In our traditional video style, you will find solid, no-nonsense answers from myself so whether you are trying to lose some weight, build some muscle or simply tone your body up a bit, today’s video will help you as we cover all of the most commonly asked questions from ladies in the gym. Enjoy
If you would like to ask me something which is not featured in today’s video you can do so by hopping onto the Facebook page and asking me personally and I’ll respond to you in person, either with a message or a personal video. Today’s feature covers the questions which we receive almost daily from girls looking to get results in the gym. There are many myths surrounding female fitness, so hopefully today’s post helps you to get on the right track and realize it is nowhere near as hard as people often like to make out (and that’s coming from a Fitness Instructor!). Here’s a quick summary of the questions we answered today:
Jen from USA asks:
Q: “I want to join a gym but I feel like I need to get more in shape first before I go. Am I mad??”

A. No Jen, you’re not mad. In fact this is incredibly common. Confidence is vital to success. So just because your issue is more mental than physical, doesn’t mean it is less important…. I know tons of people who go through this and you’d be surprised how many of them say the exact same thing you said. This ranges from people who have never trained in a gym before, to models looking to get back in shape after having a child, to teenagers looking to join their first gym but being scared off by what their friends might say.
The truth is Jen, this is a very common thing. So no you are definitely not mad! You have two options here:
Firstly, you could simply ‘bite the bullet’ and join a gym. I deal with this issue everyday – people look terrified when they first enter a gym, then after five minutes they realize all the preconceptions they had about how ‘everyone would be looking at them’ are forgotten as they notice it’s simply not like that (if it is, I’d suggest a new gym!! Nobody wants a gym like that!).
Secondly, sometimes girls simply feel like they want to build a bit of confidence in their body before they are working out around strangers. This is perfectly fine. There are several quality ways to get in shape at home with little or even no fitness equipment. I’ve done it myself. If you want to workout at home first to build confidence there is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach. You will still be able to get great results. I will be posting some samples of the home workouts I give to models looking to get back in shape after giving birth, workouts which simply work and don’t take very long to complete, subscribe to our Youtube channel and you will get that video when it is uploaded to the channel.
Sarah from USA asks:
Q: “Russ, does stuff like Wii Fit actually work?”
A. As a Fitness Instructor I guess people would expect me to say the gym is much better. No chance. I love Wii Fit, Xbox Kinnect and Playstation Move. The truth is Sarah, you can get a great workout and awesome results from this. This will also help Jen from our last question. Working out at home is excellent, and while you can get a more well rounded workout at your local gym there is nothing wrong with staying at home and working out on your computer. It does actually work.
Furthemore, this technology is a wonderful asset for fitness in general. You see, countless individuals who lack the confidence to join a gym are now suddenly getting into exercise. This is a great thing. The way I see it, the only fitness trainers who view this kind of technology as a bad thing are those who aren’t good at their job and see it as a threat.
My personal favourite cardio workout is Michael Jackson: The Experience on my son’s PS3. A lot harder than it looks
Jennifer from UK asks:
Q: “My friend keeps trying to get me into those celebrity diets… She loses lots of weight but then piles it straight back on relatively fast… I don’t think I should do it..?”
A. You are right to feel this way, Jennifer. Your pal is stuck in a cycle, and is what we’d call a yo-yo dieter. The problem with these celebrity diets, usually found in glossy women’s gossip magazines, is that it’s a million dollar industry in itself. Notice the same celebrities every single year doing a fitness dvd? Every May they are featured in the magazine looking out of shape, but by November they have got back into shape and release a DVD (just in time for Christmas..) showing how they did it. Then by next May, they are back out of shape, and the cycle begins again. It’s a career for them, basically. As a trainer, I can’t help but notice that while they lost weight quickly they also piled it straight back on (and more) and had to do another quick fix diet the following year, only for the same thing to happen.
