Captain Ahab’s BodyBlog

Seeing as I have been sticking to the subject of getting started I will continue the theme with this edition of my blog.
What I would like to emphasize to people beginning a workout regime where they use weights is to not let the scale dictate whether you are getting into better shape or not and to not let that machine be the end all be all in determining if you are reaching your goals. In fact you might just have to rethink your overall approach to determining your goals.
I say this because there are many factors to take into consideration other than just the almighty scale.
In my own case for example I was actually gaining weight instead of losing but yet my wife kept telling me I was looking great and in the mirror I thought I was losing a bit here and a bit there but I was afraid I was only seeing what I wanted to see. It turned out that I was losing inches and gaining muscle but instead of seeing a decline on the scale I was seeing an increase, which was confusing except I was doing a good job of changing my shape.
My last client was a 58 years old lady who lost 17 ½ inches to her overall body measurements in just 6 weeks but on the scale she only went down about 5 lbs, but overall she had changed her shape dramatically.
What was happening was that fat was being lost in certain areas and in other areas or even in the same areas muscle was being grown and replacing the fat and inch for inch muscle weighs more than fat so the end result was that she was altering her shape but the scale showed she was still close to her starting weight.
That is why I recommend a series of things to determine if your hard work is being rewarded. First, have all of your strategic measurements taken (you can find out the specific areas to measure by looking on Bodybuilding.com as they have at least one article in their archives that points that out), then measure your body fat percentage (once again check with Bodybuilding.com if you need reference) and by all means weigh yourself on a scale and then I recommend taking photos of yourself, from the front, back and each side with you standing naturally (a bathing suit or shorts and top for women and shorts for men will show the future changes best). It might even be a good idea to hold a newspaper in one hand to show that you can verify the day you took the pictures in case you wish to enter one of the many body transformation contests. Chart these measurements in your workout log or somewhere where you won’t lose them and every 4 to 6 weeks measure yourself again and take another set of pictures standing in the exact same place and I suggest wearing the same clothes.
If you are working out hard enough along with eating right and doing cardio you will most likely see a large difference in the overall numbers and in the pictures but if the weight hasn’t changed drastically don’t let that damn scale dictate if you have been doing a good job or not. The numbers will tell the true story; as well, the camera doesn’t lie.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 23rd, 2007 at 11:16 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.