive to deep into the nutritional work, if that is a part of your goal.
There are a lot of reasons for this. First, getting stronger is good for your body and your mind. Second, getting stronger feels good and gives you confidence. Third, getting stronger makes you feel (and look) leaner. Fourth, building muscle helps crank up your metabolism. Additionally, those with smaller weight loss goals ( I have a future blog post that will be all for you…) will often discover that building muscle gives them the tone and shape they were looking for, and the weight loss goal falls by the wayside.
People used to say that muscle weighs more than fat. Which if you think about it, is a pretty silly statement. Because one pound of muscle will actually weigh just as much as one pound of fat. But what we were trying to say, in a manner of speaking, is that fat takes up more space than muscle. Muscle looks and feels different on your body than fat does. This is why as you train you may discover that your scale weight stays the same, but your pants size might decrease. Maybe this is because you gained some muscle and also managed to burn a little fat, or maybe all you did was build muscle – either way, you are going to look and feel different in this stronger body of yours. This will in turn cause you to hold yourself and move differently. Which will in turn make you feel different. And by different I mean better.
In conclusion, but just for now, I encourage you to prioritze strength training as you set out upon, or continue on your fitness path. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to schmogging with you again soon.
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