My guess is they would wonder what is wrong with just getting up and moving. It worked for them they were fit and healthy because they had to walk everywhere, and they didn’t have trains, buses, or cars.

They ran after their food if they were hungry, they didn’t have Uber eats deliver to their doorstep.

Yes, they were a lot more active!

However, they didn’t live in towns or cities where you need to move long distances to get to work, where they had to work 10 hours a day, and sit in an office, they didn’t have large families that needed to be fed and looked after, driven places for sports or other things.

They just didn’t have the busy lifestyle, that we do as modern men.  They didn’t have to plan their spare time to exercise in a busy life.

So can you use a Fitbit for weight loss?

Well using a Fitbit on its own won’t help you do much at all.  It’s the data from the Fitbit that can give you the help you need to change your lifestyle, and monitor your food, sleep, and activity, which will help you lose weight.

So let’s do a deep dive into Fitbits and what the latest crazy fitness invention means to you.

What is a Fitbit

Fitbit firstly is an American company, that makes activity trackers, which are wireless-enabled wearable technology devices that measure data such as the number of steps walked, heart rate, quality of sleep, steps climbed, and other personal metrics involved in fitness.

So Fitbit is the brand, what they make are Activity trackers.

Why Use a Fitbit to Lose Weight?

So now you know that a Fitbit is really an activity tracker, they are literally dozens of activity trackers on the market.  With such a wide range of activity trackers out there, you can bet that they have a wide range of functions. anything from

• Tracking your Athletic performance
• Sleep habits
• Even promoting posture

But I like using my Fitbit activity tracker to help me with weight loss and maintaining that weight loss.

I liked it so much, that I bought a Fitbit Ionic for my 73-year-old mother to use for her general fitness. OK, yes I spoil her for Christmas.

How do I Choose the right Fitbit for me?

Fitbit has a wide range of products to choose from. This is great, as you can choose the right activity tracker that will work with your fitness goals and fitness lifestyle.

Watches

• Versa
• Ionic

Trackers

• Charge 3
• Alta HR
• Alta
• Flex 2
• Act
• Zip

Accessories

They also have a decent range of accessories with things like different color bands and headphones as well as training apps.

Is Fitbit Activity Tracker Hard to Use

For the most part no they are not. The Fitbit dashboard is simple and easy to use and is well suited to weight loss and fitness

The dashboard is customizable as well, they can also sync stats wirelessly and automatically from whatever Fitbit device you have, to either your phone or computer.

Once online on the dashboard, you have tools that can show your progress as charts.

Fitness goal setting and monitoring have never been done, you can see progress notifications, as well as celebrate achievement milestones with achievement badges, that you can share with friends and family.

It can also help you manage what calories are coming and what calories are going out.  It helps keep fat, carbohydrates, and protein grams in balance, which in turn helps your overall food intake.

Does it work with Other Fitness Tools and Fitness Apps?

Yes, the Fitbit will also pair seamlessly with other helpful apps and other tools, that will assist you in weight loss.  You can also pair the Fitbit wireless fitness headphones with your Fitbit activity tracker. But they do also pair well with other apps like

• Strava
• My fitness pal
• Loseit

Which Fitbit is Best for Weight Loss?

Well, you really need to know what you want your Fitbit for. You want to choose the right one for you that you will wear often and actually use.

Tip – DON’T BUY ONE because you think it s a magic pill to lose weight.

If you are looking to buy one, here are some things to consider :

What’s the budget?

A Fitbit price can vary from Under $60 up to the high-end Fitbit Ionic for nearly $300. While it’s great you want to invest in your health and fitness, don’t spend money on features that you won’t use.

 How do You Dress?

Fitness and dressing for exercise usually mean a sports casual look.  But how do you dress through the day, if you are a professional that needs to look a certain way, or wears a uniform  You need to make sure you get the model that can blend in with both worlds.

