“Going to the gym does not mean you will lose weight” - says National power lifting coach

“Going to the gym does not mean you will lose weight” – says National power lifting coach

Sep 25, 2022 News

==Fit-Nest==

By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – There is a popular misconception associated with exercise. Automatically, one runs away with the conclusion that a person heading to the gym wants to lose weight or very often, a person would even start exercising only to discover they aren’t losing weight.

Salma Hack, a power lifter who has been exercising since 2015 has gained weight to achieve her body goals. In the left image (2019), the fitness enthusiast weighed 119 pounds but in this recent 2022 photo (right), the influencer weighs 128 pounds. Hack posts videos and photos almost daily on her social media pages to encourage women to feel their best in their bodies.

To put this into perspective, national coach, Martin Webster recently explained what exactly happens when a person exercises and why they should keep at it. Webster does not believe that going to the gym will make you lose weight. Instead, the trainer with over 20 years of experience says that going to the gym simply aids in making your body stronger, while for some, weight loss comes as a bonus.

In an interview with The Waterfalls earlier this week, Mr. Webster explained his position. He said, “You go to the gym to get strong not to lose weight. Weight loss comes as a by-product of what you did and what you ate because you can eat, train and get bigger.” As a power lifter, Webster said this is precisely what his trainees do.

“We lift weight and body builders do the same thing too, they lift and get bigger, some body builders lift and get smaller because we know how to manipulate diet for the weight categories that we’re in,” the fitness enthusiast pointed out.

National Power Lifting Coach, Martin Webster preparing for a round of squats back when he was a national athlete in 2014

The coach explained that muscles get stronger when you exercise, so overtime, you will find that you can run longer for example. As the muscles strengthen, your lung capacity will become more efficient so that you don’t run and end up panting for breath and complaining about stitches, among other things.

Webster said that people usually work out to become fit; however, being fit can mean different things for different people.

For instance, he noted that for some people, being fit means being able to perform a particular task. According to him, “If that task is sweeping the house, cooking for your husband and looking after the kids, then that’s a big goal. If the fit means let’s say you’re a runner and you want to do a 5k run every time one comes up, you have to train for that; so everything you do is in line with that and that only. But if your original goal is weight loss, this comes in the frying pan. So if you want to be able to do certain things, let’s say dancing, an active sex life, you have to define that because being fit is relatively a vague term. You cannot put one definition to it.”

“Me as an old guy, what I call fitness for me is to be strong – as strong as I can be. I don’t have to run, I’m not interested in that because for me I want to be able to walk around and pick up 400 pounds,” the former weight lifting champion shared. He went on to note though, that there are other men who would want to have a six-pack abs and show it off as this is their opinion of being fit.

Webster said that to achieve whatever your objective is to look ideal, it would involve diet and training.

Importantly, you should not give up on exercise just because the scale does not show you the numbers you are looking for. While your body mass may have even increased, this does not mean that your physique has not changed or improved. In fact, many gym rats join just to tone their bodies rather than lose weight. At the same time, if you would really like to shed some pounds, exercise alone will definitely not cut it. Adjusting your diet will definitely assist as you simultaneously push harder in the gym.

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