Q & A by Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS Director, Staley Training Systems

I just joined a gym to lose weight and tone up (I feel very cliche saying that, but it’s true!). After filling out the paperwork, the sales guy introduced me to a trainer who showed me how to use aerobic and circuit training equipment. It’s not my intention to look like the female bodybuilders I see on TV, so should I keep the reps high on the machines, or just stick to the aerobics to slim down?

Without the backing of a statistic, I’ll venture to say you have most common goal among new fitness enthusiasts. As well, you probably have one of the most common misconceptions of the effects of resistance training on your body.

First, let’s clarify your goals:

1) Lose Weight — here we are invariably referring to reducing body fat. (not just weighing less).

2) Tone Up — I hate the term “tone,” (Tone is simply, a partial, involuntary muscle contraction, which is possible even if you’re obese) so let’s just say that we want to increase muscle mass (fortunately, you don’t have to wait nearly as long as a bodybuilder to realize your goals!)

“Slimming down and toning up” can be viewed as a stop on the route to bodybuilding.

Take as many transfer passes as you need to get where you’re going— when you get there, it’s completely your decision to continue on or stay where you are. What I’m saying is— training like a bodybuilder, using the tools that the fitness instructor at the gym showed you, will steer you in the direction you want. Incidentally, you will see many gradual progressions in your body— in other words, you’ll never wake up one morning and find that you went “too far.”

Now, in the immortal words of Seinfeld’s personal trainer, “All aboard the pain train!”

First, get off to the best possible start by hiring a reputable professional trainer (The International Sports Sciences Association will be glad to help you find a great trainer in your area— just call 800-892-ISSA).

With or without a trainer there are a few guidelines you should follow:

Spend the next eight to ten weeks performing one or two sets per workout/per muscle targeting all or most of the muscles on your body (not just the areas you’re primarily concerned about).

By developing more muscle all over the body, your metabolism will elevate due to the fact that you have more tissue that requires fuel (this may be one reason why men usually have lower body fat percent); hence, you will be burning more body fat all day long. Not a bad deal, huh?

Be careful not to get too comfortable with the initial program, however. It’s not unusual to accomplish a great percentage of your training objective in the first couple of months, regardless of what program or system you’re using.

Like a drug that makes you feel better, it is very hard to discontinue an exercise program that is producing results. However, realize that along with the benefits you are seeing, there is an accumulation of drawbacks as well.

For example, squats can be a terrific exercise for the quads, hams, and glutes; however, prolonged squatting for months or years with no significant break could lead to overuse injuries in the joints.

So don’t be afraid to change a few variables in your training every few weeks (after the initial eight weeks, rewrite your program every 3 or 4 weeks).

Another point to consider: Moderate amounts of aerobic exercise will elevate your metabolism, however, excessive aerobic training can have at least three major drawbacks:

First, excessive aerobic exercise can exhaust muscles, most frequently in your lower body, leaving them unable to perform at the intensity you need to develop them to the point you desire during weight training.

Second, the caloric expenditure created during the aerobic exercise can end up consuming the protein in your diet if you don’t eat just enough calories. In this case, there won’t be sufficient protein in your body to repair your healing muscles and provide enough energy at the same time. And whenever your body has to choose between energy and growth, energy always wins.

Finally, studies have shown that large volumes of aerobic exercise can cause muscle necrosis (tissue death). Not very productive in my book.

So in summation, emphasize a constantly changing resistance training program, low to moderate amounts of aerobic activity, and please come back every month. I’ve got a lot of valuable information to share over the coming months!

My bodyfat reads around 8% and sometimes lower. For the life of me I cannot get a “six pack.” The lower abs just don’t show through. Do I need to focus on ab development or get even leaner?

At 8% bodyfat I doubt you need to drop any fat mass to see more ripples in the mid-section.

There are two possibilities here:

• First, your abdominals may in fact be poorly developed.
• The second possibility is that you may have less tenuous intersections in your rectus abdominus than the people who’s abs you covet.

I tend to lean away from the possibility that your abs are under-developed. I say this based on the fact that you say “The lower abs just don’t show through.” Safely assuming that the “upper abs” do show through suggests that the muscle is developed.

As cliche and academic as it may sound, I have to point out, there are not upper abs and lower abs, just upper and lower regions of the same muscle. The abs appear to be separate muscles; however, it is one muscle with tenuous intersections that give the illusion of separate muscles.

About two percent of people (most happen to be of Asian decent for some reason) are born with only two tenuous intersections which serve to separate the rectus abdominus into horizontal sections.

If you happen to fall into this category, the coveted “six pack” configuration may not be a realistic goal for you.

Like your race and your shoe size, it is unique to your physiology. Incidentally, bodybuilding great Boyer Coe’s abs were relatively unimpressive among his professional bodybuilding peers.

He certainly compensated with bicep peaks, high as any I’ve ever seen (also genetic). The point is, at the leanest he’s ever been seen, he just didn’t have a rippled washboard, presumably because he lacked these tenuous intersections.

Don’t take this as a suggestion to discontinue ab training, however. Ignoring specialized emphasis on a muscle that supports the lumbar spine and is responsible for spinal flexion antagonistic to the erector spinae would be a costly mistake. Don’t ignore your ab training just because it isn’t developing exactly the way you had envisioned it.

Not only would you be more susceptible to injury, but would also be limiting the potential of several other muscles, dependent on the abdominals for stability and deceleration.

Incidentally, there is a fantastic article by Skip LaCour in a past October issue of Ironman magazine discussing the relationship between genetics and attitude, and their contributions to success. Check it out!

Charles Staley, B.Sc., MSS: His colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show.