Workout Frequency
It is important for you to distinguish what you are trying to accomplish with your workouts before you begin a workout regiment, that is, identify what your final goal is. If you are trying to gain muscle mass it is important to constantly push the muscles, keep adding weight and changing exercises. If your goal is to lose body fat and retain lean muscle mass there are a number of good workouts, but I favor using light weights with a fair amount of aerobic or anaerobic exercise.
As a general rule of thumb it is wise to take at least 48 hours between working the same muscles, especially for a beginner. Abs should be treated the same way and given proper rest between workouts. When we workout we cause microtrauma (tiny tears in the muscle fibers) in the muscles as they are broken down, when we rest we allow our muscles to recover and regenerate. For example if you were working your biceps on Monday, you would not want to train them again before Wednesday. Most popular workout routines today do not have you working a body part that often though.
You can break up your week by working out every other day; this would cause you to have 3 workouts one week and 4 the next and so on. It is also very important that you have at least one day off, where you are not working out at all. It is also recommended that you limit your weight training workouts to 45 minutes or less, any more can cause a build up of lactic acid in the muscles.
It seems like most of the readers of this blog are interested in losing weight or maintaining their current weight and perhaps toning up, for this goal I think a full body work out 2 or 3 times a week interspersed with some kind of cardio is a great way to go. Also, if you are looking for a great all around workout there is almost nothing better than martial arts; one training session can burn about 700 calories.
As a general rule of thumb it is wise to take at least 48 hours between working the same muscles, especially for a beginner. Abs should be treated the same way and given proper rest between workouts. When we workout we cause microtrauma (tiny tears in the muscle fibers) in the muscles as they are broken down, when we rest we allow our muscles to recover and regenerate. For example if you were working your biceps on Monday, you would not want to train them again before Wednesday. Most popular workout routines today do not have you working a body part that often though.
You can break up your week by working out every other day; this would cause you to have 3 workouts one week and 4 the next and so on. It is also very important that you have at least one day off, where you are not working out at all. It is also recommended that you limit your weight training workouts to 45 minutes or less, any more can cause a build up of lactic acid in the muscles.
It seems like most of the readers of this blog are interested in losing weight or maintaining their current weight and perhaps toning up, for this goal I think a full body work out 2 or 3 times a week interspersed with some kind of cardio is a great way to go. Also, if you are looking for a great all around workout there is almost nothing better than martial arts; one training session can burn about 700 calories.
posted by Neel at 5:32 PM
2 Comments:
Hi you have got a good info on your blog which is worth reading, even I have a Muscle toning related website and blog. I should say good job done
Hi Neel - if you are wanting to get into running at whatever level, my first suggestions are:-
get a reason; want to escape the house, want to find new friends, want to run a race for a charit; just fed up of being unfit wasn't enough for me, I had to find someone I wanted to get fit for. Getting more athletic has certainly benefited me and my wife tho' with 3 kids its hard to run together but at least we can be supportive of a common interest.
Get your feet and running style checked and then buy suitable shoes, I lost six weeks of my marathon training schedule when I damaged 3 tendons running too hard with the wrong sort of running shoes. (That was 14 miles in 2 hrs after I had been running for 6 months though.)
Most important thing - just get out there, enjoy it and start slow. Walk 5 mins to warm up. Then run two minutes at a steady pace at which you can hold a conversation. Then walk for three minutes. Repeat two more times then finish with a 5 minute walk.
Thats how my wife started a year ago and she has now run/walked 5k, 10k and 13.2miles (half marathon)
Other tip, check out with your doctor before stretching things too much.
(I can't afford to use a running machine but there are people who prefer to plug the ipod in and crunch the miles indoors)
Obviously there is a lot to running than this but if you get beyond this send me another comment....
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