You can out train a less than perfect diet, but training will only get you so far.
]]>2) No matter how you feel about it, you need to include regular cardio exercise on the plan.
3) 4 to 6 workout days per week are best. If you hit 3 days without getting a workout in, this is too long a break.
4) Apart from important micronutrients, Protein is the first nutrition priority to cover, and is best distributed over more meals than less.
5) To prevent muscle loss, resistance training is essential. Challenge the muscles regularly.
Need some fat burning help? Get the best supplements here –> Fat Burning Supplements – Or read my diet guide here –> Rough Cut V2 Diet
]]>1. Take a closer look at your end goal. Think about why you started, where you want to go, and how you will feel when you get there. Sometimes goals can begin to feel out of reach, the rewards may feel too far away. To overcome this, break your goal down into smaller, more manageable steps. Set 1 goal per week. When you achieve your weekly goal, reward yourself. Then plan your next weekly goal.
2. Change your training. If you're feeling flat, then following the same workout plan every week won't help. Instead, change your routine at every session. Perform different exercises, target your body in different ways. Switch the days you train different areas. Become more instinctive. If an exercise or style of training feels good to you, and more enjoyable, then do that, and make it count.
3. Find accountability. Talk to friends, family, and people in your gym. Tell them about your goals and when you would like to achieve them. If you don't already have a training partner, then find one, a training partner can help a lot. If you have a training partner, and this isn't helping you stay motivated, then if you can change your partner, you should. Another good option is to find a coach. Coaches can be great for accountability. If you would like me to coach you just let me know, or go here: Online Coaching with Mike
4. Take a mini vacation from training. Be honest with yourself about this one. How long is it since you last had a break from training? If you are burnt out then it's ok to take a few days off to rest and reset. Take 5 to 7 days off. Spend the extra time getting the rest of your life in shape. Maybe you will find you can catch up on some sleep you've been missing out on. This can also help a lot. Don't be surprised if you soon begin to miss your workouts!
]]>5 to 10 minutes of your choice is about right, but take more time than this if you feel particularly chilly. Aim to elevate your heart rate steadily, and get the blood circulating. Nothing ballistic or explosive! Get your mind into it and your muscles primed, ready to do work.
When your warm up is complete, begin your serious work light and build up to your serious lifts or exercises. Pay attention to your body. If things don't feel right, warm up a bit more or change angles, or switch to another exercise. Enjoy, and I hope all goes well.
]]>Over time, as we build our muscles, strength, and/or get older, if we don't stretch regularly then our muscles can shorten and become tight. Range of motion will decrease. This is normal. You should stretch every day, or at least as often as you workout. It takes years for muscles to tighten and restrict our ability to move comfortably, so it will take some time to correct limited movement, you will need to stick to your stretching to benefit. Treat your body the same way an athlete does, get into that mindset. How often are you working out? Think about adding 20 minutes of stretching (or more) at the end of each training session, or somewhere else in your day. If you don't know how to stretch your body, talk to a physiotherapist or yoga friend – or you could study the neighbours cat ;-).
]]>Always warm up first. 5 to 10 minutes at a light pace on a cardio machine of your choice will be plenty. Enough to get your heart rate up and muscles and joints warm.
Start with a lighter weight for the first one to three sets of any resistance exercise you perform. Once you have your mind muscle links fired up, and in the zone, then you’re ready to step the weights up for more intensity.
Pay close attention to your technique. Incorrect posture or over exaggerated movements can end in injury. If you find you can’t maintain good form, then drop the weight down or move onto another exercise.
Be on the alert for unusual pain. If you feel sharp pain that’s out of the ordinary, change the angle of the movement slightly, or move onto a different exercise altogether. Assess whether or not you need to talk to a medical professional.
Perform light stretches in between exercises and/or when warming down after training. Maintaining flexibility is excellent for posture and for keeping that youthful ‘spring in your step’. It’s also very good insurance for the prevention of a muscle or joint injury.
Warm down gradually after training. Either stretching, light cardio, or some light weights exercises are good ways to warm down your body. If it’s cold outside wrap up first before you leave the gym!
]]>Whether you are on a weight loss plan or a muscle gain plan your muscles will benefit most from prioritising weights first - and you’ll burn a heap more calories. The way to go is to hit weight training fresh so that you have maximum strength to push muscles as hard as possible and aren’t fatigued from any prior exercise (like cardio). This will also reduce the chance of an injury occuring which could happen if you are too exhausted from cardio to maintain correct form.
Weight training burns major calories and will deplete muscle glycogen stores fast. By the time you hit cardio you’ll be more likely tapping into body fat for energy from the start.
]]>Some people believe they can lead to extra muscle growth. If a program is structured in the right way then this may result. Generally the main benefit will be muscle toning and increased definition, rather than size gains. For this reason they are better suited to a leaning up or dieting phase. They are suitable for both men and women.
