Top Exercise Questions: Answered

I was recently asked by a publisher to answer a slew of popular questions regarding fitness, nutrition and personal training. The questions ranged from "Is it safe for pregnant women to workout?" to "Is it better to perform cardio before or after lifting weights or should cardio be done on a completely different day?" to "What should a personal trainer take into consideration when working with each individual client?". My answers are based on exercise science and collective experience of other health and fitness professionals. Due to space, I focused on the most important aspects of my answers, if you need further explanation or have your own questions, please do not hesistate in contacting me.

Is it true that some exercises produce results faster than others? Is so,

which exercises provide the best and worst "returns on investment"?

Great question! First you must ask yourself "what results you are looking for?" I always tell my clients "you are investing your money (monthly dues/pt training) and TIME into this journey. What are your goals?".

Once you know your goals, we can start the process of elimination of what exercises NOT do! Secondly, after you know your goals a proper fitness evaluation should be done. Again, if you are investing your time and money then let's take it a step forward and get some baseline of your current fitness.

For example, bodyfat to lean muscle percentage, musco-skeletal assymetries ( Hip hike, right shoulder internally rotates significantly more than left), cardio vascular testing, listing past injuries etc. After this is established and factoring your current lifestyle (sedentary, active), you can begin to select exercises that will maximize your time.

Another example, if it is weight loss then you want to work more muscles per movement, we call this compound exercises e.g. squat to bicep curl to overheard shoulder press. Focusing on a single muscle group such as abs, biceps especially within the first 90 days will not yield the same caloric expenditure as when you perform compound movements.

Lastly, I highly recommend learning how to move/exercise in all anatomical planes. The majority of the population work mirror muscles train in a linear pattern e.g lunges, squats, chest. If you introduce movement in all planes of motion such as side to side, rotational exercises, hip dominant exercise, single leg exercises, up, down, left, right, forward, reverse and circular. Your body will be using more muscles than ANY nautilus machines.

Worst "return on investment" nautilus machines best "return" bodyweight, free weight, cross train with kettle bells etc.... machines may compliment a program however it should NEVER substitute free form training.

Yes, free form training requires more time to learn correct form however combined with appropriate intensity, rest and nutrition, your investment will yield results! Is it a good idea for someone to workout if they have a cold?

I do not recommend working out with a cold. I believe the calories you use to workout would be best utilized by your immune system to fight the cold. You may be prolonging your cold by continuing to work out. The rest, hydration and proper care of your cold will allow your body to recover. Injuries and hitting a plateau are more likely to occur if you workout under the weather. Use discretion and common sense.

If your cold stays with you for over a week and you were working out then connect the dots and stop exercising! Stick to walking, stretching or foam rolling till you feel better.

Is it better to perform cardio before or after lifting weights or should cardio be done on a completely different day?

There are many opinions on what comes first. I apologize in advance because I am going to repeat what I said earlier....it depends on your goals and current fitness level. 99% percent of my clients will do cardio after their workout the 1% is my mature/senior clientele 70,80,90

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