6 questions answered by celebrity personal trainers –

OK. You already know that working out regularly helps you lose weight, decrease body fat, and improve your quality of life—to speak of the direct benefits. Even so, are there still doubts hindering your performance? Don’t worry. We call on celebrity personal trainers to solve your main questions and help you achieve the curves you want:

1. I need to strengthen my knee muscles to practice running, but I don’t go to the gym. What exercises can I do?

“Good news: There are several exercises to strengthen your knees that you can do without the need for braces. The joints in this part of the body are the ones that suffer the most from the impact of running. To start, learn the basics. Look for a professional – at least for the first few days – who will teach you how to do squats, lunges and hip-hinge movements. Already an expert on these? Insert elements of power and instability. Taking a risk with TRX, ball and kettlebells will build strength, balance and body awareness. Further forward, bet on plyometric exercises. The name is difficult, but they are fun and work the process of shortening (when receiving the impact) and lengthening (when giving impulse) of the muscles. This is exactly what happens in running with every stride. Example: a sequence of jumps going from “crate-ground-crate”. But this one requires a teacher, okay?”, explains Rafael Lund, master in sports science and the personal trainer behind the bodies of celebrities like Deborah Secco and Flávia Alessandra.

2. I know that to burn fat I have to be panting during training. Can I exercise above my normal heart rate?

“You can and should! By the way, getting out of the comfort zone is fundamental in any training, because that is what generates adaptation. Exercising with your heart rate at the top can only do good things for your body: body composition, sports performance, conditioning, and so on. The biggest problem when working at high intensity is the famous “too much, too soon” effect. Yes, you have to train hard, but pay attention to the rhythm of your exercise progression! The body has to gradually adapt to the imposed load. If you go too thirsty to the pot, you run the risk of getting injured or experiencing off-limits fatigue, the so-called overtraining, which has a negative effect on your health. Tip: Find the balance between volume (workout duration) and intensity (effort). They must always come in opposite directions: the more of one, the less of the other”, explains Rafael Lund, master in sports science and the personal trainer behind the bodies of celebrities like Deborah Secco and Flávia Alessandra.

3. Should I do exercises focused on improving my posture during training?

“Yes! And they are very important to correct posture addictions that we have when sitting, standing and even lying down in everyday life. Practicing specific exercises to fix these errors, you create a body awareness capable of identifying the problem and preventing it from influencing your physical activity (like doing a stiff with a curved spine or being inattentive to the posture after a few minutes running) and also outside of it . The ideal is to perform a series of 15 repetitions of plank movements or squats with a stick, for example, when stretching, every time you train”, explains Allan Menache, an expert in training high-performance athletes, such as the current surfing world champion, Gabriel Medina.

4. What is interval training and how does it improve results?

“This type of activity divides time between high-intensity exercise and periods of active recovery (rather than doing the entire session at the same pace and resting without moving). By forcing our body to resort to fat storage as a source of energy, the metabolism remains accelerated throughout the day and caloric burning remains very high even after training. Another point that made the training gain many fans is that there are endless possibilities for combinations of exercises, such as a sequence of accelerated burpees, followed by a little run in place to regain momentum. Thus, you will be free of a monotonous workout and will have the option of adapting it according to your goals, your stamina and your tastes”, explains Allan Menache, expert in training high-performance athletes, like the current surfing world champion. , Gabriel Medina.

5. When I’m tired and can’t finish the set, is it better to reduce the weight or lower the reps?

“If this happens to my students, I add 30 seconds of rest between sets to give them more recovery time. Reducing weight is not indicated because it prevents the muscle from fatigue – and this is exactly the main objective of bodybuilding (the fibers need to suffer micro-injuries to later become stronger). If you only get tired on the last set, it’s better to reduce the number of repetitions or ask a teacher for help, who can give you an extra hand with the weight. In any case, do not overdo the load and be attentive to the execution of the movement, such as the range and positioning of the joints, so as not to injure yourself”, explains Lívia Henriques, personal trainer at the Bodytech gym, a chain of gyms where Anitta, Juliana Paes and Adriane Galisteu train.

6. Does the body pump replace conventional weight training?

“The choreographed bodybuilding group class does not generate as much hypertrophy, since there are many repetitions with little load. In it, each area of ​​the body is worked during an entire song, following its rhythm. As no muscle group is left out, the recommended thing is to do the class only three times a week so that there is recovery time – unlike conventional bodybuilding, in which you can alternate the days in a row between training legs and arms, for example. Even if the body pump (internationally patented methodology) does not greatly increase the volume of lean mass, those who adopt it achieve tonus and resistance – yes, you will get fit and burn a lot of calories because your heart rate accelerates a lot. Another difference: in conventional bodybuilding, training is personalized, which allows focusing on the objective of each student, such as post-injury knee recovery”, explains Lívia Henriques, personal trainer at the Bodytech gym, a chain of gyms where Anitta, Juliana Paes and Adriane Galisteu train.