There can be confusion as to what they actually are. Today let's take a closer look at these great overload techniques.
Supersets
A traditional Superset is when you perform 2 exercises in a row for opposing muscle groups with no rest in between. It's best to break for 1 to 2 minutes between each Superset. Muscle groups combined usually include Back and Chest, or Biceps and Triceps, or Quads and Hamstrings.
Here's some Superset examples:
Flat Bench Press (chest) + Lat Pulldowns (back),
Perform 5 x Super Sets of 8 to 12 reps
OR
Dumbbell Curls (biceps) + Cable Tricep Extensions (triceps),
Perform 5 x Super Sets of 8 to 12 reps
OR
Leg Press (quads) + Hamstring Curl Machine (hamstrings),
Perform 5 x Super Sets of 8 to 10 reps
Compound Sets
A variation of a Super Set is called a Compound Set. This is a Superset when you perform 2 exercises in a row for the SAME muscle group. For example; instead of training Back with Chest you train 2 x Back exercises in a row.
Here's some examples of Compound Sets:
Lat Pulldowns (back) + Dumbbell Rows (back),
Perform 5 x Compound Sets of 8 to 12 reps
OR
Barbell Curls (biceps) + Dumbbell Concentration Curls (biceps),
Perform 5 x Compound Sets of 8 to 12 reps
OR
Leg Press (quads) + Leg Extensions (quads),
Perform 5 x Compound Sets of 8 to 10 reps
Tri Sets
These are the same as Compound Sets but instead of performing 2 exercises in a row for the same muscle group you perform 3 exercises. These are intense.
Here's an example:
Flat Bench Press + Incline Bench Press + Dumbbell Flys (all pecs),
Perform 5 x Tri Sets of 8 to 12 reps
Including techniques like these in your bodybuilding plan is a good way to shock the muscles, introduce variety, and burn extra calories.
Note that these should only be used occasionally, they are not something to do at every workout.
]]>I want some decent muscle size and strength development, how much time should I be spending in the gym?
Answer
The main concept to get your head around is optimum effect isn't going to be due to you spending hours on end in the gym. If that was the answer there would be a whole lot more immensely strong, well muscled people around.
I've been guilty myself for over enthusiastic extreme workouts, along with plenty of people I know - weight training sessions of up to two hours or more, six days a week. This doesn't work, actually you can be heading backwards fast and at worst setting yourself up for injury or illness.
Science along with hardcore bodybuilders like Dorian Yates have shown us that keeping each weight training session short and intense (30 to 45 minutes) is the MOST effective time frame for stimulating muscle growth. The key here is intensity. You must achieve a high degree of intensity, nothing more.
From a volume perspective, six to eight working sets (not including warm up sets) for smaller muscle groups and eight to ten working sets for larger muscle groups is all you need to do. If the muscle has reached the point of complete failure, and you've worked out way beyond the pump sensation, then you've gone too far. You'll actually be doing a lot more harm than good.
When intensely weight training your body will endure up to around 45 minutes until the force of the stress hormone cortisol kicks in, which can be responsible for breaking down muscle tissue. Before you reach that turning point get out of the gym and home for a fast whey protein hit to start rebuilding your muscles.
]]>Every day we drag our aching and drained bodies out of bed is the dawning of a new battle, gritting our teeth in the gym, sweating it hard on the road. Pushing through new thresholds of pain and physical limitations - meticulously counting every calorie, selecting only foods that are 'green light', controlling the powerful urges that we know will set us back. Yet, when we look in the mirror or step on the body fat scales it's still there, definition hiding fat, stubbornly holding on in an unwavering retalliation against our efforts.
With every adjustment in our diet and increase in training intensity our fat challenges us with more grim determination. Our fat is fighting until the bitter end. The simple reason for this is fat has a function. It provides energy and lots of it, it's our largest fuel source, and the one used most often.
Fat provides our main source of energy for all low intensity activity. Surprisingly, in actual fact we are highly efficient fat burning machines. We are dependant on fat, not just for energy, but for many metabolic processes. The one thing you can bank on for sure is that your body will do everything possible to hold onto it. At all costs.
So why do our bodies need so much fat and how do we really get into the real fat burning zone to dissolve it? In the beginning, before drive throughs and home delivery, food was scarce and there were no guarantees on our next meal. The result of this unpredictable food supply was starvation. For these times of famine, through thousands of years of evolution and adaptation we developed survival mechanisms. Survival was dependant on our ability to store and hold onto fat. The more fat that could be stored was directly related to the time we could survive without food.
Today we're without a doubt spoiled silly. Calorie crammed food is available within seconds or minutes, not days or weeks. Unfortunately our evolutionarily primed bodies will never know this. As far as our inbuilt survival mechanisms go we could be facing starvation tomorrow - and our bodies are armed and ready for this possibility! It's clear that with every attempt at fighting our fat through training and dieting our bodies will resist, hanging on to every gram they possibly can.
