I have been going to the gym since early 2011, so we’re closing in on a decade of lifting. During this period I have attended big commercial gyms as well as small, “hardcore” niche gyms.
One sighting that I notice multiple times a year, is that of overweight, presumably first-time gym-goers, with a scared, anxious look to their face.
Too often, that will be the last time I see them. It saddens me, so my only motivation for writing this post, is to try and provide some encouragement.
I’ve seen this question asked pretty often; “Can I work out two days in a row?”
Usually, the curious guy or gal refers to working the same muscle/exercise/routine two days in a row, more so than just working out two days in a row. A very legitimate question.
This post will outline a very rough guidance to how you can;
1) ramp up your pre-vacation training massively to promote a larger frame of supercompensation and recovery (during your vacation)
And;
2) use a short workout which you can do pretty much anywhere – to further negate any negative impacts from excessive eating and chilling at the pool (can the latter be done excessively?).
Annoyingly, it still isn’t common practice to instruct overweight/obese people to also lift weights instead of only hammering the treadmill.
And it’s a shame, because if you’re overweight and focus more on lifting weights than just cardio, you’ll likely be much better off!
As far as physical improvement go, dieting seems to be the main culprit of failure for many people. Thus, learning how to adhere to your diet is among the most important aspects of physical mastery.
This goes for all corners of the spectrum; young bros trying to lose some fat for whatever purposes (mainly impressing homo sapiens sapiens of the opposite sex), post-4-pregnancies women who after a long and stressful process wants to slim down, and actual competing bodybuilders and physique athletes wishing to bring the best conditioning to the stage.
One of the many psychological factors of prolonged dieting most people experience, is the ever increased mental obsession with food. While we in some degree usually consider ourselves to be more dedicated and disciplined as far as taking care of our bodies and diets than the mainstream masses, week in week out of strict dieting will takes it toll.
Go back just a decade and the thoughts of going for extended time without eating for the purpose of improving bodyrecomposition was deemed idiotic. Gymgoers would tell you that your body would “eat up all your muscle”, and that skipping meals (even if just breakfast) would mess up your metabolism. Oh and something about the body only being able to utilize 30 grams of protein pr. meal, and so on and so on.
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