Master Fitness Program
Exercise
Ah yes, the bane of some people's existence! For some people, asking them to do a push up is the same as asking them to hold their breath for 5 minutes without passing out! I don't mean that in a "they can't do it" kind of way, but rather in a "exercise is a foreign concept to them" kind of way.
Here is a bit of good news for you: Not only is exercise NOT foreign, but it is the state that your body is already used to being in. There is a very real reason why there are so many health conditions in today's society that are related to a lack of physical fitness. Your body doesn't LIKE not being used!
If you think about the fact that there has barely been a tick of the clock on the Evolutionary scale since we were all cave men and cave women literally fighting for our lives everyday, it becomes very clear why sitting on our butts all day every day is NOT a natural state for us.
So, all of that being said, I will do my best to give you as much information as I can about exercise without making this the longest web page that you have ever read in your life. Feel free to go pack a lunch. I make no guarantees about the length of this information! :)
There is a lot of confusion about which type of exercise is the best kind for you to do, or even about what is actually meant by "cardiovascular exercise" or "resistance training".
The good news is that it really isn't that complicated, and rather than have to remember which one you have to do, the answer is that you have to do both!
Cardiovascular training is also known as Aerobic exercise, and resistance training is also known as Anaerobic exercise. The similarity between those 2 words is no coincidence - one means "with oxygen (aerobic)" and the other means "without oxygen (anaerobic)".
In simple terms, cardiovascular training means that you are using energy so fast that your body has to use oxygen as part of the fueling process for that activity. This rapid expenditure of energy makes your heart beat more rapidly, and you tend to burn through a large amount of calories.
At face value, that may seem like a good thing, but in all actuality, your body can quickly adapt to a cardiovascular training program. If you do the same workout over and over again, you will still be clocking away time with your heart rate up, but not getting as much out of it as you used to. There are 2 solutions to that issue: One is to do resistance training (which we will cover below), and the other is to modify your cardiovascular training program.
The primary factor that you need to take into consideration when setting up or modifying your cardiovascular training program is the level of intensity at which you exercise. There are numerous ways to track that intensity, and one of the easiest and most well-known is to simply keep track of how fast your heart is beating.
There is a simple formula for determining how fast your heart should beat while you exercise, and it is called the Target Heart Rate Formula. It is very simply this:
The number 220 minus your Age multiplied by the Percentage of Intensity. Percentage of intensity is usually between 55% and 85% of your Maximum Heart Rate, with 55% being a very mild workout, and 85% making you literally wish you were being fed oxygen in a tube.... Here are some examples:
If your Age is 30, and you want to exercise at 55% Intensity: 220 - 30=190. 190 x .55=105 beats per minute
If your Age is 30, and you want to exercise at 75% Intensity: 220 - 30=190. 190 x .75=142 beats per minute
I want to emphasize that the Target Heart Rate Formula is just a guideline. You should listen to your body at all times when exercising, and not blindly follow any exercise protocol that does not feel right for you.
As a general rule, you should perform both aerobic and anaerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes per exercise session, but once you are conditioned, up to an hour is great. Again, that is only a guideline, however, and I encourage you to email me if you have specific questions about anything to do with your exercise program.
This question gets a little more into exercise programming since it depends on when you are doing your anaerobic exercises. However, there are 2 basic guidelines:
1. If you do your anaerobic exercise and your aerobic exercise during the same exercise session (as most of you will be doing), then ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS do your cardiovascular training AFTER your resistance training. There is a very scientific reason for this, but for now just suffice it to say that you will burn much more bodyfat if you do your cardiovascular training after you do your resistance training.
2. If you can get in a cardiovascular training session in the morning, and then a resistance training session in the afternoon or evening, then do your cardiovascular training immediately upon rising BEFORE you eat anything! The basic reason for this boils down to the fact that by doing cardio before you ingest any calories, you force your body to use stored bodyfat for energy, which is exactly what you want to happen.
Resistance training, also know as anaerobic training or weight lifting is your key to long term weight loss!
Yes, you heard correctly. Resistance training - NOT cardiovascular training - is the key to keeping weight off over the long term.
Unlike cardiovascular (aerobic) training, resistance exercise does not directly use oxygen for fuel unless you do it at a very high intensity level, in which case it becomes cardiovascular training the moment your body starts using oxygen to help fuel the exercises.
Resistance training, in a nutshell, is the act of you pushing and pulling on your muscles, tendons, and ligaments using more force than they are used to dealing with. In response to this activity, all of those bodily tissues become stronger and more dense.
As a side note, resistance training is one of the best ways to guard against osteoporis. Since your tendons are connected to your bones, and you are pushing and pulling on your tendons, your bones become stronger as a side effect.
As your bodily tissues become stronger and more dense, they demand more energy. Another term for energy that you will be familiar with is "calories". So, without getting into the full scientific reasoning behind it, the basic synopsis is this:
The more effectively you practice resistance exercise, the easier it will be for you to lose weight!
Although it is true that cardiovascular training burns significantly more calories than resistance training, the calorie burning stops the moment you stop doing your aerobic activity. Muscle tissue, on the other hand, literally burns through calories AROUND THE CLOCK, even when you are sleeping!
LITTLE KNOWN FACT: Your body actually burns more calories when you are sleeping than when you are watching TV. So, instead of frying your brain with the madness on the television, just take a nap!
As with cardiovascular training, at least 30 minutes is recommended. 45 minutes is about the outside limit for any beginner to resistance training. Combine 30-45 minutes of resistance training with 30-60 minutes of cardiovascular training and your entire workout should take you between 60 and 105 minutes (an hour to an hour and 45 minutes).
3 sessions per week is plenty for most people in the beginning. However, those sessions need to be intense, not just hanging around the gym watching TV and talking!
Immediately before doing cardiovascular training. However, if you can workout twice per day, then do your cardio in the morning, and your resistance training in the afternoon or evening.
1. Make more time in your schedule by minimizing the time that you spend on non-necessities, such as watching TV, or surfing the 'net.
2. Once you are conditioned, both cardiovascular training and resistance training can be condensed into much shorter workouts by ramping up the intensity to a very high level. DO NOT attempt this during your first week of training!
The Internet has more free resources about exercise than you will probably even have time to read. However, if you have a specific type of exercise that you like to do (yoga, pilates, exercise ball, etc.) then I encourage you to research those specific topics. As far as "standard" resistance exercises, here are 2 websites that list more than enough exercises to keep you busy for years. Both have great color pictures showing you the exercises:
Okay, that's about it for the basics surrounding exercise. Let me know what specific questions you have, and in the meantime, check out the Nutrition info, the data on getting enough Rest, and about attaining a proper State of Mind.
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