So how do we prevail in our fat reducing war? Well to start with you can forget the miracle 'fat burning zone' you've heard about aiming for when exercising. We have been told we'll burn more fat in a moderate workout than in an extreme one. This ridiculous 'take it easy' rambling is even permanantly displayed on many exercise machine consoles which show the holy grail - the fat burning zone.
Too bad it's all wrong, Gina Kolata author of the book 'Ultimate fitness - The quest for truth about exercise and health' tells us. Every exercise physiologist she interviews confirms: The "fat burning zone" is an urban legend that has taken on the trappings of truth. Kolata even located the physiologist who came up with the related notion now immortalized in the charts on gym walls and in medical texts: Your "maximum heart rate" during exercise equals 220 minus your age. To Kolata's astonishment this formula was meant only as a rough guideline - not as the precision measurement used by athletes to gauge their progress with wristwatch heart monitors. "I've kind of laughed about it over the years," Stanford University professor William Haskell told Kolata. "It's typical of Americans to take an idea and extend it way beyond what it was intended for.''
After telling us that moderate exercise is adequate for health purposes but hard is better for performance, she comes to the one area where we've been led to believe that easy is the best approach: fat burning. "Keep your heart rate low, they say, to burn fat," writes Kolata. It defies common sense, it's a misunderstanding, says Kolata, perpetuated by companies that make heart rate monitors and "enshrined" on exercise machines, which feature "weight-loss zones" or "fat-burning zones." It's a myth, she concludes. Calories burned is what counts, and high-intensity exercise burns more calories - and ultimately more fat. "The harder you work, the more energy you expend, and the more calories you will need," Kolata writes.
As she does throughout the book, Kolata turns to recognized experts, in this case Jack Wilmore of Texas A&M and Dave Costill of Ball State. They provide the example of a 25 year old woman who exercises for 30 minutes at low intensity (she walks) one day and burns 220 calories, half fat. The next day she exercises for the same period of time, but at higher intensity, running at a moderate pace, and burns 332 calories, one third fat. "In both cases, she burns about 110 calories of fat during 30 minutes," write Wilmore and Costill in their highly regarded exercise physiology book. "More important, however, for the higher intensity workout, she expends 50 percent more calories for the same time period!"
You won't find any research papers supporting the so called "fat burn zone," says Kolata. It's "an urban legend of the fitness industry."
The most important fact for us to remember is, apart from burning far more calories for the duration of our workouts, high intensity exercise shifts our metabolism into top gear so that even after we've finished working out, fat loss can continue for hours. When you exercise intensely, you get a huge hormonal surge, which causes your body to burn more fat during your recovery time. Your metabolism stays revved up for hours longer after a vigorous workout than after an easy one. Over time, this can add up to burning an additional 200 calories or more per day.
To overcome your genetics, there is only one effective way to fat destruction. You must fire up the metabolic furnace in your own body. We all know lean and athletic people that can eat whatever they want and never have to exercise. The evidence is clear from these fortunate few, having an accelerated metabolism is the solution to achieving low body fat. To lose fat we have to dial our metabolism to the maximum! To increase metabolism we need to train with intensity!
When it comes to cardio exercise, HARDER IS BETTER! Burn maximum calories. Push it so that you can only go for about one minute before you need to slow down - then follow a moderate pace for 1 to 2 minutes before upping the pace once again. For example, push it hard on the bike for 1 minute, then return to a moderate pace for 2 minutes. And then push it again. For up to 20 to 30 minutes like this is long enough for most. At every workout push yourself even harder. Force your body into fat burning so that there is no other option!
Take a look at a competitive sprinter's body. These guys never train in the 'fat burning' zone we've all heard about, yet their bodies exhibit some of the lowest body fat levels of any athletes.These athletes perform high intensity, explosive sprints over and over, which leads to lower and lower bodyfat levels until they achieve the ripped streamlined and power packed physiques we've all seen.
And to lift this intensity even further, weight training exercise is perfect. Focus on the big 'compound' lifts.Yeah that's the hard ones, the ones that hurt - you know the exercises we try to talk ourselves out of. I'm talking about squats, deadlifts, bench presses, shoulder presses, rows and chin ups. Definitely do your isolation exercises, but only after you've totalled yourself with the big compound movements. Attack your muscles every time you workout, tear them apart, this forces your body into a repair state for all that trained muscle - rebuilding muscle costs energy ie calories!
One important point to remember (and don't be convinced otherwise), always perform your weight training BEFORE cardio. This will allow you to lift maximum weights and achieve maximum muscle stress - while at the same time depleting your carbohydate 'tanks' ready for some serious fat burning when you hit your cardio!
Alright, now you know what to to, get out there and push yourself into the true fat burning zone!
]]>Generally though, most of us store enough fat over our abdominals that any dream of an etched in stone six pack seems like a distant fantasy. If you want defined abs, an understanding of the facts is essential. Here is what you need to know to reveal yours.