The best way to get the most out of your Fitbit is to wear it all the time, so don’t buy a model that you wouldn’t be seen dead out in public.

What type of job do you do?

Do you work in industry or around a machine where a loose strap might get caught, or if you Fitbit band is banging against what ever you working on?  You might need to choose a softer band or even one of the models that can clip on your clothing.

What about wearing it to Bed?

Some dietitians will tell you it’s helpful to track sleep data, so do you need to wear your Fitbit to Track Sleep?  A select few Fitbit models will have the sleep tracking function, that can track information about sleep stages, and how long you spend in the stages of sleep.

Just keep in mind that some of the bigger models will be a little bit more clunky and could be a little uncomfortable in bed.

Are you planning on training hard?

Depending on the type of activity you are doing you need the right model.  For example, if you are swimming you need the Fitbit Ionic, as it’s designed to be water resistant and is better suited to water-based workouts.

If you are sweating and doing things like Tough Mudder, you might need to choose a more robust band, as some of them might not hold up to heat, excessive sweat, and being banged around.

Are you looking for special features?

If you have been to your doctor to talk about exercising and you have a heart condition, you might need features like heart rate monitoring.  If you are a runner, you may want to track your pace and distance.  Models like Fitbit Blaze and Charge 3 can provide GPS functionality to your smartphone.

The Fitbit Ionic can provide GPS with no phone needed, can store music on the watch as well, and on-screen workouts with Fitstar coaching.

What about lifestyle features?

Using properly any Fitbit will help you lose weight.  But technology being what it is, you can also manage basic lifestyle activities.  You can get notifications on your smartphone.

The Fitbit Blaze and Fitbit Ionic have a Relax app for stress management.  The Ionic also has a wallet app the store’s credit card information so you can make payments via your watch with pay wave.

How to use Your Fitbit for Weight loss

Here is the most important part, at the end of the day, the Fitbit activity tracker is a tool. A tool that can help you lose weight and manage that weight loss, ONLY if you use it right.

The dashboard tiles are customizable so you can actually set it up to give you the best chance of hitting your goals with weight loss.  The whole idea of the dashboard design and layouts is meant to promote good health.

Here are the most important Fitbit dashboard tiles

Food Plan

You can use this tile to set your weight loss goal. Once you decide how much weight you want to lose and how hard you are willing to work to reach that goal.  Then based on your goal, you are assigned a daily calorie deficit.

Once you have that set, all you need to do is check throughout the day, to find out how much you need to eat to maintain the deficit.

Calories In vs Out

This tile will tell you how many calories you have eaten in the day vs’ the number of calories you’ve burned.  The tile displays a meter on the front.   Basically, it’s simple at the end of the day you need the meter to be in the middle of the green zone.

It’s simple to do that, you just eat fewer calories than you burn.

You essentially create a calorie deficit.  Once you set up your food plan, and your calorie deficit matches the deficit you will end up in the green zone.

Hourly Activity Goal

This tile will help boost your metabolism. all you need to do is check it out throughout the day, making sure you are moving around enough to burn as many calories as possible.  You can set a reminder to make sure you get up and move as well.

You can also use the Hourly activity goal to analyze the times of day when you are less active.  So you can use it to set up activities reminders and schedule to move during those times.

They are plenty of other dashboard tiles that can be helpful when you are targeting weight loss. But you only need to add them if you think you will use them

Tip: Don’t clutter your dashboard

If you are starting out, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with too many, tiles, numbers, and dates. After a while, your head will be swimming and you will give up using your Fitbit.

Tip: KISS – Keep it simple stupid

Here are a few more tiles you can use :

The Sleep tile

Works well for those who skip exercise because they are tired.  You can use it to make adjustments to your sleep habits, making sure you get adequate rest.

The Recent Exercise tile

This one shows you how close you are to achieving the exercise goals you’ve set.

The Water tile

This one works well for dieters who tend to eat when they are thirsty.

