AlchemyFit.com

In this day in age where obesity and diabetes run rampant through our society, the focus lies on carbohydrates and protein. Carbohydrate control is very important to maintain a healthy body. Sugar, a form of carbohydrate, is known to raise insulin levels and depress your immune system. The diet gurus and others who wish to profit off of the latest fitness fads, vilify carbohydrates. They lump them into one big category and tell you carbs are bad and to eat more protein. However this couldn’t be further from the truth.

There are many mistakes people make when working out. People who are new to exercise don’t know what to do and those who have been working out for years are stuck in their ways. Here are the 3 most common mistakes you don’t know you’re making:

1. Using light weights to “tone up”

If only I had a dollar for each time I heard this. Most people in America right now will tell you that their dominant fitness goal is to lose weight and “tone up”. Exercise physiologists and personal training purists cringe at hearing the word “toning” when used to describe a leaner physique. The scientific definition of muscle tone is the continual and passive partial contraction of the muscle in a relaxed state. It is an involuntary action that has nothing to do with how your body looks.

Without looking at a calendar or feeling the weather outside, I can walk into any gym into the country and tell you what time of the year it is. Right now at any Bally, Gold, 24 Hour Fitness, etc there is about a 20 minute wait for the cardio machines and the free weight area is just as bad. People who you haven’t seen since last March have suddenly reappeared in the gym and it’s a lot of them. Fortunately you do not have to suffer with everyone else due to the affordability of many new fitness products. A lot of space isn’t needed and you won’t even need a bench….yet. Without further adieu here is the list:

There is one thing that we all learned in high school biology that can be applied to fitness. I know there is more than one thing if you want to be technical, but I am referring to the scientific method. To help jog your memory, it was a 5-6 step process to solve a problem that looked something like this: 1. Ask a question 2. Do background research 3. Construct a hypothesis 4. Test your hypothesis by doing an experiment 5. Analyze results and draw a conclusion

You really don’t have to fire your nutritionist but you may feel like it if they haven’t told you what I’m going to tell you. People spend billions of dollars each year on advice on what to eat. They try all these new “miracle” diets that promise to lower your waistline, give you energy, etc. If they only knew that it boils down to a few simple foods. Meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, and nuts. That’s it. Throw in some eggs and call it a day. It’s so easy a caveman could do it…wait they did.