The first thing to understand is, everyone has abs. Six packs aren't created by doing special ab exercises or buying bizarre exercise equipment - they are always there. Whether we exercise them or not. When we can't see our abs the reason is they are covered by too much fat. Very simply this means the only way to see your six pack is to reduce your body fat and keep it off!
There is a lot of frustration surrounding abs. This is due to a load of myths we hear from friends and 'fitness experts'. Hard training exercisers everywhere still apply outdated systems in the hope of attaining a six pack. Clearly ripped abs are not a result of hard work alone otherwise we would see them a lot more. In truth they are the result of correctly applied lifestyle principles.
Let's break it down. Ab exercises will not get rid of abdominal fat. We have all heard about spot training to reduce body fat in a particular area but remember for the purposes of fat utilisation, SPOT TRAINING DOES NOT WORK. The spot exercising preacher suggests that if you have fat covering your abdominals, exercising the muscles underlying the fat will burn the fat off. The truth is doing 1000 situps a day for a lard covered mid section will increase muscle strength and endurance for the abdominals, but will do nothing to reduce the fat covering the area.
This leads us to another ab myth. That abs need to be trained differently from other muscles. To develop my abs, I always follow the same principles that apply to other muscle groups. If you feel the need to do lots of reps then you're not working them intensely enough, usually because of improper form. If you have to do 30 or more crunches per set before you feel fatigued, SLOW DOWN, focus on technique and if necessary add some resistance. I hold a 10 or 15kg plate or dumbbell on my chest when doing crunches on the swiss ball. I focus on 5 sets of slow controlled reps of about 15 per set - by the end they are burning!
How often should you train your abs? At least a day of rest between ab workouts is best - you don't need to train your abs everyday - this is another myth from the dark ages. Instead of working your abs everyday, try two or three times a week. When trained correctly this is plenty. Abs need a break for recuperation, just like the rest of your body. The trick is to do your exercises intensely in as brief a space of time as possible to force your abdominals to develop.
And forget the infomercials. The contraptions and systems you see in these advertisements, are shams. If the latest device sounds too incredible to be true, when it comes to exercise equipment it ALWAYS is! You don't need special equipment to work your abs. A properly performed crunch on a Swiss Ball is the fastest and simplest way to abdominal conditioning.
Ok, that's the basics here are the answers for awesome abdominals:
Train your abdominals 2 to 3 times per week. Perform 1 or 2 different exercises for each ab workout. Each exercise should consist of 5 sets of 12 to 20 reps. The ab exercise I perform most of the time, and swear by for you too, is crunches on a Swiss Ball. I hold a plate on my chest for added intensity. Just like any other muscle group you must overload the abs a bit more with each workout. That means increasing the intensity by either slowing down the speed of your reps, adding resistance in the form of weight, or slightly changing the angle of the movement.
Burn fat through intense cardio, performed at least 3 to 5 times per week. Reducing your body fat levels is critical to reveal your abdominals. The leaner you get, the sharper they will appear.
Perform weight training exercise at least 3 to 5 times per week to increase metabolism and overall calories burned.
Follow a 5 - 6 meal a day plan of low fat and lower carbohydrates, high in quality protein. Eat plenty of vegetables.
Avoid foods or supplements that include soy protein - soy leads to innapropriate hormone balance for fat loss, and soy has been implicated with thyroid regulation problems. Your thyroid is your bodies thermostat - don't mess with it or your bodyweight may end up ballooning!
And finally... drink plenty of water.
]]>Their findings show that by dividing a 30 minute cardio session into two shorter workouts, and spacing them between 6 and 8 hours apart (ie one in the morning and one in the evening) an increased metabolic rate (approximately 40 percent higher than a once-a-day workout) will result!
That's a whopping 40 percent more fat burning effect per day!!!
Now to really fire up this fat burning furnace...
1) Cut out all carbohydrate intake after 4pm.
2) Shift the balance of your nutrient intake. Minimise fat and reduce carbohydrate intake - and increase 'quality' protein intake, ideally from a Whey Protein.
3) Use a powerful thermogenic supplement 2 or 3 times per day, such as 'TR2'. This will help increase your energy levels, increase bodyfat utilisation for fuel, and decrease food cravings.
4) Eat frequently - a minimum of 5 to 6 protein containing meals per day. Make at least 2, and up to 4 of these meals from a high quality Whey Protein source.
5) For maximum metabolism and peak fat burning, focus on maintaining and developing lean muscle. To help use supplements like Creatine Monohydrate and Glutamine.
]]>To shed some layers, and give yourself a boost read on for the first step to get on track to turning heads.
