A healthy body can provide you with a healthy mind, increased energy and stamina, more productivity and self-confidence.
Here are the three parts:
1. Cardiovascular training 2. Resistance and weight training 3. Balanced nutrition
Now, the questions are why, what, when, where and how? Many people diet without exercise and others exercise without eating right. Their intentions are good yet they don't get the results they want so badly to achieve. Allow me to simplify basic fitness and balanced nutrition principles. In the informational age in which we live, people are confused with what to do, so they do nothing.
Let me be straight with you, achieving the "ideal" body isn't easy, you have to put effort, consistency, and commitment to achieve your desired results. The first step is to develop a positive mindset. If you think it's impossible, it will be. If you think you can, you will. I can't speak strongly enough how important your mindset, mental thoughts, and self-talk play such an important role on your results.
So let me begin with foundational principles that will make a difference. I'll start with cardiovascular training. For the ease of understanding, cardiovascular, cardio-respiratory, cardio and aerobic training are all synonymous. The goal is to keep a healthy function of the heart, lungs, and circulatory system. Sustaining aerobic training for a period of time will increase the endurance of the cardio-respiratory system.
Cardio training will also burn calories that will decrease body fat stored. Cardio training has been reported as beneficial for many health reasons including: decreasing blood pressure, cholesterol, and depression. It has also been reported to increase heart, lung, and circulatory function as well.
Don't worry about when is the best time to do your cardio exercise. Just do it. I like to get my cardio workout in during the morning. That way I won't be tempted to blow it off during the day and I won't be too tired at night to do it. But, if you are not a morning person, this might be more difficult.
Schedule your exercise into your life just like all your other appointments. Your cardio workout is important to your health, just like your child's soccer game or tennis match is important to them. Put it on your calendar then check it off after you do it.
Cardiovascular exercise is one type of exercise where you don't need any equipment. Unless your doctor, restricts you, anyone can walk. I see people walking around my neighborhood, public school tracks, and in the shopping mall all year round.
Other people prefer to do their cardio exercise in their home. Cardio equipment is available at most sporting stores, specialized exercise stores, and even at garage sales. Treadmills are the most popular cardio equipment, exercise stationary bikes, and stair steppers. The newest, most popular, are elliptical machines.
Find what type of cardio training is best for you and be consistent with it. If you like variety and get bored easily, then a variety of cardio exercise works really well.
To get maximum results from your cardiovascular training keep track of your heart rate. I wear a heart rate monitor when I do my cardio exercise. Another way to check your heart rate is counting the heartbeats per minute. If you count your heartbeats for 6 seconds and add a zero behind the number you have your heart rate. By keeping track of your heart rate, you know how hard your heart is working or how much harder it needs to work.
Now, you need to figure out your maximum heart rate. A simple formula is to take the number 220 and subtract your age. That is your maximum heart rate. To burn fat, your heart should work at 65 - 75 percent of your maximum heart rate. For cardio-respiratory fitness your heart rate should be at 75 percent. Don't exceed 85 percent of your maximum heart rate.
For optimum conditioning, cardio five to six times a week for 30 - 60 minutes is best. Your training heart rate should be at 65 percent for a minimum of 20 minutes. Depending on your goal and the results you want to achieve, the minimum I would recommend is three times a week for 20 minutes.
If you take medication with beta blockers, or have any question about your health condition, always check with your doctor first to determine where your heart rate should be.
Now, I will explain why weight training is important and give you the basic principles of weight training.
Weight training is for everyone. I start clients as young as 8 years old and my oldest client was 99 years of age. Yes, their workout design is different, but everyone between those ages can and should exercise with weights. Weight training strengthens, firms, and builds muscle. If you don't use or challenge your muscles they will atrophy (get weak and wither away). You are never too old to weight train and muscle knows no age.
Let's talk briefly about metabolism. Your muscle is your metabolism. If you don't have good muscle tone, you will have a slower metabolism. The more muscle on your body, the faster your metabolism. There are three things that directly affect your metabolism:
1. Muscle 2. Nutrition 3. Hormonal Imbalances You can control and change your metabolism by weight training and eating "right".
For women, don't worry about bulking up. It doesn't happen by accident. Women bodybuilders take tremendous effort to lift heavy weight; they train for years and sometimes use anabolic steroids. This is not the fitness training we prescribe.
