As far as I’m concerned the gym is mostly (if not entirely) meant for building muscle. Sure you can do some ‘cardio’ there and try to burn a few extra calories, but I think the bulk of your time in the gym should be spent building muscle (that includes women too)

Muscle Building Happens In The Gym

I think many people run into a problem trying to make their workouts do more than they really can. For example the other day I was at the gym and saw a personal trainer making her client push a sled (loaded with 150lbs of weight) back and forth across the entire length of our gym (about 30 yards).

The poor guy pushing the sled must have been at least 70lbs overweight and I’ll bet he is hoping that these workouts are going to somehow make him lose weight.

This is a perfect example of having the wrong expectations. If that guy doesn’t start revamping how much he eats (aka eat less) then all the sled pushing in the world isn’t going to cause him to lose any weight.

It just seems like a lot of wasted effort because pushing that sled around isn’t even building his muscles in a way that will look good when he finally does (if ever) lose the weight.

The point is not to mix up what your diet and your exercise can do.

Use the gym primarily for building muscles and use your diet for weight loss.

IF you don’t have much bodyfat to lose (ie: you’re in that last 10lbs range) then you can certainly accelerate the process in the gym…but it’s still dependent on keep your calories in check.

The bottom line is to stick with a consistent workout for building muscle and use your diet to lose bodyfat.

John

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and she brought up the most interesting thought experiment for weight loss.

No weight gain for no weight loss?

Imagine you were granted the power right now to never gain another pound of fat for the rest of your life no matter what or how much you ate? Would you take it? <– I think the answer for most of us is a resounding YES…but then she threw a little twist into it…and it goes like this…

BUT, this same power also makes it impossible for you to ever lose another pound of fat for the rest of your life.

In other words, would give up your ability to ever lose fat again for the power to never gain fat again from this day forward no matter how much food you eat?

Do we have a deal?

Please answer in the comment section.

John