Velocity Gym

💗Trying to convince a woman not to obsess over the number on the scale is like pulling teeth by

💕Thanks to the media, it’s far too ingrained in our psyches. It’s the way we’ve been taught to judge ourselves, our figures and progress in our weight loss efforts. Even BMI measurement, the medical standard for whether we’re overweight or not, is based on weight. (I’ve always been “medically obese”).

☝🏻The truth is scale weight is totally flawed when it comes to judging fitness and progress! It can’t tell you anything about how much of your weight is muscle vs. body fat or even water. Worse yet, our scale weight changes on a daily and even hourly basis based on what we’ve eaten or drank. And for women, dependent on your time of the month.

🔥Storage (non-essential) fat on the other hand is the type of fat we accumulate under the skin, in certain specific areas inside your body, and in your muscles. It does include some deep fat which protects our internal organs from injury but it brings back some gender equity with men and women equally susceptible to storage fat.

💪🏻Remember, body fat percentage isn’t everything, but it can be a gage to truly see where your body fat is at & if you want to make some changes to your habits & nutrition

There’s no doubt that carbs are a point of contention when it comes to discussing nutrition. And this post isn’t to say low carb diets can’t work or should never be used. There are circumstances in which eating fewer carbs is beneficial. So for the sake of this post, I’m talking more specifically to women who are generally healthy and exercising regularly. Also keep in mind that each person has a unique carb tolerance, so it’s best to experiment to find what that looks like for you.
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Carbs are the fuel source for high intensity training. I know many women who go for long runs, lift weights, or attend Orange Theory, Soul Cycle, Crossfit, or bootcamp classes multiple times per week. These activities need carbs to be performed efficiently. They also require carbs (mostly starches) to facilitate the recovery process and ensure there is enough fuel reserves to perform optimally in the next workout. Your body will not be able to go for long if the only carbs you’re eating is vegetables.
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Fibrous veggies, fruit, and healthy starches are full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber which are essential for hormone production, providing us with energy and keeping us healthy.
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Fiber is an incredibly important nutrient for our health which we can only get from carb sources. Fiber helps populate our guts with healthy bacteria which helps our digestion. By having proper digestion, we are able to eliminate hormones, like estrogen, from our body. If we aren’t eliminating properly, those hormones are reabsorbed, resulting in hormonal imbalances that can lead to weight gain, skin issues, mood disturbance, etc.
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The biggest impact that going to low carb can have is on hormones, especially the thyroid. The thyroid needs glucose (from carbs) to convert active thyroid hormone. Eating too few carbs can prevent this from happening, resulting in hypothyroidism. Women’s bodies are especially sensitive to stress, and a low carb diet can increase the stress hormone cortisol, which will have a downstream effect on s*x hormones leading to a host of negative issues. A woman’s body needs to feel like it’s being fed, and it gets that signal from having too little calorie or carb availability.

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🔥FITNESS MYTH: SPOT REDUCTION🔥
The theory behind spot reduction is that you can perform certain exercises to reduce fat from a particular body part. Example: crunches to lose fat in the abdominal area.�.�Unfortunately, years of scientific research has proven that not to be true. The myth persists mainly due to infomercials trying to push their ridiculous fat loss products on you to make a quick buck. Thigh master or shake weight, anyone?�.�The truth is, everyone has areas on their body where fat may be distributed unevenly. For women, it's usually in the hips, thighs and arms. For men, it's typically seen in the stomach or lower back.�.�The *only* way to reduce the fat in ANY area on the body is by remaining in a calorie deficit while maintaining a consistent exercise regimen.

😣 How To Fix Skinny Fat
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It’s a punch in the gut when people think you’re skinny by how you look in clothes but when the shirt comes off, you have a belly and lack the muscle definition you’re after 😔
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And on the other hand, if you pushed and pushed with tons of cardio, exercise, and crash dieting (basically running on fumes) to wind up skinny fat — you’re beyond frustrated 😖
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Now the solution is simple (having patience is the tricky part 😇)
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Of course there are in-betweens and different scenarios — one thing holds true though: the difference in habits and lifestyle of a skinny fat person compared to the healthy, fit-looking person 💯
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Here they are 🤗
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Training for strength with compound exercises — think bench press, deadlifts, overhead press, pull ups, dips, squats ✅
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And not making the mistake of only focusing on chest flyes, concentration curls, leg extensions, lateral raises, etc...
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Those have their place, but cannot take away from moving heavy weight in the (4-6) rep range on those compound exercises 💯
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Don’t view cardio as the only means to lose that stubborn body fat. That’s gonna be handled through diet. The longer your cardio sessions are, the more and more difficult it’s going to be to build muscle and strength...
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So focus on sprints or other HIIT cardio and keep your sessions under 30 minutes, just 2-3 times per week 😤
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For diet, if you’ve been eating super low calories, you’ll want to take a break and give your metabolism a chance to recover...
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If you’ve been eating normally but still have the skinny fat look, you can focus on doing a moderate calorie deficit...
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In both cases, become more aware of the foods you’re eating (processed boxed food, and processed fats like, canola, vegetable, corn oils, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, emulsifiers like soy lecithin, and gum additives 🤢 ⠀
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Yes it’ll take an extra effort to check out the labels, but those in excess are going to start messing with your health, making it more difficult to lose fat, build muscle, and look and feel great 👍🙃
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HOW TO GET ABS🔥

Abs are cool right?

