Fitness Interview Preparation Guide

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In fitness there are discussions about many aspects of fitness. From bodybuilding and training methods to aerobics and nutrition. Hopefully this FAQ will answer some basic questions about fitness, with an emphasis on weight training, and make your training more productive.

Body FAT (BF) is usually given as a percentage of total weight. If a 100lb person has 10% body FAT, that person has 10lbs of FAT and 90 pounds of lean body mass (LBM) (water, muscle, bone, etc). There are 3500 calories in 1 pound of FAT.

Body FAT is usually tested in 4 different ways.

* Hydrostatic weighing (Immersion): Weight is taken while under the water and it is used to find your %BF.
► Pros: Thought to be the most reliable.
► Cons: A lot of equipment is needed, usually found at most Universities. Time consuming and sort of a hassle. What you eat the day before, or before the test, can affect the accuracy.
* Infrared: Infrared light is used to determine your body FAT.
► Pros: Fast.
► Cons: Not very reliable.
* Impedance: The %BF is calculated by measuring the impedance between certain areas of the body, usually between the fingers and the toes.
► Pros: Fast.
► Cons: Not very reliable.
* Pinch test: Calipers are used to measure skin fold thickness.
► Pros: Thought to be very reliable. The more places tested the more accurate the results. Most gyms have a caliper.
► Cons: May be embarrassing to have someone pinch your FAT. If the person is inexperienced the results may be very inaccurate.

Repeat after me "You can't spot reduce!". Men generally store FAT around their waist, while women generally keep it around their hips. There is no exercise, magical cream (yet), plastic wrap procedure, or anything else other than liposuction, that will remove FAT from a certain area. That's usually the first place it builds up and it's the last place it will depart.

The best way to get and keep a washboard stomach, or shapely hips, is by following a low FAT diet and doing plenty of aerobics. Crunches, or side leg raises, while strengthening and building the muscles, will not make them appear through the layer of FAT between them and the skin. Get rid of the FAT and the abs will should show up and/or the hips will become firm and trim.

Heart Rate (HR) is the number of times the heart beats per minute. This is usually taken by pressing on the front, left side of the neck, or the inner wrist, and counting the number of beats in a certain time. i.e. If you counted 10 beats, starting at zero, in 10 seconds your HR would be 60 (10*60 sec(1min)/10). When doing an aerobic work out your Max Heart Rate (MHR) needs to be determined. Your MHR is defined as 220-Your Age. A 20-Year old's MHR would be 200, while a 50-Year old's would be 170. While performing aerobic exercise your HR should stay in the range of MHR*.50 to MHR*.80. This is your Training Zone. So a 20-year old should keep their HR between 100 and 160. Keeping the HR above this zone will not provide additional aerobic benefit, in fact, it may provide no aerobic benefit at all. For best results, aerobic and FAT burning, keep your HR in the aerobic zone for at least 12 minutes. The longer and more frequently you do this the more improvement you'll see.

Don't be so concerned about how much you weigh. Instead be concerned about how much of that weight is FAT. You want the weight loss to be caused by losing FAT, not muscle or water.

To lose weight you need to burn more calories than you take in. To do it efficiently and to make sure it stays off the following three steps should be taken and should become part of your every day life.
o Start an aerobic program. The activity should be something that you like doing, and look forward to doing. The activity doesn't need to be an aerobics class. Instead it could be walking, biking, inline/ice skating, dancing, etc. Anything that will elevate your HR and keep it around your Training Zone for at least 12 minutes. Remember, the longer the better.
o Modify what you eat. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, chicken, rice, potatoes, etc. Read the labels. 1g FAT = 9 calories (to make the math a little easier round that up to 10 calories) 1g protein or carbohydrates = 4 calories. Don't be fooled by "95% FAT free"! Look carefully at how many calories come from FAT. i.e. if something has 120 calories, which is pretty low, but it has 9 g FAT and 5 g protein and 5 g carbohydrates, almost 70% of that product is FAT. Try to eliminate the FAT that you eat. There is FAT in virtually everything so shooting for a 0% FAT diet will probably put you in the 10%-20%, just because not everything is FAT free, and you do need some FAT in your diet. Simply switching the obvious foods will make a big difference, such as, skim instead of whole milk, chicken instead of hamburger, bagels instead of croissants, etc. Also eating small meals more frequently during the day will raise your metabolism and keep you from getting that "I'm starving" feeling.
o Resistance Training: To build muscle that will, in turn, help burn calories throughout the day. A simple weight program where you slowly add weight and perform basic exercises every other day, such as, Squats, Bench Press, Pull-downs, and Military Presses are enough for most people.

