I'm a Personal Trainer - AMA

[Watchkeys]

I generally group-train parents in the park after they've dropped their kids at school, but also work in a residential care home, and have some 1-1 clients with weight loss and muscle gain goals. I want to know if there's anything I'm not covering in terms of 'questions people are too afraid/nervous to ask'... hit me!

Definitely, @LibbyL92 The only thing is making sure you get your form right, so that you don't develop imbalances/injuries over time, from using poor form. Have a look at the post from 8:07 yesterday, that's a really good full-body workout, with links to help you with form.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Wall+tricep+extension&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiK_rujrdH-AhWyQ0EAHeoNCMQQ1QJ6BAgREAE&biw=1280&bih=616&dpr=1.5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6ea76a24,vid:3J3UmBPWNg8

There's a triceps-focussed one, to add, and you'll feel them ache tomorrow if you do 3 sets of 12 today, getting to near exhaustion on each set.

I'd start lunging round the house!

Massively appreciate the replies and advice! Thank you so much! I’ll take a look :)

@Mamabearprotectinghercub

You can't 'tone' skin, it recovers in its own time... you can eat well for bodily repair, i.e. make sure you're eating enough protein, and this will aid your muscle growth too, which will help to 'fill' the skin up and reduce wrinkles. 1g or protein per each lb or body weight is a useful benchmark.

What are you doing re resistance training? If you want to add detail, I might be able to suggest some changes.

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius Have you spoken to your doctor? I'd imagine that walking a little more each day might be the way forward, but get medical clearance first. Sorry I can't be more help. It might be dangerous to advise you otherwise.

I appreciate that - thank you anyway, @Watchkeys.

It's an important consideration, @tippytappywriter !

I did a bunch of recommended exercises on my arms yesterday and today I can’t even lift my arms haha! Surely I must of worked them well!?

Bad news, @LibbyL92 , the DOMS effect (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) is usually worse on day 2.... Hope you've got some straws so that you can drink without having to lift a glass.

On a more serious note, well done! The soreness is your body needing to repair itself after the onslaught, and that takes energy, and that burns fat. Good, innit? You can learn as you go about what you can manage/what your limits are, so that you don't continually overdo it, and DOMS decreases the more times you work a muscle group.

I once did too many assisted pull ups, and was unable to completely straighten either arm for a whole week afterwards; I feel your pain!

Haha no pain no gain I guess!

it’s actually a lot worse as the evenings going on so tomorrow will be interesting! I’m excited to feel better and continue though. What you said above about a duvet of fat covering my ‘ping pong balls’ really stuck and makes absolute sense!

Thank you for starting this thread. I am 56 years old, generally quite content with my body, healthy BMI but I have a diastasis recti ( separation of the abdominal muscles). On top of that I have an apple shape, any excess fat goes straight to my belly . I am quite physically active, cycling about 20 miles a week, swimming once a week, don’t own a car, walk a lot, have an allotment. I’m wondering what exercises I can do to strengthen my core, without putting pressure on the diastasis and making the situation worse. I know weight lifting is also recommended to increase muscle mass. Can I do this safely? Thanks for any advice.

This is really interesting. Thank you.
Please could you give me some advice on how to get to full press-ups? I’m 59, slim and quite toned from hitt and gym work but just can’t do a proper press-up!
I have tried to work on my technique but just don’t ever seem to have the strength required. Should I work on core strength or upper body? Or are some people just destined never to be able to do press-ups? I know it sounds trivial but it’s frustrating!
Thank you.

@Platinumpennies

You can actually do some full press-ups, already. You can do some today

The trick is to find a surface at the right height to put your hands on. It's got to be stable (safety first!), but, once you've taken that into consideration, anything will do. Tabletop, arm of the sofa, chair, first/second step of the stairs, whatever, doesn't matter. The key thing is, can you do 3 sets of 10. If so, pick a lower surface. Find the height at which you can do less than 10, by any amount, but where you can do at least 1. Do it every other day, on that surface. 3 sets of 'as many as you can', with a 1 minute rest between sets. It'll take you less than 5 minutes. You will gradually do more and more, until you reach 3x10, and then, lower your surface. One day, you'll lower to the floor, and it will be quicker than you expect, if you stay committed. I remember my first set on the floor. I couldn't quite believe I was going to do it, and then I did not 1, not 2, but 8, and I was elated!