The Resting Heart Rate tile

This one is helpful, you can check your resting heart rate.  It works well for people who ten to eat in response to stress.  You can use this in conjunction with the Relax app to help calm yourself with deep breathtaking instead of food.

Top Badges, and Friends

This is a great resource for anyone who enjoys challenges and needs the support of others.

I tried to lose weight with my Fitbit activity tracker but it didn’t work?

We have all been there, been out, and bought a shiny new toy.  All because we thought it would give us some great results for weight loss, but it just didn’t. Anyone buys a treadmill, to use at home, and found it holds clothes really well.

If you find yourself disappointed with the results and your Fitbit.   It’s generally because people have unrealistic expectations.

Think of it like this, the data that you can collect with your Fitbit activity tracker can help you when you are planning your exercise and nutrition goals.

BUT, there is no device in the world, that will motivate you to throw on a pair of sneakers and go for a walk or a jog, or instead of the 3rd pizza for the week, eat a chicken and salad instead. (maybe Fitbit can add an electric shock option).

Consistency is key not a Fitbit

You need to be consistent and wear your activity tracker all the time, not just some of the time, so good days and bad days. You need to be able to track your exercise and food habits through it all.

Just remember the more data you have the better your informed decision can be, and the better you can make your training program and diet plan.

So as a wash-up, yes you can use Fitbit for weight loss.

It can help you collect data for your diet and exercise plans.  With that data, it can help you change those old unhealthy habits to healthy ones

Just choose your Fitbit activity tracker wisely, it’s a decent investment in your health.

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It’s fantastic that you have a muscle-building goal.  Whatever your goal is don’t get caught between fact and fiction.

As a young person, at the time of the Rocky movies.  I seriously thought that drinking raw eggs before a workout at the gym would, give me muscle mass.  That was a myth.

So let’s look a the myths and fiction of training.  If you are in the gym and looking for building muscle here are:

5 myths of building muscle in the gym

The 12 Rep rule

A lot of trainers in the gym will give you weight training programs, with that repetition target for gaining muscle.

The truth is this approach does not place enough tension on the muscle for effective muscle gain.

High tension = Heavy Weights

Lifting heavy weights provides muscle growth in which the muscle grows much larger, leading to maximum gains in strength. Having longer tension time boosts the muscle size by generating the structures around the muscle fibers, which in turn improves endurance.

The standard prescription of eight to 12 repetitions can provide a balance but just using that repetition target all of the time.

You won’t generate the greater tension levels that are provided by the heavier weights and lesser reps, and the longer tension achieved with lighter weights and more repetitions.

Tip: Change the number of reps and adjust the weights to stimulate all types of muscle growth.

Three Set rule

The truth is there’s nothing wrong with three sets but then again there is nothing amazing about it either. The number of sets you perform should be based on your goals and not on a half-century-old rule.

The more repetitions you do on an exercise, the fewer sets you should do, and vice versa. This keeps the total number of repetitions done of an exercise equal.

Tip: 2 – 6 sets are just fine.

Three to four exercises per group

The truth is this is a waste of time. Combined with twelve reps of three sets, the total number of reps amount to 144. If you’re doing this many reps for a muscle group you’re not doing enough.

Tip: Instead of doing too many different exercises, try doing 30 to 50 reps. That can be anywhere from 2 sets of 15 reps or 5 sets of 10 reps.

My knees, my toes

It is a gym folklore that you “should not let your knees go past your toes.” Truth is that leaning forward a little too much is more likely to cause injury.

In 2003, Memphis University researchers confirmed that knee stress was almost thirty percent higher when the knees are allowed to move beyond the toes during a squat.

But hip stress increased nearly 10 times or (1000 percent) when the forward movement of the knee was restricted.

Because the squatters needed to lean their body forward and that forces the strain to transfer to the lower back.

Tip: Focus on your upper body position and less on the knee.

Try keeping the torso in an upright position as much as possible when doing squats and lunges. This reduces the stress generated on the hips and back.

