Magic muscles and other myths

I've met a few magicians in the gym during my career as a fitness instructor. Let me explain.

I've met people who think they can get fit via osmosis. These are the people who, just join a gym, walk around some equipment then leave! These are the clients I have never seen lift a dumbbell or place their still perfectly clean runners anywhere near a treadmill. If questioned, they might respond with a feeble, "I'm just warming up."

I've also met some people who own magic mirrors at home. "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fittest one of all?" I imagine them saying.

They will brag that they have done three whole spin classes this month and swear they are ready for the Tour De France!

I have also got to know a few people with super-human stomachs and metabolism. When questioned about how the fast food they consume all day, every day, might be preventing them from reaching their fitness goals, they gasp: "It won't affect me, especially now that I'm working out". That's right, I forgot you were so different from the rest of us. Sorry.

But my favourite character is a magician of an even more spectacular feat. And there are no smoke or mirrors and nothing up either sleeve. This person can turn fat into muscle. Or muscle into fat.

There is no such thing as "getting fit" without all the consistent hard work.

Magic and myths belong on a stage show or in children's books.

While I admire the positivity and self-interest the characters above seem to have, becoming fit will not be realised unless you actually do something (and please put down that junk food!).

Neither can one turn muscle into fat or fat into muscle. It's similar to trying to turn an apple into an orange, or a kangaroo into a koala. It cannot be done because they are totally different things.

A fat cell is structurally and functionally different from a muscle cell. Fat tissue and muscle tissue even look and feel different. It is impossible to turn one into the other. The reason for changes in appearance of some people is all to do with atrophy - or shrinkage - of the muscles and an increase in body fat percentage.

Think about a young Arnold Schwartzenagger. Now think about an old Arnold Schwartzenagger. See the difference? This change in, what we call in the profession as body composition, results in a more 'flabby' appearance. Arnold's muscles do not receive the same stimulus they once got, so they have shrunk. And on top of the muscle he still has left, fat deposits have settled where previously, there were very little.

Alternatively, a person carrying a lot of fat and not much muscle can improve their body composition by exercising to reduce body fat percentage and start lifting weights to stimulate muscle growth and integrity.

Depending on how dramatic the change is you want and the shape you are already in, this can take much hard work.

What you eat also has an enormous impact on the results you will get. A professional body builder will train six hours a day, six days a week. They will also do aerobic exercise three times a week to burn fat, and will maintain a strict high nutrient, low fat diet.

The average woman in her mid-30s wanting to lose that last five kilograms after the birth of her baby and "tone up" might do aerobic exercise five times a week and lift weights to work her major muscle groups three times a week.

You can picture the results of both and they really speak for themselves.

And, if either person suddenly stops their training, they will have shrinking muscles and an increase in fatty deposits.

To achieve your desired body composition, get some advice from a health professional, or see a fitness instructor for a fitness assessment and personal fitness programme.

Having the will to change and become fitter is 98 per cent of the battle. Finding a caring a qualified instructor is one per cent. The other one per cent is the work you have to do. You will never be able to pull your ideal body out of a hat; make your wobbly tummy disappear before your very eyes; or wave a wand and have your butt defy gravity.

But through appropriate training anyone can achieve their fitness goals ... and won't it be a magical feeling when you achieve yours?

Natalie Hilton, a physical education teacher at Bahrain's St Christopher's School, has joined the GulfWeekly team with a mission to help our readers get fitter. As well as holding a physical education degree she has written a thesis about body image and was co-founder and co-editor of a university newsletter. The 36-year-old has also written health and fitness columns for her local newspaper in her Australian hometown of Wollongong.