The thing I love about Summer is it’s a fantastic fixed deadline. It’s a pity some people don’t wake up and start preparing for it until waaaay too late. It’s clear that to get in shape and stay in shape the more time you set aside for getting there the better your long term outcome will be. Remember there’s no future in crash dieting, so don’t think you can rely on that. That can make a bad situation very BAD. The way to avoid this picture and reach success is through making a plan. Keep your eye on the big picture (you know, the other side of 2 or 3 weeks from now).
People that achieve serious body change sit down and prepare a game plan. Then stick at it. It doesn’t even have to involve much to put together. The simpler the better. Scribble down some guidelines you know you can follow and check back on them often.
If you think you may have a little trouble coming up with a plan find someone that knows something and ask them to help. One fast solution is to visit your local gym and sign up (you usually get loads of free advice when you first sign up). Another option is to do some surfing on the internet, maybe visit some forums. Although be selective about the advice you choose to follow. There are endless people claiming to be fitness and nutrition experts so check them out and make sure they are the real deal!
Once you have your plan you’ve got to get into the routine, and stick at it. Many people start a plan but within a couple of weeks they are looking for a new plan. It’s a weird pattern - they don’t even give the first one a chance to really fire up. That approach won’t achieve much. A reliable plan may take a good few weeks for your body to really adjust to and for results to begin happening at their maximum rate. So take the advice of the guru’s and stick at a new plan for at least 6 to 8 weeks.
Once you have plateaued it’s time to go back to the drawing board and make adjustments for more progress. The cool thing about having a game plan down is further along the track you can look back and use it as reference. If it worked particularly well then you can try the same again another time.
If you’d like to get started writing your own plan then make sure to include both cardio-vascular exercise (cardio) and some type of resistance training (that usually means weight training). A minimum of 3 x of each per week. This combination is the best solution to reduce body fat, tone up and/or add lean muscle.
There’s mixed thoughts on cardio, but the ton of real world evidence points to high intensity cardio for achieving the most dramatic results. When fitness level is low it’s best to ease yourself into it over the first few weeks. If you’ve morphed too far into a resemblance of the couch, a visit to the Doc first for the green light before beginning is best.
You will get the most results from 3 to 5 x cardio’s per week, a minimum of 20 mins and up to about 40 mins per session is plenty. Fat loss authorities claim that splitting a long cardio into 2 shorter cardios per day will produce the most dramatic fatloss so instead of 1 x 40 min session you could split that into 2 x 20 mins sessions per day, one in the am and one in the pm. But hey, not everyone has the luxury of time for that. Remember the bodybuilders rule of thumb - the best time for fat burning is cardio first thing in the morning before you’ve eaten. At that time your body has fasted all night, so it’s more likely you will be tapping into stored body fat for fuel.
Definitely include resistance/weight training in your program. You should perform resistance/weight training 3 to 5 x per week. You can do this at home with a few simple weights - although eventually a gym is the better way to go for most. If you have little or no weight training fitness level, then ease into it over a few weeks.
The gym heads believe 45 mins or less of weights per session is the magic number. I personally aim for around 60 mins, I find this works for me. Listen to your own body and work out what’s best for you, but usually 45 to 60 mins per session is about right.
Now your plan should also include rest and relaxation. Aim to get plenty of quality sleep. The good thing with exercising regularly is your sleep generally improves a great deal. If you aren’t sleeping as soundly as you’d like there’s a simple solution - start training harder haha.
So there you go. The first step to get you underway is to prepare your plan. If you would like a hand getting started please feel free to email anytime and I can show you how.
]]>The tried and true methods to make it happen all require the discipline of consistency. When a regular routine is applied it all comes together.
So here they are. Introduce these principles, train hard and intense - and in 4 to 6 weeks people will be asking “What have you done to yourself?”
Train with weights
3 to 5 x sessions per week of intense weight training will fire your body into lean, muscular change. Whether you are already on a weight training program or not, intensity is the name of the game. Make your muscles scream. If you aren’t feeling sore for a couple of days after weight training then train harder.
That following day and day after that post exercise muscle soreness is the indication you are training in ‘the zone’. If you're an experienced trainer and you aren’t feeling this anymore - what fitness buffs call ‘Doms’ (delayed onset muscle soreness), then it’s time to step up your program.
Pump out plenty of cardio
Cardio is the catalyst for torching body fat. The way to go is 3 to 5 x sessions per week. The harder you push your cardio the more calories you will burn in your workout, and the longer you will burn calories after you finish training. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is the cardio choice of champions. This involves cycling intense, short cardio bursts, with medium paced breaks.
The simplest way to go about it is to warm up for 2 or 3 minutes at a moderate pace on your favorite cardio machine (elliptical cross-trainer, seated bike, or rowing machine). Then for 1 min push yourself as hard as you can. At the end of the 1 min drop back for 2 min of a moderate intensity level before hitting another 1 min high intensity interval burst. Continue like this for around 20 minutes. You can go for longer as your fitness level improves. Up to 30 minutes is usually adequate.