Usually this is because celeb diets need a gimmick. They often ask you to cut out carbs or fat altogether, or slash your daily calorie intake so dramatically that your body enters starvation mode. When you go back to eating regular food, you can’t handle it and weight goes straight back on. Usually this takes you right back to square one or in mny cases even worse. Not to mention that these magazines want you to keep buying them every month, so they often promote a mentality which has you kind of obsessing over your weight and your diet progress, often leading people to fall off the rails just in time for next month’s issue which features, you guessed it, another brand new celebrity diet. That’s why those diets never work, and people do get addicted to them, going from one to another almost every month, like ‘the next big thing’.
Because of this trend, the word ‘diet’ often conjures up images of a girl eating nothing but lettuce
You seem to have your head screwed on. If you are dieting correctly you won’t even feel like you are dieting. You need protein, carbs and fat in your diet to get long-term results, it’s simply more a lifestyle change than anything else.
Samantha from Ireland asks:
Q: “Should I focus on weights or cardio? Trying to tone up and I’m being told two different things by the fitness instructors at my local gym.”
A: The answer is not weights or cardio, but rather weights and cardio. You see, they both work. We all know someone at the gym who thinks they ‘know it all’, right? Someone who thinks their way of training is right and everything else is wrong. Don’t be “that guy”. Nobody likes him. The odd thing is I’ve know actual trainers to share that mentality. They go get their qualifications but then they start teaching their own personal way of training as a rule for everyone. That way of training, well, sucks.
I once knew two trainers who were so shut off in their mentality that they couldn’t even see it. A girl came to me last year asking for help with her weight loss results. She told me her trainer initially told her that she should ignore cardio exercise and just focus on weights because ‘cardio doesn’t work’ (they seriously said that). She was doing 2 hours of weight trainer per night and getting nowhere. So she went to another instructor and this one told her the direct opposite: To lose weight do cardio only, because weights will ‘make her massive’ (as a trainer myself, I cringed at this! Weights are fantastic for weight loss and toning up, when used correctly). So this poor girl was then doing 3 hours of cardio per night and still getting nowhere.
By combining cardio and weights, as well as drastically cutting down her workout time, she now gets fantastic results and only works out three times per week for one hour at a time.
If your trainer (or a gym buddy) has this kind of closed-off “I’m right” mentality, ditch them before they make you feel like you simply can’t get anywhere. They are not good people to be around.
Rachel from USA asks:
Q: “My friend tells me to drink more water. I am worried that if I do I will put on lots of weight because of water retention..?”
A: Rachel, listen to your friend, she knows what she is talking about. Water is the best thing you can drink. Hardly anyone drinks enough of the stuff, too. And you need not worry about water retention if you are drinking the right amount of water (around 8-10 glasses per day). You see, when you are drinking enough water each day your body becomes a much more efficient machine and you’ll notice not only will you feel better but you’ll also get better results in your training.
So how much should you drink? You don’t need to go overboard. I once told a friend to drink more water and he went completely nuts and drank litre after litre, that is definitely not necessary
Just aim for around 8-10 glasses of water per day (coffee, juice and tea don’t count – just straight up water). You’ll easily achieve that goal by simply replacing some of your regular drinks throughout the day with water.
Jayne from Canada asks:
Q: “I eat three big meals per day. My friend eats smaller portions but more often. Is this better?”
A. Simply put Jayne, yes. Although you two are eating roughly the same amount of calories each day, your friend’s body is able to make more use of those calories. Try to switch to your friend’s approach. Focus less on big square meals and more on small round meals (explained in the video).
Catherine from UK asks:
Q: “Thanks for your videos! Everytime a friend tries to explain diets or workouts to me I zone out because they go all scientific and I don’t follow what they are talking about.”
A: Thank you. This happens a lot. Not just with trainers but with regular people, too. I feel as a trainer the number one skill you must have is people skills. If you cannot communicate in a way somone understands then your know-how is pretty much useless information to them. Sometimes people do this for little more than an ego-boost, “Look at me, look how complex I can make things sound!”, but often people simply don’t realize they are doing it. If your trainer is doing this and it’s not helping you then you gotta tell them. If they keep doing it, they are holding you back and I’d suggest a new trainer.
That’s all for today – I had to pick my kid up from school. But I will do more videos like this, as we had 3 questions we didnt’ get to. You can ask me anything via our Facebook page, and subscribe to our official YouTube channel for future videos automatically.
Russ