Inside Fitness: The Potpourri Edition

Due to the tragic loss of the usual "Inside Fitness" columnist to the dark depths of Oxford, England for a semester, the dearly departed Ian Asaff has bestowed upon me a great honor. After a short hiatus, I have big shoes to fill during the spring of 2004 as I will attempt to tell you, the Tufts community, exactly what you want, and need, to know about personal fitness. Now to the questions ...

"I'm an engineer and as you probably know, we're busy people. I'm having trouble finding time to get to the gym and when I do find some time, I'm stuck debating whether to do cardio or weights, and how much time I should spend on each. What should I do?" -- Joe Schipani, class of 2005

Well Joe, it all depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're one of those people attempting to lose a little bit of weight before spring break, then I would suggest prioritizing your cardiovascular workout. Do the cardio first, followed by the weights. If your sole purpose is to lose weight, then you may just want to forget the weights all together for the time being until you reach your goal.

But if you're trying to bulk up for the ladies, start with the weights then proceed to the cardio. It all depends on your goals: Start with whatever you think you need to work on the most so that you're feeling fresh, energized, and motivated when you begin.

"I've heard that you're supposed to be able to bench press your weight. I can bench mine. Does that make me really strong?" -- Steve Leichman, class of 2006

Not at all. I believe that bench pressing one's weight is a poor measure of strength. The people who are at an advantage here are short people with short arms. Short people have to perform less mechanical work (can I get an amen for physics?) when doing the bench press because they have to move the weight a shorter distance than taller people. If you're short, say 5'9", then the fact that you can bench press ten pounds more than a taller, say 6'3", skinnier person doesn't necessarily make you stronger. In fact, the tall skinny person could be stronger than the shorter person because of the extra mechanical work needed to put up the weight. Therefore, it all depends on how you're built. Remember, weightlifting is all relative: Set your own goals for weightlifting and don't go by what someone else told you.

"I'm a Tufts student abroad in England for the year and I'm trying to pick up some British women. But I'm not sure if I should work the same muscle groups together, e.g. back and biceps on the same day. What do you suggest?" -- Abroad trying to score some Brits, class of 2005

Well "Abroad," there are a couple of ways you can look at this. To look at an example: When you perform the lat pull-down exercise, you're not only working your back muscles, but also your biceps muscles. Therefore, with the right combination of back exercises, you can work your biceps without doing any exercises specific to biceps. But if you really want to work the biceps, it's OK to work them in the same workout. Just make sure you do them after your back workout. If you work the smaller biceps muscle group first, they will be extremely tired when you attempt any back exercises and your back workout will be a bust. Remember though: You don't have to work back and biceps or chest and triceps on the same day. What I sometimes try to do is to get two arm workouts in every week, without actually doing two arm workouts. What I mean is that I'll do back on Monday, for example, getting a small bicep workout in during the process and end up working biceps on Thursday or Friday, giving myself a few days to recover before proceeding with a full-fledged biceps workout. These are just a couple of suggestions for you but try them out and pick the one that works best for you.