To stay upright, before squatting, squeeze the shoulder blades together and hold them in that position; and then as you squat, keep the forearms 90 degrees to the floor.

Lift weights, draw abs

The truth is the muscles work in groups to stabilize the spine, and the most important muscle group change depending on the type of exercise.

The transverse abdominis is not always the most important muscle group. Actually, for most exercises, the body automatically activates the muscle group that is needed most for support of the spine.

Tip: If you focus only on the transverse abdominis.  It can recruit the wrong muscles and limit the right muscles.

This increases the chance of injury and reduces the weight that can be lifted.  I lost count of how many well-meaning physios advised this over the years,

That’s it, five building muscle myths you often hear about in the gym.  Take the time to develop a gym routine that works for you.  Talk to a personal trainer if you are starting out.

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1. After your morning ride, Eat

In the morning after waking up, your body is normally is a semi fasted condition. If you can, force yourself on your full suspension mountain bike shortly after waking up without eating breakfast. This way your body will be encouraged to burn more fat. However, this will depend on the intensity and length of your ride. If you want to take it a notch higher, have a cup or two of plain black or green tea. This will improve your calorie burn (energy expenditure) and will make a morning cycle without food less daunting. As soon as the ride is over, remember to eat good, hearty breakfast.

2. Mix it up

You can get stuck in a rut easily when you are only pedaling on the road. When you are trying to lose weight with your bike, cycling the same routes at same intensity may lead to a plateau. A good way is to mix it up. Try different disciplines. For instance, cyclo-cross and mountain biking require short but explosive energy bursts because of the terrain. This can mimic interval training. It’s also ideal if you don’t have much time. If you spent about an hour on the trails, you will burn about 100 calories more than you would on a steady state cycle on the road. This is because of increased intensity.

3. Don’t ride alone all the time

Join a group ride. When cycling alone, you may lose motivation. And when you want to burn extra pounds, getting out of the door is half the battle. Whether it’s a small group ride organized by a local cycling team or several training partners, getting together with other riders gives you one more reason to get out on the trails or road. As an added advantage, cycling with other riders will push you to go farther and ride harder than you would alone especially if they are a bit faster than you.

4. Ensure consistency

Face it. Riding once in a week isn’t going to make you realize your goal. Burning calories is just about accumulation. For you to begin noticing some change in your bottom line, days will need to become weeks. Therefore, instead of having one long but slow ride each week, turn to riding an hour four or five days a week. That way you will burn more calories and become fitter.

5. Avoid energy bars and gels when riding

These are for racing. However good they are for replenishing your energy stores when you are out riding, they contain many calories than natural foods. Instead, tuck away a half peanut butter sandwich or a large banana.

6. Change your commute

Commute to work by bike. Also, ensure you don’t use the same route all the time as this can make burning calories hard especially if the commutes are short. To optimize your calorie burn, look for several routes of varying terrains and distance. While it’s impossible to take the long and hard route always, opting for it once or twice a week will pay big dividends in the long term.

7. Go for long rides

To lose weight with your bike, you will need to have several moderate intensity cycles in a week that last for about two or more hours. This means you will stay in your aerobic heart rate zone which is about 80% or less of your optimum heart rate. High-intensity intervals should be done a few times in a week and about an hour although in terms of calories burned they give you more bang for your buck. Long rides, on the other hand, result in burning of more fats and can be as frequent as possible without raising your risk of injury. Just don’t forget long rides will make you hungrier. Therefore ensure you eat a healthy meal so as to limit your post-ride snacking.

8. Don’t Coast

Coasting is what makes one minute running cause more calories to be burned. Whether you are taking a break, rolling up to a stop sign or cycling downhill, all those instances when you are not pedaling, kill calorie burning and lower your heart rate. If possible, keep coasting to a minimum, and you will be surprised at how many calories you will burn on an hour ride.

