Alarming Things You Must Know Before You Start Exercising and Dieting (Not Knowing Will Affect Your Health)

"If 50 million people are saying the same thing, does it mean it's true? Continue researching, experiencing and inventing."

- Prabal Arora

Who is giving the Information?

Do you think it's time to be honest to ourselves, as fitness professionals, as leaders, as food coaches, as parents, as teachers? Shouldn't we ask ourselves, "Do I really know what I'm talking about? Am I really receiving the right information or giving the correct information to my families and friends?

Do we really know what are we doing?

Haven't we been in a situation where we've seen some people do an exercise or they've started an eating plan? Did we think to ourselves, well, that's silly! Why would they eat that way or why would they exercise that way? Or that exercise looks dangerous or it seems stupid, or how could that possibly work? And yet, aren't people doing it? Aren't people on silly diets and people are following stupid exercise programs?

Do you want to exercise your body effectively? Yes, then don't you think we need to ask ourselves some questions based on our common sense. Let's start from the inside out - our joints, what would happen if I did this exercise? Is it safe for my joint, or will it wear my joint away? It might not wear it away today, but will I still be able to do this exercise when I'm 40, 50, 70, 80 or even 100? Don't we want to make sure that we stay active, fit, and healthy for the rest of our lives?

"You don't know what you don't know and what you don't know cost you a lot."

Are we Training or Draining?

Aren't there machines, programs and fitness professionals who prescribe silly exercises and teach silliness in their classes? If we were doing those exercises that damage our joints in the short or long-term, would we be able to exercise, would we be able to burn fat, would we have ripped abdominals and would we be able to stay healthy? Would we be able to move even?

There are exercises which, in fact, destroy all those joints. Some of these are leg-extensions for big quads, planks and fit ball crunches to burn abdominal fat, kettle-bell swings for boot camps, wide-grip lat pulldown for big lats. Side leg raises for tight inner thighs.

Are these my statements? No. Is it a reality? Yes, and there is a science behind it. Can we change what other people do? Probably not! Can't we change what we do as somebody who may be responsible not only for our health and wellbeing but also for our families and friends?

"Base your decisions on science and advanced research. Still, be open to finding out more."

- Prabal Arora

What do we need to know?

So, don't you think it's high time for all of us to learn anatomy and physiology to understand how our body works so that we don't blindly follow a fitness professional or a dietician what he/she is asking us to do? Isn't it worth spending time now to learn rather than wasting thousands of dollars on our treatment, suffering from those unwanted aches and discomfort? If we want to be healthy, fit and strong for the rest of our lives, isn't it worth knowing how our body works, what's it made up of?

Shouldn't we know what happens to each muscle when it pulls against the bone? What happens when we do that particular exercise? What happens to the joint? Is there a shearing force going across the joint, or is it compression force going through the joint? Will the joint be grinding over a period? Sounds horrible! And don't you think some people actually enjoy the fact that their muscles are burning or their joints might be grinding, or they don't really know whether some exercises are right for them or not, but they do it anyway because they love it? Isn't it strange?

So, once again, isn't it essential to know our physiology, which are the macronutrients that we put into the body, how they are stored and utilised in the body? We might have tried an eating plan. We've tried an exercise plan, and we say, yes, it worked for me, and I lost weight, or I feel good, or I've got big muscles, or I've got ripped abdominals. However, did we analyse whether we remained in that state, shape or weight for years or the rest of our lives?

"Focus on improving strength and stamina; bigger muscles and weight loss are the by-products."

- Prabal Arora

So-called Experts' Opinions

Also, do we actually know why and how it worked? Or are we just repeating someone else's opinion? Have we become experts in following someone else's opinion? Because he/she told us and perhaps, he had a master's degree, or he was an exercise physiologist, or he was a dietician or a professor at the university or a doctor, or he had ripped abdominals because he was a bodybuilder. We believe him and start following. Do we?

Do we actually know that the information which we are using for our own body and the information that we're giving to other people such as families and friends is correct, safe, and also, is it going to be safe long-term? That's the big question to ask yourself! When we choose exercises, we often say that we are going to do this exercise because I want to get lean and stronger. I want to burn fat. Doesn't it tend to be from the outside in?

Could there be a Better Way?

Are traditional exercise programmes based on suiting our lifestyle, our social and professional commitments? Isn't it that the average person who is not motivated enough tend to fail to achieve his/her health and fitness goal, leaving him/her with a bad experience of strength training? Do we try to plan an exercise programme or a diet for us suiting our lifestyle, our requirements, or just following the herd?

"If you wish your body were different, do something different now. If you keep doing what you have been doing, you will keep getting what you have got."

- Prabal Arora

More important questions to ask

There are some critical questions we need to ask to get strong. Instead of asking how long I must train in the gym or at a personal training centre, why not ask how little I should train to get my desired results?

Is there a possibility to get an abbreviated style of 'Exercise Programme?'

Instead of asking how long I have to work out to achieve results, shouldn't we ask how little I have to work out to get optimal results? How many training sessions are required in a week to optimise my results? How much time is needed for a session to stimulate my big muscles and achieve maximum physiological gains safely and avoid any long-term implications. How many sets of an exercise will give me the best results? How many repetitions of an exercise do I have to do to get the best results? Is it possible to work on all the big muscle group together at the same time because they all work together functionally? Do I really need to do isolation exercises such as biceps curls and triceps?

"The measurement of you getting stronger is not how many reps you do but how many kilos much extra you lift."

- Prabal Arora

Long-distance running and long-distance cycling or even long-distance walking, do we have to run/jog long distance unless that's part of our sport? If we want to be fit, is it possible that we could just do short, sharp exercises and get really fit because to get fit you've to get puffed and to get puffed, it doesn't take very long?

Eat this and lose weight “ Does it work for you?

You want to lose weight because the eating plan given to you by someone worked for him or helped people lose weight. How will you ensure that it is going to work for you 100% effectively? You've got a different metabolism, genetics, lifestyle or a different headspace or you exercise differently today than they do. Don't you?

"Weight loss is not about what you LOSE; it's about what you GAIN."

- Prabal Arora

If you ask 20 different people, how do I lose weight, how do I get fit, and how do I feel fantastic, won't you probably get twenty other answers? If you ask people what you should eat, won't you probably get hundreds of different explanations of what's good, what's bad, what you can't have, must have, shouldn't have. Don't you think if you asked all the experts, would they give the same advice? What are the things that there is no controversy about?

If we are talking about eating plants on someone's suggestion, do we really know what a macronutrient is, where it comes from, how the body breaks it down, how the body utilises it, and how it stores it, and how the body burns it up? How do we lose weight by being vegetarian? If someone suggested eating meat to get complete protein, do we take the initiative to find out how it works! If someone said those diary products must never be consumed, do we find out 'Why'? Don't we simply start following what others say – be it our friend, family, or a food Guru?

"Eat for performance, eat for weight loss."

- Prabal Arora

What do you think?

Is there any good food or bad food? Isn't it only the quantity in which we eat makes us feel good or bad?

Could it be a great idea to ask questions rather than just believing blindly what everybody tells you? Are you sure if 50 million people are saying the same thing, it's guaranteed to be true? Isn't it proved time and time again, that it was not true? New philosophies, new science-based studies, modern technology and a new theory “ proving all the information wrong what you had or heard from someone!

Why don't we make life easy? Live, let live and enjoy rather than imposing our opinions on others.

"Half the truth is still a lie."

- Prabal Arora