Cheating does (sometimes) prosper

From an early age, we are told ‘cheaters never prosper’. Besides the moral aspect, the benefits and pitfalls are somewhat subjective in day-to-day life. However, in relation to diet and exercise, sometimes there are definite benefits to be gained from fooling your body through cheating a little. Allow me to explain:

Cheating the diet

I have mentioned in several related blogs about the calories-in-versus-calories-out model. Perhaps obvious, but if you want to lose weight a good approach is to consume less calories than you require. The key word here is ‘consume’ which must not be confused with ‘ingest’. Many diets are obsessed with calorie-counting foods, when in fact it is the type of food you eat, not just the calories it contains which can make all the difference.

However, although short-term gains may be apparent, sustained low-calorific eating can become unmanageable for the average lifestyle, both logistically and psychologically. On occasionally you may find yourself in a circumstance where sticking rigidly to a diet could be difficult or simply not practical, such as when at an important dinner or when food options are limited; thus, by doing so would be inconvenient at best, or may even become stressful. Either way is not a good outcome as you will inevitably come to resent the diet and may ultimately give up.

From a physiological perspective, low calorie diets have been shown to lower the metabolic rate; the very means by which calories are converted to energy. The reason for this is due to the body entering a ‘starvation state’. As a consequence, the body retains fat stores and instead begins to metabolise lean tissue, such as muscle. Now with less muscle and depleted energy levels there is a marked reduction in ability to perform prolonged activity and thus explains why weight loss often plateaus after a while; and may even explain why many weight loss programmes, when stopped see a gain in weight greater than that lost – in essence, the ‘yo-yo’ diet.

Considering the aforementioned reasons and more, I have found that cheating the diet helps enormously. Although perhaps a better way to describe it is ‘taking a short-break’, since adherence to the diet is still important. Personally, I have found that one cheat meal per week to be the right balance particularly in the early stages of a diet regime, adding another as you reach your ideal; but of course, this is dependent on your body type and the time-frame to reach your goal. Like most of the advice given, experiment and see what works for you.

Cheating exercises during a workout

I have long been a proponent of using the ‘correct form’ when performing exercises in the gym. Where doing so, you are isolating the correct muscle, increasing load-intensity and are less likely to suffer injury.
However, I have also found gains by using a cheating style in the final few repetitions of certain exercises, thus ensuring the muscle is fully fatigued; the desired result. Incidentally, cheating is not to be confused with ‘spotting’ – where a weight is gradually removed by a training partner – often used for exercises requiring larger weight loading.
Cheating the correct form is particularly beneficial for auxiliary exercises on smaller muscle-groups such as Biceps and Calves.

Below I have listed some examples of exercises where a cheating style could be beneficial.

• Standing Bicep Curl: Leaning back slightly
• Standing Bicep Curl: Bending forward
• Calf Raise: Half-range movement (at lower point)
• Overhead Pulldowns: Shrugging
• Pullovers: Bending the arms slightly
• Tricep Dips: Speeding up the exercise
• Shoulder raises: Bending the arms slightly or half-reps.
• Bench-press: Negatives only (training partner assists in upward motion)

For me, since I often train alone, cheating has the added benefit of not necessarily needing to hunt around the gym for assistance in an attempt to ‘eek’ out those last few repetitions (last example excluded).
By incorporating some ‘cheating’ repetitions into your workout, you can add a different aspect. Remember, the key to success is to constantly ‘shock’ your body and avoid getting stuck in a rut.

Disclaimer: A certain level of caution and common sense is required to avoid undue stress and injury. Cheating effectively is itself is an ‘art-form’ get it wrong and there will be consequences. However, in this respect, get it right and it can do more good than harm :-)