Years ago when I was a professional bodybuilder, I fell into the mindset that the more I exercised, the less fat I ate, the better I would look and feel. At the time this seemed like the logical thing to do. And maybe in my mind that was correct. However, from my bodies stand point, this was NOT the thing to do, nor was it healthy.

If you have exercised for any length of time, chances are you too have fallen into this mind trap. If I walk thirty minutes and burn three hundred calories, then I will walk an hour and burn twice as many. If I eat thirty grams of fat a day and lose two pounds, then I will eat ten grams a day and lose four pounds. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

While your mind might be able to take that, your body can not. You see this with a lot with people. Out of the blue they just hit a wall. Their bodies all of a sudden just say, “That’s it, I done- no more!” I believe exercising efficiently in less time will do more for you in the long run than trying to do more in the short run.

If you over exercise, your body gets to the point where it just goes through the motions. The only thing you are really doing is satisfying your brain. The muscles shut down, hit plateaus and ache. These are all signs of over doing it. They reality is, which will seem illogical is that the muscles grow and recuperate while they are resting, not during the workouts. This was very hard for me to understand until I worked out for a summer with Brian Silk Mr. Universe. Brian was lifting half the weight in half the time, performing half the exercising I was doing. Obviously I was doing something wrong.

He went on to explain to me just this. The hardest thing for me to do at that time was walk out of the gym when it seemed as though I was only through half my workout. One year later I won the Mr. Michigan Bodybuilding championships.

Here is my point: Making progress in your exercise program comes down to; working smart not hard, listening to your body, and understanding more exercise is bad for you in the long run. The magic is in this formula: Consistency + variety + efficiency = results!