Seeing results from exercising and dieting is a rewarding experience. Some resort to engaging in extreme workouts and diets in order to reap their benefits more often and faster. A more modest approach to working out and dieting is perhaps a safer and more effective way to make long-term changes to your physical appearance. Always consult your doctor before beginning any type of fitness and nutrition regimen.
Extreme Workouts
Working out too much or too intensely can have adverse affects on your mind and body. The conventional wisdom that working out more will lead to greater strength and muscle development is a misconception. According to Bodybuilding.com, only 20 percent of your fitness results are determined by weightlifting. The other 80 percent are determined by factors such as nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle. Overexerting yourself in the gym can also have a negative impact on your body and cause muscle pain and mental fatigue.
Type of Extreme Workouts
There are a variety of workout programs on the market that use their extreme nature as a selling point. Programs such as Insanity and P90X promise dramatic results. P90X is a home-fitness system that claims a complete change in your physical appearance in just 90 days, while Insanity, also a home-fitness system, guarantees a transformation in only 60 days. The workouts consist of non-stop, high-intensity exercises that combine cardiovascular routines with strength training. Engaging in extreme workouts like this could pose risks if you are a beginner and are not used to this type of physical activity.
Extreme Diets
Extreme diets are almost never recommended by doctors or nutritionists. Despite any weight-loss results an extreme diet may provide, the lengths many of them go to can be detrimental to your health. In most cases, dieting for a short period to quickly lose 5 or 10 lbs. proves unsuccessful as the weight is almost always gained back once the dieting phase concludes. Truly successful dieting requires you to make lifelong eating habit changes. Instead of eliminating a certain type of food, continue to eat all the essential food groups in slightly lesser caloric amounts.
Types of Extreme Diets
Diets such as The Air Diet or the Calorie Restriction Diet either completely eliminate entire food groups or restrict your daily allowance of them. The Calorie Restriction Diet requires that only the most essential nutrients be eaten on a daily basis. Experiments such as the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona in 1991 did prove that living on only the bare essentials can make a person healthier overall, but long-term effects are still unknown. A French fad known as The Air Diet requires participants to sit down to a meal as they would normally but to only then pretend to eat the food. Such a dieting method may help you lose weight but is not medically endorsed.
Member Comments