A tip from Fitness Expert Charles Staley

For many people, the very exercises or activities that have been chosen to solve problems actually create problems. There are many examples, but I’ll just list a few:

• Jogging: For men, jogging (especially when combined with a vegan diet) is perhaps the most effective form of non-surgical gender-re-assignment possible. All of the qualities we associate with masculinity— strength, power, muscularity, and testosterone levels, are all diminished through chronic jogging. For women, it works similarly: the most successful female distance runners look like pre-pubescent boys. Women who do not possess these physical characteristics will suffer injuries as the body attempts to adapt itself in that direction. For both genders, jogging is tedious, time-consuming, and one of the least effective ways to lose weight. No wonder most people hate it.

• Ab Exercises: Sit-ups and crunches don’t make your abs more visible, but they do wreak havoc on your lumbar spine. Why anyone does them is completely beyond me.
• Stretching: I’m all for having optimal levels of mobility, but stretching (especially the way most people do it) is somewhere between a complete waste of time and injury-promoting. Better to use full range of motion resistance-training movements and develop strength and mobility simultaneously.

–Charles Staley
Strength & Conditioning columnist
http://www.staleytraining.com