General hints on Weight Loss:
o Don't go on starvation diets. This will slow down your metabolism and may actually make you FATter.
o Don't take products such as SlimFast. Drinking SlimFast may work in the beginning, but you need to modify your eating habits for a lifetime.
o Don't buy anything that looks like a gimmick. The Thighmaster, Fat burning pills, some portable thing-a-ma-jig. Spend the money on good food and save it for your new clothes you'll need in a couple of months.
o Get your BF% calculated and check it every other month.
o Forget about the scale and buy a full length mirror. Standing in front of it nude will tell you much more than the scale will. "A picture is worth a thousand words"
o Whatever you do HAVE FUN! If you start on some horrible (grapefruit) diet, a month later you're going to hate it and, more than likely, end up putting on more FAT.

I know everyone will say "I wish I had to gain weight..." but gaining weight (LBM) is a goal for a lot of people.

To gain weight you need to consume more calories than you burn up. To do it efficiently, and to make the weight muscle, not FAT, you'll need to start a weight training program. You want the weight to be muscle, not FAT. To do this you'll need to slowly increase your caloric intake, usually by eating another meal during the day or by using a weight gain supplement. Make sure the food is protein and carbohydrates and not FAT. Give it time. 10-15 pounds of muscle in a year is pretty good.

Aerobic means oxygen. Your muscles are working in an oxygen rich state. After 12 minutes it causes your body to produce FAT-burning enzymes.

According to Covert Baily, an aerobic exercise is one that fits the following four requirements.
1. Is steady, nonstop.
2. Lasts twelve minutes minimum.
3. Has a comfortable pace.
4. Uses the muscles of the lower body.

An easy way to measure if your training too hard/fast is a simple talk test. If you can't carry on a conversation without huffing and puffing for breath you need to slow down. If you can carry on a conversation without stopping every now and then for a breath then you need to go a little faster. You have to be doing some work. Your heart rate and your breathing needs to be elevated.

Examples: walking/running, cycling, rowing, stair climbing, dancing.

Anaerobic means lack of oxygen. Your muscles are working in an oxygen deprived state. This causes your body to produce sugar-burning enzymes. You are expending energy faster than your body can replace it by metabolizing oxygen.

An anaerobic exercise is any activity that fails to meet the above 4 requirements. An aerobic activity can become anaerobic if the heart rate is elevated above the training zone for a long period of time. Any start/stop activities would qualify.

Examples: tennis, football, sprinting, skiing, weight training.

A person beginning a training program needs to realize a few things before they begin. First, changes don't happen overnight. You have to think about where you want to be a year or two from now and slowly achieve minor goals. Putting on muscle, or taking off FAT should be done slowly and correctly for best results. Second, if you want to become more healthy you'll probably need to alter your lifestyle for your lifetime. Many people take up aerobics or weight training, lose/gain a few pounds and quit. Months later they're back where they were. Third, you need to be informed. There are plenty of books and magazines to help get you started. Ask a lot of questions and experiment with different exercises and/or activities. Last, not everyone has the genetics to have 20" arms or to run a sub 4 minute mile. Don't get discouraged about what you don't have. Improve on what you do have.

A warm-up is an activity that gets your muscles "warmed up". Usually a 5 minute bike ride at a steady comfortable pace, or a brisk 5 minute walk, is enough. Most people like to go until they "break a sweat". A cool-down is just the opposite. You want to gradually slow the body down. This is usually done by biking/walking at a fairly fast pace and gradually slowing down over a few minutes. Stretching also makes up a part of the cool down.