Phase 1 - Fitness pg3

Fitness page-3

Weight training:
What really matters most to you? Would you rather have a lower number on the scale or a better looking body? Unless you are in a weight loss TV show trying to win big bucks, you are obviously more concerned with how you look than just a number on the scale. Body composition is far more important than scale weight.

Two people can have the exact same weight-one lean and extremely muscular (e.g. body builders) and the other chubby with underdeveloped muscles.   Remember, muscle weights more than fat. Muscle also makes you look fit and toned. The ONLY way to get a good appearance, especially after dieting, is to include quality weight training. Otherwise you will lose the weight and end up looking flabby.

Another added benefit of growing muscle is that it will slightly increase your metabolism since more muscle requires more calories to maintain. Also, unlike straight line cardio, weight training can burn calories 24 to 72 hours after you exercise as your body repairs itself and builds new muscle.

One of the biggest secrets in the diet industry for burning fat that actually works is a type of training the mixes body building and aerobic loads. Note: this type of training has different names depending on who is marketing their own brand of it. But the most popular generic name is Metabolic Resistance Training.   There is nothing in the exercise world that will burn fat better. So no matter what you want to call it, just follow the tips below and call it what you will:

To put it simply, Metabolic Resistance Training is doing exercises that involve large groups of muscles with as little rest between sets as possible. Some good rules to follow are:

** Give yourself very little rest between sets (try to limit rest to 30 seconds). By doing this you will be giving your heart a cardio workout at the same time you are doing resistance training! Two workouts at once! Plus, your resistance weight training will take less time.

Doing an exercise routine over 60 minutes will burn far less calories and fat than if you did the same routine in 20 minutes. Why? Because your body is put under increased stress and therefore requires more energy (calories) to repair itself and bring it back to a rested state.

Frequently people will do an exercise for 30 seconds and rest for the next 3 minutes. They barely break a sweat and their heart level has little to no rate increase. In the end, they have done about 8.5 minutes of actual exercise in an entire hour at the gym. Reducing the amount of rest time will not only shorten your gym time, but will dramatically improve your fat burn.

** The exercises are either full body or alternating body sections.

A full body example is like squatting down, lifting a barbell to your waist, then to your shoulders, then above your head. This single exercise engages the full body each repetition.

An example of alternating exercises are like doing several upper body sets until exhaustion, then immediately followed by leg exercises. By alternating body groups like this, you can give other parts a rest but continue to push your body without complete recovery.

** You should perform each type of exercise until your muscles are feeling a burning sensation. It is this burning sensation that signals that your muscles are being challenged sufficiently.

** With exercises involving weights, make sure the weights you use are heavy enough that you are seriously challenged. You want high intensity. The best calorie burns will be when your exercise sessions are intense and extremely challenging. So if you can lift 50 pounds over your head, don't choose a 25 pound weight.

Now if you do are able to do more than 20 repetitions of an exercise before you are feeling a burning sensation, then you need to increase the weight you are using.    Generally you should be lifting a weight that can only be lifted 12-15 times before being too fatigued to continue.

** Muscle needs 90-120 seconds of total stimulation for optimal growth per session.

** Use the above workout 3x per week the most effective for muscle gain and fat loss. Training muscle 3 times a week for 4 sets (3x4=12) will grow more muscle than doing one set 12 times. At minimum, you should work out 3 times per week.

** On days where you are NOT doing the workout as above, you can do some interval cardio along with exercising specific regions of the body. And when you lift on these days, focus on lowering the weight slower than when you lift it. This is especially helpful in increasing muscle size. Muscles only contract and relax. Slowing the speed at which you relax a muscle will allow for greater muscular growth.

** Take at least one day a week off from any exercise and let your body relax.

Note: many women don’t want to work out with weights for fear of ending up looking like the women body builders who use steroids. Don’t worry; most women do not have sufficient testosterone levels to get overly large. Instead, women will end up looking toned and fit. Besides, if a woman thinks she is starting to look too muscular in a particular area, she can simply cut back on the training to stop development.

Muscle growth:
Growth occurs when muscles are put under repeated stress. The muscles develop micro tears. When the body heals itself, it will try to adapt to the added stress and rebuild the muscle stronger than it used to be.

The type of growth depends on the type of exercise. Performing long periods of cardio results in muscle growth where the muscles are slim looking but allow for endurance.   Weight training allows muscles to increase in strength and size giving a toned or muscular look.

Muscle soreness:
When you first start working out, muscle soreness will be a big problem; especially if you have a lot of muscular atrophy or physical problems. Realize that this is completely normal.

There are a few things you can do to help with this. See the following article: Muscle Soreness - How to treat and prevent

Spot fat reduction:
Sorry to say, but short of plastic surgery, there is no such thing as being able to lose fat in one specific area of the body. Every person’s body is different and they will gain and lose weight in specific areas. No one has the ability to control this. So doing 1 million abdominal exercises of any type will never get the fat covering the abs to disappear; revealing the abdominal muscle.

Next: Fitness pg4