Any weight training should start with lighter weight and progress to moderate weight. Don't start to heavy; just use enough weight to challenge your muscle. I hand many of my new female clients a 5 or 8 pound dumbbell on their first visit. They get real nervous thinking it's too heavy. I can pretty well guess that their purse weighs more than 5 pounds. Men, don't be in a hurry to look like Arnold by next week. It won't happen and you're only setting yourself up for injury.
There are a couple factors we use in designing workout programs. First, we look at your goal. Second, after determining your goals we decide the right mix of repetitions, sets and rest. Repetitions or reps are how many times you lift the weight. Sets are the number of times you perform a given number of reps per exercise session. Rest is the time you allow the muscle to recover before the next set.
Below is a general guideline to the proper mix of reps, sets and rest. Muscle endurance: * 12-20 reps, 1-3 sets, 20-30 second rest
Strength and size: * 8-12 reps, 1-6 sets, 30-120 second rest
Strength and power: * 4-8 reps, 1-5 sets, 2-5 minute rest
Since my average client is trying to lose body fat and get lean, I generally use 12-20 reps, with 3 sets and 30-60 second rest. I like to teach my clients to perform active stretching between their sets. This will increase their flexibility, prevent injury and further challenge the muscles. I also recommend exercising all major muscle groups. Make sure your program includes the following muscles: chest, back, shoulders, arms (bicep and triceps), lower back, abdominal, legs (quadriceps, hamstrings and calves) and gluts.
To fit most people's lifestyle, I recommend weight training at least 2 times per week, however, 3 times is better. If you train 5 times a week your workout design will be much different from people who train 2-3 times per week. I tell my clients, the difference between 2-3 times per week is the difference in your time schedule (what is doable in your life), your goals and priorities.
One last important thing regarding weight training, if you do the same workout week after week, month after month, and year after year...your muscles know exactly what you are asking them to do and you will reach a plateau. You are no longer challenging your muscles. You are only maintaining their current status.
If you have not yet reached your goal, change your workout program once a month to challenge the muscles. Changes can be as simple as changing the order of exercise, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, your rest time, the pounds of weight, the intensity, or do circuit training. One or more of these changes will make a big difference in how your muscles respond to your workout. Have fun and keep lifting!
Are you tired of yo-yo dieting? Do you have a difficult time sticking to a diet? You are not alone. More people who diet fail rather than succeed. Dieting doesn't work. To get real results it takes a concentrated effort. Most people aren't willing to do what it takes. They want a fast, quick solution that's not out there.
Why is eating right so challenging? We're all too busy and convenience foods seem limitless. We let our minds get in the way, we don't focus on our goals, and stress can play an important role in sabotaging our efforts.
If feeling good about yourself, being healthy and looking good is important to you, then you have to eat sensibly. It's true you are what you eat. Here are 4 tips on eating right. I call it my 4 P's of Nutrition. Do these 4 things every week and you'll be on your way to a leaner and healthier you.
1st P: Plan: Plan what you are going to eat either one-day at a time or a week in advance. Planning includes writing out a menu. For example, oatmeal for breakfast; chicken, yams and broccoli for lunch; fish, brown rice and green beans for dinner; apple and yogurt for snacks.
2nd P: Purchase: After you plan what you're going to eat, write out your grocery list. Remember that most of the items you need to purchase are around the perimeter of the store. If you only purchase what is on your list, you will save a lot of money and calories.
3rd P: Prepare: Now that you have all your ingredients, prepare your food. I work 6 days a week, 12-14 hours per day. What works for me is to prepare all my meals for the week on Sunday afternoon. It takes me only 2 hours in the kitchen. That takes the guess work out of my meals, it eliminates the "what do I feel like eating", and saves me a ton of time throughout my week. I've been preparing my family's meals like this for several years. It's just part of my routine and it works for me.
4th P: Package: After I prepare all my meals for the week, I put the food in plastic reusable containers and take the meals with me to work. This way I can control the portion size, quality of food, amount of fats and sugars and it makes my life a lot easier. This keeps me eating healthy every day.
These tips really work for me and they will work for you. Once you get in the habit of planning, purchasing, preparing and packaging your meals you will see an improvement in your nutrition. You will have more control over your eating habits, portions size, healthy balance, and nutritional value in your meals.
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