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.

Diet Is Not A Bad Word

While compiling the information for this article I had a friend tell me she did not care for the word "diet", she felt that it was something that she would only keep up for a short amount of time, then she would resume eating poorly. The truth is that whether she put good food or bad food into her body that is her diet. Diet means a person or animals food and drink intake. It doesn’t have to be good, bad, a lot, or a little, food and eating patterns make up ones diet, therefore you can have a diet of nothing but ice cream, or a diet of nothing but salad, a low calorie diet, a low carb diet, or a high protein diet and so on.

But as we have already discussed, this is not a diet but rather a way of life. I have been working with people for the last 20 years and the thing that I have discovered that we are not only creatures of habit, but we are very affected by our surroundings. It is easy to fall into a routine, or go with the flow, but it is difficult to go out on your own, against the grain, or change the way you are currently living. Although it may be difficult it is not impossible and we will take the process in stages so that it becomes second nature as you fall into a healthy pattern rather than an unhealthy one.

It is important that you change the way think of healthy living also, for example weighing yourself every day will not help you in your pursuit of weight loss. You should limit your times stepping on the scale to once a week. Also, using a measuring tape is an excellent way to monitor your progress. The scale is poor measurement for several reasons; our bodies can fluctuate in weight by as much as 5% per day naturally from water retention. In a person who weighs 150 lbs that is 7.5 lbs! Also muscle weighs approximately 4 times as much as fat, so if you are adding muscle mass while losing fat, you may actually weigh more when you get on the scale. A measuring tape will come in handy as the fat accumulation around your hips, belly and so on decreases, also you will notice your clothes getting looser, and you will soon be buying clothes in smaller sizes.

Day One:

Weigh yourself in the morning before eating or drinking anything. Take the following measurements:

Neck:

Biceps

Chest

Abdomen

Waist

Hips

Thighs


For each measurement, take it at the widest part of the area. This is essential if you are going to start losing weight, you need be able to monitor your progress. I would prefer if you don’t weigh yourself for the first two weeks, but if you are just dying after the first week its okay to give it a shot. The first workout and eating plan will be posted later today.

Let's Get Fit

You have chosen to join me in getting fit. Dont worry what your weight is now, or fitness level. Together we are going to improve our overall fitness and have fun doing it!