Top Five Most Burning Fitness Questions

(This article has been updated as of Dec 4, 2020. Covid has now dramatically accelerated the already growing trend toward online wellness coaching and age group-specific guidance on healthy habits. To address these needs directly I have launched a comprehensive online program for Boomers like me with my longtime colleague and favorite healthy eating expert , Anne Moselle, R.D. Check it out here.)

I recently floated out a list of the top five questions fitness professionals are asked, according to Google, to our FB fans and they chose these three as the ones they most wanted addressed. Here’s the article with the responses from Ideafit.com, which I largely agree with, but to which humbly add my own perspective and summarize below:

Q: What’s the best way to burn fat?

A: Do you remember “The Santa Clause”? Each morning after shaving the full beard that the Tim Allen character grew overnight, it grew right back again. So, the real inquiry lurking in this question is “How can I permanently trim excess fat and maintain a leaner body once I do?”, isn’t it? It’s simpler than you might realize but you have to understand and accept three unavoidable facts:

1. You can get leaner by drinking lots of water and eating just enough of the most nourishing foods (veggies, leaner protein sources, lower sugar fruit and moderate amounts of whole grains) to satisfy your hunger. Exercise alone won’t do it.
2. Higher intensity exercise raises your capacity to continually burn more and more fat; so it’s better than training in the lower heart rate zone, which uses far less fuel, even though the percentage of fat/carbs used is slightly higher.
3. Eating or drinking more than your body needs or for any reason other than nourishment (especially consuming more later in the day) is, for most people, at least as big an obstacle to losing fat permanently as eating higher calorie/lower nutrient food.

Sincerely consider which of these three points is your Achilles Heel and fix it/them. Easier said than done? The right trainer can help you take it over the finish line.

Q: How do I get a flat stomach?

A: No one’s stomach is flat. It’s your abdomen you’re thinking of; the muscle wall that lays over your stomach and other really important organs. The solution starts with the answer to the question above, and ends with body-acceptance. Remember that only a very small percentage of people have truly flat abdomens, fewer still as you move up in age brackets and even those who do sport washboard midsections lose them as they age because of physiological changes (looser skin, more fat migrating to surface areas). But if you do decide to eat super clean and work out like a maniac for 12 weeks (like fitness models and bodybuilders do before their events/photo shoots), just remember to take a bunch of pictures to remember what you looked like a couple of weeks later. Function over form. But if you eat healthy and train hard, I’ll bet your form looks pretty darn good, flat belly of not quite so flat.

Q: Should I do cardio or weight training first?

A: If you want a hot bod, it really doesn’t matter – just be sure to do both (and eat clean; see above). As for a more efficient or effective workout, cardio first prepares the muscles, joints and connective tissue better for challenging loads (helping to minimize injury risk), but can make it harder to catch your breath between strength sets, adding time to your workout. I personally like to mix it up constantly and usually intersperse them, both for myself and my clients, to keep us challenged, constantly adapting to new pacing structures and movement patterns and just to keep the workouts fresher and more interesting.

Working with the right trainer, even just at the start of your program or checking in periodically, can boost the quality of your fitness program a great deal, as well as help you minimize injury risks. This article can be a good starting point for you to head in the right direction for living your best life. So take it from here!

Dan Taylor, ACE, NASM-CPT, is owner and head trainer at Pleasanton-based Tri Valley Trainer. They provide personal training and small group fitness solutions at their studio and a premium, innovative, medically endorsed web-based group coaching wellness program for the over-fifty tribe.