If you're time pressed HIIT is a great way to fit maximum fat burning into a short space of time.
Sort out your eating
To build a harder, more defined body it’s important to place a priority on including high quality protein sources with EVERY meal you eat. You should be eating 5 to 6 x of these protein meals per day. This eating system is the secret behind the Greek god’s and goddess’s you see flexing on billboards and magazine covers. It will also make you feel more energised so you can push yourself harder at training.
The best protein sources are lean beef, chicken, fish, egg whites - and sports nutrition experts agree, at the very top of the list is whey protein powder. When it comes to whey powders there are plenty to choose from. Go for one that is low carbohydrate and stay away from added artificial sweeteners Aspartame (951/Nutrasweet/Equal) and Acesulphame-K (950). Always have a whey shake immediately after any physical activity.
DO NOT underestimate the importance of regular quality protein intake, this is the cornerstone for lean muscle development. Without the right amounts you risk holding back your progress.
Get your rest
Go to bed early. Aim for your 8 hours or more of sleep a night, this will promote optimum muscle repair plus healthier hormone levels. One hormone to be particularly aware of is Cortisol - this is a stress hormone that has been linked to muscle wasting and reduced health. Cortisol production can escalate when you let stress get out of hand in your lifestyle. The ways to prevent skyrocketing levels are to remove unnecessary stress, maintain healthy sleeping patterns, and have plenty of time out.
Alright, there are the essential principals to get you going. If you have any questions or would like a hand to get the ball rolling please email me anytime.
]]>Many people jump straight into the deep end of dieting and cardio without much thought for weight training. If you really want to take control of how you look and feel then make sure you place just as much emphasis on planning weight training.
The list of benefits weight training offers is massive. The most obvious being the ability to reshape the structure of your body through building more muscle.
For the record here are a few of the added bonuses weight training develops:
Let's take a look at how to go about designing your own weight training program. How this is structured will depend on where you are starting from. Over time the body becomes conditioned to the loads exerted from weights so it's important to start with this in mind, then as the body adapts and strengthens change the program regularly to provide for continual progress.
Weight training sessions are broken down into exercises to target specific body parts. These exercises are made up of sets of repetitions (reps) ie 1 set of an exercise maybe made up of 12 reps. A rep is the singular movement you are undertaking within each set and repeating. Most of the time 3 - 5 sets per exercise is necessary to produce the stimulation necessary for the muscle to respond and develop.
Here are some examples of weight training programs for different levels:
Beginner
Complete body workout
1 session, 1 exercise per body part, 3 sets per exercise, 10 - 14 reps per set
Perform the same routine 2 - 3 x per week
Follow this program for the first 6 - 12 weeks
Intermediate
Split workout
2 separate sessions ie train upper body on day 1, and lower body on day 2.
1 - 2 exercises per body part, 3 - 5 sets per exercise, 10 - 12 reps per set
Perform each routine 1 - 2 x per week
Follow this program for 12 weeks
Advanced
Split workout
3 - 6 separate sessions. Some advanced trainers train one muscle group per workout (ie 5 - 6 sessions per week). The most common system is 2 - 3 muscle groups per session (ie 3 or 4 sessions per week)
2 - 3 exercises per body part, 4 - 5 sets per exercise, 6 - 10 reps per set
Perform each session 1 x per week
This is an advanced approach to weight training, you should spend at least 3 months building up to this level.
When choosing exercises it's important to target the major muscle groups: Quadriceps, Hamstrings, Back, Shoulders, Chest, Biceps, Triceps, Calf Muscles, and Abdominals. Pay close attention to how your body develops - this is the art of weight training. If you notice a muscular imbalance occurring then spend time correcting this through changes to your exercises. Apart from looking better aesthetically, this can also help prevent potential injuries. If you find you have a lagging body part, prioritise the particular area early in the week so that you can hit this with more emphasis.
When performing any exercises always make sure you are warmed up properly before hand. You can do this by using light weights and performing some reps with these. Once warmed up, for all sets after this you should be using a weight heavy enough to build a 'burning' sensation of fatigue within the muscle. On the final rep of each 'work' set you should be either close to failure, or failing completely ie not be able to perform any more reps in that set.
For general weight training have a rest of 30 - 90 seconds between sets and different exercises. When strength training is your goal, rest times of 3 - 5 minutes between sets and exercises is the way to go.
Whatever your level is, the rate at which you will build muscle is dependent on the intensity of your training. Train hard, make every workout count, and you will be well on your way to reaching your goals.
]]>The ‘traditional’ rule of thumb for optimum fat burning and fitness is that each cardiovascular training session should span 20 to 60 minutes, with the typical range being 30 to 40 minutes per session. This should be performed 3 to 5 x per week. When it comes to your body nothing is ever set in stone. For fat burning, thankfully, there are a few effective ways to streamline cardio sessions to achieve a great deal more in much less time per week.
