Fact vs Fiction: Are you sabotaging your workout?

Everyone has the best intentions when they begin a workout routine, but could they be unintentionally sabotaging their routine?

Ryan Cairns, a personal trainer in Halifax, sees plenty of people trying to get fit; he also sees plenty of mistakes made along the way.

Cairns says one of the most common faux pas is not working hard enough.

“Intensity is always better,” says Cairns. “The more intense you work out, the better benefits you’re going to get.”

Intensity doesn’t necessarily equal a longer workout. For the average person, 45 minutes to an hour is enough.

Cairns says working out for too long can raise levels of cortisol - a stress hormone destructive to muscle tissue - and that longer is not always better, especially when it comes to cardio.

“Jogging for an hour, versus springing up and down the stairs for ten minutes, I’d take the stairs any day of the week,” says Cairns.

Intense spurts of work, with short rest periods in between will get your metabolism going and fat burning.

Many gym-goers see cardio as a good warm-up before weight training, but when combining the two, it is best to leave cardio for last.

“It usually means you can do weight training at a higher intensity when you have more energy, than after pre-fatiguing yourself from doing extra activity prior,” says Cairns.

Strength training is one of the best ways to burn fat and shape your body. Women often avoid weights because they fear it will make them bulky, but fitness instructor Laura Kingston says that is simply not true.

“We typically have between five and ten per cent of the testosterone levels that men have, which means that doing the same amount of exercises, even with the same amount of weight that a man might use, we’re not going to put on the same bulk that their body is going to allow them to do,” says Kingston.

Taking long breaks between strength training sets can also derail your workout, with socializing often being the culprit.

“If you have time to stop and chat to a friend between sets, you’re resting too long. Your heart rate drops and you’re not getting the most bang for your buck out of your workout,” says Kingston.

Cutting down time between sets is an easy way to make your workout more efficient, ultimately upping the intensity and the results.

“Doing more work in less time is going to help you achieve that goal quicker,” says Cairns.