7 Unforgettable And Surprising Lessons I Learned At Isabeau Miller’s FitCamp

Jimmy you said this very well. I applaud your ability to break the experience down into 7 things. I wholeheartedly agree with each and every point. I would like to let you and Christine both know that you nailed it with item 7. Christine was the first to let me know that I could do it and encouraging me when I thought I was going to fail. She was a rock and I know I didn’t express my thanks to her enough. I always enjoyed hearing her “You go girl”
Marg the Sarg

You know why I’m such a blessed man now. I got me a goodie!

–Jimmy

14+ inches in 2 weeks! That’s fantastic, Jimmy.

I was VERY pleased with this despite GAINING weight.

–Jimmy

As you know, I am one of the nasty commenters who brought up that Isabeau was fat. That was an objective statement, not a slam, and was directed toward the message that exercising for 4-6 hours a day was an effective way of losing weight. You replied to the comment with “I can tell you that FitCamp is a combination of BOTH cardio and strength training which is a VERY good way to get healthy and lose weight.” (emphasis mine; http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/?p=2572#comments). I later said that this BL method had not been successful for Isabeau, which she seems to acknowledge. I would still like to know, however, how you square this method with the opinions of the many doctors and low-carb experts that you have featured on LLVLC, who have claimed that it is damaging, not healthful. My challenge to her training, besides the length of time, had to do with questions regarding overtraining, injury, and bad form lifting weights (that video of you straining to do 100 reps), things I saw from the videos, not simply that she was overweight (at least not from me). You state that you used to do cardio EVERY day and then you slacked off. I really think you need to look up symptoms of overtraining, and you’ll see that some of them involve losing the desire and motivation to exercise, not necessarily your rationale that you were “falling back into [your] old slothful habits.” I read some of what you were feeling after you began weight training, and the level of pain and exhaustion that you had then didn’t seem normal to me. I would say (yes, my opinion), that you were overtraining then, which I think (opinion) stalled your weight loss, or caused the gain. Given the muscle cramps that you had at FitCamp as well as the dizziness, I also think that it was a lack of potassium that was the culprit, and that’s why the fruit helped with that, not necessarily the carbs (if the carbs were the benefit, I don’t see how eating them in the morning would help with an afternoon exercise session as you’ve recently done). Also, I’ve read that pre- and post-workout meals are essential for muscle recovery and gain, not to just keep adding more and more exercise. Anyway, to clarify, it’s nice that you all had a motivating and inspiring experience, but I can’t get behind the message that it’s wonderful for overweight and unfit people to abuse their bodies this way, no matter the perceived benefit. ‘Bye for now.

THANKS again for your comments, Katy. It is possible I was overtrained and Isabeau was the first to recognize that. She gave me an entire day off because of it and told me (and a couple of others) to go back to bed and rest up. That’s the sign of a very astute trainer who knows the limits of her clients. I don’t think any of us abused our bodies doing any of this and the resulting weight loss and more importantly the inches lost is proof positive that this was indeed a great experience for all of us. THANK YOU for challenging our opinions by sharing yours, Katy. I sincerely appreciate it as always.

–Jimmy

Since you’ve read and heavily promoted GCBC, you’ve interviewed Fred Hahn, by now you should know that it’s just as easy to cut calories as it is to try to burn them off with massive amounts of cardio.

Also, and exercise plan, just like a diet plan, should be one that a person can maintain for the rest of their life. Sorry, but I dont see the point of spending two weeks at a fitness camp, when most people will never be able to keep up that level of activity when real life resumes. Even if they stay motivated, real life pressures and demands will interfere with all but a lucky (or unlucky) few.

And even if you could somehow manage to do four hour a day plus workouts for years and years, you’ll end up with worn out joints and barely able to walk in your old age. There are lots of ’80′s era aerobic instructors signing up for hip and knee replacements these days, I hear.

Bottom line: For exercise, all you need is a sensible strength training program. All forms of exercise are just methods for strengthening muscles. Strength training is the most efficient and safest way to fully train the same muscles. Your efforts at the dinner table can take care of the rest, weight loss wise.

THANKS for your comments as always Mr. Fritz! Everything you said about “massive amounts of cardio” in your reply to this blog post is something both Jacob Carringer and Isabeau Miller would agree with you about. But you’re missing one critical element in your argument–we didn’t just do cardio. In fact, if you watched any of the my FitCamp videos, then you know the majority of the exercise we did was strength training using either our own body weight, dumbbells or barbells. Sure, we did some running, jumping, shuffling and the like, but most of the time we were working on building muscle. And you are exactly right…all exercise strengthens muscles, but even Fred Hahn would say that all strength training gives you a cardiovascular workout. The people who attended FitCamp (myself included) needed a “crash” course in what pushing ourselves to the limits was like. I don’t think most people even realize what they are capable of doing until they are put in a situation where they must do it. That’s what FitCamp did for me and those wonderful ladies. Isabeau does not expect us to go home and workout for 4-6 hours a day. Instead, she hopes that the lessons we learned there will continue on in our daily lives in the form of doing SOMETHING over nothing. And in the end that’s the best lesson anyone could possibly pull from this experience. Again, thank you for your comments! I’m a changed man from this and will continue to implement those things I’ve learned for many weeks, months and years to come.

–Jimmy

It is so awesome that you are fine tuning your regimen this way especially at your age. You are young enough that you can really be much fitter and muscular . You will look better and much more importantly feel better. Now see how chimp living is the way to go. You are indeed one super simian !!

hi kent,

you only need marathon level cardio if you intend to run marathons. running strengthens various parts of the muscles – primarily the fibers that are required for repetitive use (I forget which kind that is?). Proper strength training works those fibers as well as all of the other fibers in the muscle.
the “cardiovascular health” you feel has nothing to do with improvements in your heart or lungs, they actually dont change at all. When you pile on the cardio, all you are doing is building some limited muscle strength. I know this is controversial, and I didnt believe it when I first came across this notion, but I’ve tested it on myself and it holds up. For example, a few months ago, I got on a treadmill and ran five miles with ease. I haven’t done a bit a cardio in more than a year, but I was able to pop off that distance without any trouble.

Personally, I am the fittest I’ve even been in my life, and I used to do short triathlons, 10k’s, etc. All I do now is strength train slow burn style twice a week. I also walk our dog about an hour or so most days.

On the subject of knee and hip replacements with the potential damage of exercise, there was just a 21 year study completed on 538 runners comparing them against their non running counterparts. They on average delayed physical disability 16 years, and had extended mortality rates. Here are the links:
* http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/sumc-rst080708.php
* http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/168/15/1638
From the article:
“Fries’ team began tracking 538 runners over age 50, comparing them to a similar group of nonrunners. The subjects, now in their 70s and 80s, have answered yearly questionnaires about their ability to perform everyday activities such as walking, dressing and grooming, getting out of a chair and gripping objects. The researchers have used national death records to learn which participants died, and why. Nineteen years into the study, 34 percent of the nonrunners had died, compared to only 15 percent of the runners.

At the beginning of the study, the runners ran an average of about four hours a week. After 21 years, their running time declined to an average of 76 minutes per week, but they were still seeing health benefits from running.

On average both groups in the study became more disabled after 21 years of aging, but for runners the onset of disability started later.

“Runners’ initial disability was 16 years later than nonrunners,’” Fries said. “By and large, the runners have stayed healthy.”

Not only did running delay disability, but the gap between runners’ and nonrunners’ abilities got bigger with time.

“We did not expect this,” Fries said, noting that the increasing gap between the groups has been apparent for several years now. “The health benefits of exercise are greater than we thought.”"