You may have already heard that to maximise the fat burning of your cardio effort the best time of day is considered to be first thing in the morning before food? As you’ve been fasting all night (unless you are a midnight snacker) and your carbohydrate levels have become lowered over this time your body is more likely to tap into body fat for a fuel source. The second best time of day - going by this theory on stored carbohydrate ‘gas tank’ levels - is immediately following weight training.
Weight training depletes stored carbohydrate levels nicely. This will prime your body to use body fats for fuel by the time you hit your cardio workout session.
It’s been said that the most effective cardio routine is simply the one you will stick to consistently. So when it comes time to choose your cardio type it makes sense to go for something you will enjoy - for fat burning CONSISTENCY is the key. At least structure your cardio to make it as interesting as possible, and you may even find a way to make it something to look forward to!
Let’s take a look at some straight forward approaches that might spark an idea for your own cardio planning. The first one is the closest to good old traditional cardio and requires the most time commitment. The other options will achieve more in less time.
Mixing it up
How about a circuit of different cardio machines in your gym? Instead of doing a dull 40 minute haul on one piece of equipment try something like the following on for size. If you only have some of these available then that’s ok, just work with what you’ve got at hand and replace with other options if you have them:
This method of breaking up your cardio can keep you on your toes as well as create a more ‘complete’ and well rounded, body workout.
Aim for 3 to 5 x sessions per week.
Skip
Skipping with a skipping rope/jump rope is one of the simplest but most effective cardio choices. 15 to 20 minutes will give you a total body blast and burn a huge amount of calories. It’s also a great way to build endurance (ask any boxer) for your sports. It also develops your hand and foot coordination - and speed:
When starting out begin with 8 to 10 minute sessions and build up a little more duration to your sessions each week. 3 to 5 x per week is ideal.
Heavy hitting
Boxing on the heavy bag is fantastic cardio. This one (like skipping) is also great for coordination and keeping you light on your feet. Try the following for a good heavy bag workout:
Warm up for 2 mins on either a stationary bike or by skipping, or shadow boxing. Then get into 2 to 3 minute rounds of boxing on the bag. Mix up your punches - hooks, jabs, uppercuts - and break rounds up with 1 minute rest periods between them. Aim to perform 5 to 6 x rounds depending on your fitness level. If just starting out you may find 3 to 4 rounds of 2 minutes each more than enough. 3 to 5 x per week will be plenty.
Go for gold
Sprinting is an excellent way to fire up your metabolism, burn large amounts of calories, and elevate testosterone levels. This will also keep training sessions short and sweet. A local school field, athletics track, or park is ideal but you can do this on the street if need be:
Start your session with a light 2 to 3 minute jog to warm up. Once warmed up begin with a 50 to 100 meter sprint, follow this with walking or lightly jogging double the distance of your sprint distance, then repeat. For the first few times aim to do 5 to 6 x repeats per session. Over the weeks as you get fitter increase the amount of repeats (aim for 10 or more). To add more intensity, increase the length of the sprinting distance up to 200 meters. 2 to 3 x sessions per week is about right for this type of training, and have at least a days break between each. This will give your body time to recover.
Do what you can to make your cardio enjoyable, and then hopefully you will be in there for the long term. Remember the magic word is ‘consistency’. Hang in there, stick to your plan, and in time your work will pay dividends.
]]>Cardio, short for cardio-vascular exercise, describes any aerobic activity that gets the heart ‘pumping’. Regular cardio exercise will benefit your heart through improving your fitness level. It is also a great way to help slice body fat and chisel your body.
Cardio exercise offers mountains of benefits:
For tackling fat burning with cardio there are 2 ways you can go. Regular ‘low intensity steady state’ cardio, or the other, ‘high intensity’ cardio. Either option included on the correct plan can work. Some people will debate over which is the better form and why, but at the end of the day it’s what will suit your lifestyle and what you will stick to that is going to be the most effective choice for you.
The names speak for themselves, low intensity steady state or ‘LISS’ is cardio performed at a low, steady and moderate pace. At this level it’s long been considered that the body may burn a higher ratio of body fat calories for energy versus muscle protein and stored carbohydrates. Although it is a much slower way to burn overall calories it may be the safest cardio approach if your goal is muscle preservation and development. I personally prefer to get cardio over as quickly as possible and that’s where high intensity cardio comes into the equation.
If you are short on time or want to keep your cardio duration to a minimum then high intensity cardio will burn the most calories in the least possible time. It may also stimulate greater fat burning AFTER training finishes (ie you can potentially burn fat for hours after). A popular style of high intensity training is called ‘HIIT’ (or ‘high intensity interval training’). HIIT involves rotating intervals of very high intensity bursts separated by moderately paced periods and is usually performed for up to 20 - 30 minutes each session.
