Urban Pump Personal Training Studio
Frequently Asked Questions

Do I really need only two twenty minute workouts a week to get a buff, shapely body?

But what if I want to lose fat. Don't I have to do cardio to burn off calories?
You do not need to do a lot of cardio to lose fat. You can actually lose fat and gain muscle at the same time without relying on cardio exercise. There are some problems with looking at losing fat from engaging in cardio exercise. The first problem is that you simply do not burn very many calories from a cardio program to begin with. Figure about 300 calories or so on average. Engaging in a cardio program will on an unconscious level increase your appetite. Simply put, you will be hungrier and will most likely eat more food to make it up. Another thing that often times happen is that you will simply move less than usual if you focus on keeping your calories the same. Either way, you can sabotage your goals. This is called compensation, and it is a prime reason people struggle losing weight.
The far better strategy for fat loss is through a change in diet. The single biggest factor that promotes fat storage is chronically high insulin levels. The body produces insulin to get glucose out of the bloodstream and into both muscle and fat for storage and use. Moreover, the insulin will “lock” the fat in the fat cells so the body will use glucose first. This is a normal and healthy response to glucose in the bloodstream. The problem is when high glucose in the bloodstream is constant, thus driving chronic fat storage. This happens no matter how much exercise someone does. In essence, to see consistent and healthy fat loss, it is important to keep insulin levels low. A good way to do that is with food choices and meal patterning. There is no need to count calories or a lot of cardio exercise to be successful.

Will I get “bulky” from lifting weights?
No. Women will not get bulky like men (and even most men cannot get the big muscles that bodybuilders get) for two reasons. The first reason is that women do not produce as much testosterone as men do. Testosterone is the hormone that increases muscle mass and strength, and men produce more of it than women do. The second reason is that men simply have more cross-sectional muscle mass than women do to begin with. That alone will lead to bigger muscles that men tend to get.
Women, on the other hand, will see more of the desired feminine look as they get stronger. More tone and definition in the muscles. More of an hour glass shape, a lifted rear end and so forth. Do not be afraid of getting as strong as you can. You will be very happy with the results.

When will my abs show?
The other reason is that most people, even healthy people, carry quite a bit of fat and simply have a long way to go. Men need to be around 10 to 15% body fat to see some definition in the mid-section. Women can see some definition in the mid-section at around 17 to 22% body fat. Most of our clients are around or over 30% body fat when they start working with us. This is in line with the national average. So someone starting out may need to lose anywhere from 15 to 30 lbs for fat, and maybe more before he or she can see definition in the abdominal muscle. Losing 1 to 2 lbs of fat a week is a reasonable pace, and understanding that it would take a minimum of 3 months before the abs would start to show. Longer if one has more than 30 lbs to lose.

Why should I count carbohydrate and not calories?

What are “good” fats, and what are the fats I should avoid?
The fats to avoid would be the poly-unsaturated fats, hydrogenated oils and industrial oils. This would include vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil and trans-fats. They are very unstable and rancid. These oils can cause cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other age-related diseases.

Won't eating fat make me fat?
Having said that, it needs to be noted that eating fat with simple carbohydrate will encourage over-eating (think ice cream, fudge, etc). The way to eat that we recommend is high fat/moderate protein/low carbohydrate.

How much cardio should I do between workouts?

I injured my knee. Should I avoid leg presses?
The exercises that need to be avoided or approached with more caution are the leg extensions, lunges, barbell squats and so forth.

Can I do strength training after the age of 70, and can I gain some muscle back?

Can strength training make an injured joint, ligament or tendon worse?

Should I stretch before I workout?

I am in rehab right now. Can I do strength training while I recover from the injury?
Another example would be knee surgery, such as acl reconstruction. The trainee can work the whole body, and even the opposite leg to build and maintain strength and muscle mass. Once he has clearance from the physical therapist, he can do light weight/high rep training and isolation work to strengthen the muscles of the injured body part. Before long, his strength will be back up to par with the noon injured limb.
There are many examples but the point is that in most cases, one can…and should do a strength training program while rehabbing from an injury.

Will strength training help me be a better athlete?

How do I know if I am gaining muscle, fat, or both?
An interesting insight I learned over my years of fitness training is that as my clients got more fit, the fat loss/ muscle gain was not very equal. It is generally assumed that we can gain muscle pretty fast, comparable to how fast we can lose it.