9. Stay hydrated

If you want to lose weight with your bike in summer, make sure you fill up on water. Before you begin your rides, start with two bottles of water, at least. Also, be sure where you will stop for refills along the road or trails.

10. Maintain your upper body fit

Because riding is majorly a leg sport, your upper body can lose muscle volume. Remember this is important because when you lose muscle, your body will not burn as many calories. To solve this, you need year round resistance training. However, this doesn’t mean you have to spend hours in the weight room. Just 20 minutes twice per week is enough. When you combine this with cycling, you will achieve your very much desired goal.

Many people these days want to stay thinner on their waist and to ensure that, they have turned to various weight loss methods including using supplements. Losing weight on your bike is one of the most excellent weight loss methods. So, if you have settled on biking as a way of losing weight, make sure you follow the ways we have discussed above and I have no doubt you will achieve your goal.

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a) Bench Press, 5 sets to find your heaviest set of 3 reps

Rest 5mins

b) 10 rounds for time of

3 Power Snatches 40/60kgs
10 Burpees
200m Run

Rest 5mins

c) 100 Calorie Row for time

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Today’s Workout

a) Every Minute on the Minute for 8 minutes

1 Power Snatch
1 Hang Squat Snatch
1 Overhead Squat @ 80% of your 1 rep max

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Today’s Workout

a) Front Squats, 5 sets of 3 reps @ 90% of your 1 rep max

Rest 5mins

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Whatever the reason, it’s not important, the main thing is your desire to get back into a routine again.

So before you jump into a rigorous exercise program, think about how long it is since you’ve done any exercise and plan your routine to suit your level of fitness. You will need to re-educate your muscles. Your body goes through changes when there is no regular exercise routine.

Your muscles lose tone and your lungs won’t expand as well as they did when you did regular exercise. The blood vessels in your body will be smaller from the lack of exercise therefore making it more difficult for the oxygen to be pulled from the blood, thus putting more pressure on your heart.

Don’t start working out like you were when you last exercised as you will do yourself more harm than good. If you were a regular attendee at a gym and took a break because you felt that you weren’t getting the most out of it, then consider speaking with the trainers to work out a different routine or join another gym that may have a different approach to exercise.

 Start slowly by warming up your muscles for about 5 minutes before you attempt anything. If you were used to jogging, then start with a brisk walk for a few days until your muscles are used to the exercise. Gradually build up to jogging and before you know it you will be back to the level you were at before your layoff.

 If you trained with weights previously, then it’s important to use smaller weights to begin with. Try to work out 2 to 3 times a week for about 30 to 45 minutes a session, then gradually increase the weight and times.

It is possible that it may take around 6 weeks to get back into the level of fitness that you had achieved before your layoff, so don’t be impatient.  Resist the urge to push yourself, and above all don’t work out until you are in pain before you stop. That is one way to guaranteed to do yourself an injury.

One thing to remember when you trying to work out how to start to exercise again after layoff is to wear comfortable clothes. Maybe purchase a new set of work out wear to get you in a positive mood, and always wear comfortable shoes.

Don’t be disappointed if your first foray back into exercise is less rewarding than you anticipated. It is important to keep a positive attitude and above all enjoy what you do.

Your diet is also important when deciding how to start to exercise again after a layoff. Having a balance healthy nutritious diet of good quality proteins and a variety of fresh fruit and vegetable will benefit your body during exercise.

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a) 12 minutes to find your heaviest Overhead Squat

Rest 4 mins

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a) 6 sets of 6 reps @ 85% of your 1 rep max, Back Squats (Rest 90 seconds between sets)

Rest 5 mins

b) As Many Rounds As Possible in 15 minutes of
21 Box jumps 20/24″
15 Pull ups
9 Deadlifts 60/80kgs

Rest 5 mins

c) 1.6km Run for time

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a) Every Minute On The Minute for 10 minutes

1 Power clean
1 Hang Squat clean
1 Split jerk @ 80% of your 1 rep max Squat clean

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