HIIT’s biggest advantage is that it successfully burns the greatest amounts of calories in the shortest period of time. HIIT’s very high level of intensity may also stimulate your metabolism into a higher calorie burning state, carrying over for many more hours post exercise than can be achieved with any other form of cardio. True HIIT will place quite a load of physical stress on the body so for this reason it’s recommended to not perform HIIT every day.
Taking this into account a good angle for a long term body fat reduction training plan might be combining 2 or 3 HIIT’s and 2 or 3 LISS cardio’s per week. There is a lot of debate among body builders over the stress issue of HIIT. Some feel that this higher degree of stress placed on the body may jeopardise lean muscle. In this case some people will choose LISS because even though it takes a great deal longer to burn the same amount of calories there may be less risk for muscle loss.
Whichever approach you decide is right for you, make sure to train consistently and stick to a routine. Push yourself to higher levels at every cardio session. By pushing to break through fitness targets you can make steady improvements towards your goal.
]]>What is the purpose of your training? Have you got a goal in mind? The number one mistake you can make with training is not having a plan to reach it. Write down your goal, give it a realistic deadline, then design a plan to make it happen. An off the rack one size fits all approach has limitations as it doesn’t take into account physical and lifestyle factors. A better bet by far is a plan designed for you alone. Seek the advice of a professional or someone who’s ‘been there’ to help put together a strategy to suit you personally.
2) Not keeping records
Record keeping is effective in many ways. It’s the ideal way to stay ‘honest’ and on your toes. To keep the pressure on measure each week against the last. If you find you aren’t progressing at a rate to meet your deadline you will have recognised this sooner than later - and with relevant data to know where to adjust things. Records can range from a few notes through to a dedicated training diary complete with body weight, body fat percentage, tape measurements, and training session breakdowns. For a physique goal photographs are also excellent to monitor progress.
3) Sticking to one ‘way’
There’s no best ‘method’ to training. Many systems will work, but eventually effectiveness will wane on even the most exotic training plan. Variety is the key - you should introduce change to your training system regularly. The time to look at changing routine around is every 8 - 12 weeks. It’s also important to vary intensity from workout to workout. Training guru’s believe that the best way to do this is through adjustment of weights lifted or number of repetitions and sets on exercises rather than throwing a range of completely new exercises into every workout. This will reduce risks of injury as you’ll be familiar with your limitations and able to maintain best technique.
4) Incorrect technique
Whether you do body weight or weights resistance exercises incorrect technique can seriously set back progress, and at worst lead to muscle imbalances, tears and joint injuries. With the many variations of exercises there are endless ways we can go wrong. For all the movements on your plan it’s worth confirming you’re doing them right. Google is good for research or run your form passed a professional. When exercising focus on technique, and you’ll be in it for the long term.
5) Burning out with muscle ‘crossover’
Are you aware that when you perform some back exercises you are also giving your biceps and shoulders a thrashing? And when doing chest you can hammer your shoulders again, and triceps too? The list goes on. When putting together a training plan it’s easy to miss that you may be training some areas excessively by hitting them 2 or even 3 days in a row. The one complaint I hear about most is shoulder pain - more often than not this is related to ‘overuse’. A high priority should be given to following a training sequence that avoids overtraining or injury. This can be quite a science to perfect, so if in doubt seek advice.
]]>If you took a cross section of the upper arm you'd see that the triceps (the back of the arm) makes up about 2/3 of the 'meat' of the arm, the biceps (the front part) only makes up about 1/3 of the arm mass. So it makes sense to spend at least the same amount of time working the triceps as you do the biceps. If you've become obsessed with biceps training start putting more effort into your triceps as well.
The best way to train arms is through resistance exercise with weights or machines. With limited equipment a barbell or some dumbbells are enough to do the job.
If you lift weights regularly you might have recognised that when you do a pulling movement for back (like a row, pull down or chin up) you are also working your biceps. When you do a pushing movement for chest or shoulders (like bench presses or shoulder presses) you work your triceps. So it's important to consider this indirect effect when planning how you'll fit your arm training in. If you don't get the timing right you may end up exercising them too often. Sure, if your focus is purely toning then this may not matter so much, but if you'd like to develop some extra muscle shape or size then you need to get this right.
Trained correctly the biceps and triceps only need 1 to 2 workouts per week, maximum. 2 different exercises for both at each session is also plenty, although if you are pushing for size development then 3 exercises can help. Generally aim for lower rather than higher numbers of repetitions per set as the arm muscles are primarily fast twitch dominant. This means they'll respond better to lower repetition sets with heavier weights. For men this is 6 to 10 reps, women 8 to 12 reps.
Here's a list of some of the better biceps and triceps exercises to choose from. For excellent results include some of these each time you train arms:
Biceps
Triceps
For any exercises you don't recognise let me know and I can send you demonstration links to show you how to do them.
Remember, when you're seeking muscle development your body has a greater need for high quality protein and nutrition. It's not all about training. Spend some time on better eating too so your muscles will be well protected and can recover properly.
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