Good luck!

@TheGander

I'm afraid you'd need to speak to a specialist with that one. Sorry I can't be more help, but I'd hate to mis-advise, especially in this situation where we can't have a proper chat about it.

Brilliant thread and so inspiring to see so many people trying to improve their health.
An offside one- early 50s, long term history of eating disorder. I'm probably the most healthy I've ever been, but the fucker never leaves my shoulder, despite therapy. I want to reduce my exercise (mainly walking, with some weights) as it's impacting on my work. But I feel scared to reduce in case I gain weight. I think you're going to say that each body reacts to a reduction in exercise in the same way, but any general advice on impact on body weight would be helpful. Apologies if this is a difficult topic.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply @Watchkeys . I am determined and will follow your plan!

How much exercise are you doing, @screwselfactualisation , and how does it affect your work? How do you keep track of things at the moment? Calorie counting/scales/measurements?

Oh, thanks for the thread!
I have a food question...if you eat enough protein, say 30 grams, to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, should you then wait three hours before you eat again? If I ate another protein serving two hours later, would that interrupt that original muscle protein synthesis 'cycle'? I've never been clear on this! Thanks

That’s ok, I quite understand. I’ll see if I can blag a physio referral or more realistically, I’ll pay for a private consultation.

This is really helpful Watchkeys thank you. Do you have an alternative for a bench press? I have a home studio set but no bench!

@Froglady99

Press ups :) It's not the same, but it's a very similar movement, and works the same muscles. Have a look at the post from 9.05 yesterday for some tips on doing full press ups straight away, it's better than approaching them from a 'knees down' position.

Thank you Watchkeys!

Hi @Watchkeys . I weigh everything I eat. The exercise interferes with work because I have to get up every hour to do steps in the house. And I find it hard to stop worrying about movement/food:-( I would rather not say how much I exercise as I sometimes get comments like 'That's not very much/what are you worrying about', but the point is that it interferes with my life on every level.

Can you boil down what you're saying into an actual question, @screwselfactualisation ? It feels like you're presenting your situation to me, so it's hard for me to deduce the specifics of what you need to know.

Sorry, yes, of course. I'm asking a general question about the relationship between reducing activity and weight gain. It's very confusing - some things I read suggest that we burn the same amount of calories regardless of how active we are - this doesn't make sense to me.

Yes, I see. Well, it's confusing because we tend to believe (and be told) that calories we eat are either burned off by exercise, or stored as fat, and it's not that simple. A protein calorie takes almost a third of a calorie to turn into fat or to burn as energy. A fat calorie only takes about 3% of a calorie. So, for a start, depending on macronutrient balance, we have different outcomes, re exercise/fat storage.

Then you have the fact that we have other ways of using calories than energy or storage. For example, if you introduce a calorie deficit, your body might keep all its fat, but be a bit less strict about homeostasis, so you might have bad moods or hot flushes or poor sleep or suddenly, spots. For example. There are hundreds of other functions your body can skimp on, before deciding it needs to use stored fat to compensate.

Then, there's hormones, like insulin and glucagon, which regulate your body's fat/sugar usage (put simply)

So, there's a hell of a lot going on. It might be that if you do less, you'll have more calories, so your skin will clear up and your hair will get glossy, but you won't gain fat. It might be that you'll pile pounds on in minutes.

Your best bet if you want to keep your weight down is to eat a glucagon encouraging diet, and to do that, you'll be minimising insulin release. Basically, drop your carbs lower, keep your fat and protein foods up, stop snacking between meals, and avoid alcohol. No extremes, just experiment a bit, and if you're gaining weight do it a bit more. If it does get extreme, and you're still gaining weight, up your exercise again, but play around with it. Your body is your experiment, set some healthy parameters before you start, and enjoy discovering what happens.