I think so

You know whats not cool?

People eating close to nothing and doing cardio like their life depended on it


People really do have it all backwards when it comes to chasing those abs and losing fat

Yes cardio is important and cutting down on food is important but not as aggressively as most people think

The key is gradual depletion through nutrition, weights and cardio

If you’re tired of fad diets and not looking like you want.

🔻DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAT LOSS & BUILDING MUSCLE🔻
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Many folks believe that difference between losing fat and building muscle is huge. That you have to take completely different approach when switching from one to another.
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That's not true.
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The principles for building muscle and losing fat are almost the same. There's just a little tweak that makes the difference.
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And that is… -
Energy balance - calorie target
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You see if you want to build muscle you should be in a calorie suprlus, and if you want to lose fat you should be in a calorie deficit.
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That is the main difference. No need to overcomplicate stuff.
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💥GET TO KNOW YOUR ABS💥
Everyone wants a stronger core, a tighter midsection, and s*xier abs, am I right?
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Well, if you want your abs to look great and function optimally, you have to understand each ab muscle and it’s purpose.
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Your re**us abdominis is the 6 pack muscle everyone knows. You can work this muscle directly through crunching variations, planks and reverse crunches. Your re**us also helps prevent low back extension - and this is probably it’s most important function.
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Your internal and external obliques work together to assist in flexing the trunk, rotating your trunk, and laterally flexing the trunk. They also act to stabilize the trunk by preventing rotation and lateral flexion.
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The transverse abdominis is the Pilates ab muscle where they tell you to “draw in your belly button towards your spine”. For bodybuilders, this is also the muscle for the “vacuum” exercise to narrow the waist. For the average person, you’re better off engaging this muscle with moderate and heavy deadlifts and squats - as the TA works to stabilize the low back and pelvis during movement.
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Importantly, the best way to make your abs look better is through nutrition and staying lean. No amount of ab exercises will shed fat from your midsection. Second, focus on heavy, compound movements in the 3-10 rep range to hit your abs indirectly. It’s impossible to use good form on squats, deadlifts, lunges, push ups, pull ups, dips, etc. without engaging your abs.
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I’d go as far as saying interval training will even make your abs look better than direct ab work because of the fat loss effect.
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However, if you want to achieve the BEST look in your abs, train them for both function (anti-extension, anti-rotation, anti-lateral flexion) and aesthetics (crunches, low ab work, rotation, lateral flexion).
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THE TRUTH ABOUT SWEATING
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Just because you're sweating like crazy, it doesn't mean that you burned a lot of Calories.
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You burn calories by doing work. If you burned calories by sweating, everyone would be eating spicy tacos in the sauna.
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If someone you know would be interested in this, then send them here.
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Losing Weight Takes TIME!
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Wanna know the one thing that nearly every struggling dieter has in common?
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—> A lack of PATIENCE ⏰
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It's the main reason people repeatedly fall for the latest FAD diets...
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Why they shovel out wads of moolah for silly-goose weight loss products they see on T.V. infomercials 🤦‍♂️💸 ...
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Deep down, they know it's all bull crap. But it's hard to resist things making enticing claims like, "drop 30 pounds in 30 days!" or "a slim belly in just two weeks!"
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HERE'S THE TRUTH ✅: losing weight is going to take time, and there ain't no changing that fact.
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Knowing that, you can go one of three directions:
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1. Get all hot 'n' fussy 😡 that it's going to take time and never get started...
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2. Be an Impatient Dieter 😫 and continue following extreme weight loss protocols (that probably last two weeks, tops)
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3. Become a Patient Dieter 😌, accept that losing weight takes time, and focus on making sustainable changes that'll help you stay consistent.
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Ultimately, the choice is yours...
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But(t🍑) trust me when I say that the Patient Dieter — one who embraces the journey and importance of building a healthier lifestyle — is who will ultimately succeed in the long run 💪
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Ever wonder how some people seem to be able to eat anything and stay lean? Got a friend who has pizza for breakfast and lunch and maintains a six pack? It’s all in the spontaneous movements.
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Research shows some people are just born with an innate drive to move more, especially when there’s an abundance of calories available. They perform more Spontaneous Physical Activity (SPA). Examples of SPA are:
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Fidgeting (foot/hand tapping, wobbling on feet, etc.) __
Changing posture (on a chair)
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Making gestures when you’re speaking
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Random movements (playing with hair, chewing on pencil, etc.) __
Performing more SPA is the way their bodies adapt to a higher caloric intake than they need. It's an important component of adaptive thermogenesis (next to lower resting metabolism). __
Other (less fortunate) people seem to be less ‘adaptive’ to this extra energy availability. They don’t become more fidgety, and the extra energy just gets stored as body fat. On the bright side, that does save money on the food bill if you’re trying to gain weight!
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So how spontaneously active can someone actually get? Meaning your annoying friend may be able to eat another half pizza per day without gaining any additional fat.
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In practice, if you’re very adaptive to calorie intake (highly fidgety), slowly increase your calories and closely watch how your body weight reacts.
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If you’re not that adaptive to calorie intake (not very fidgety), aim for a small caloric surplus over your calculated maintenance.
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For 2 people with the exact same body weight and lifestyle, one could bulk on 4000 calories per day, while the other struggles to keep body fat levels in check at 3200 calories per day.
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