10 Basic Must Know for All Fitness Go-ers
May 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment
You shouldn’t feel shocked if you feel like Pewee Herman rather than Mr. Universe the first time you use a dumbbell. But that’s ok, Californian governor Mr Arnold was a skinny stick when he first started.
Always Warm Up
For some reason, majority of fitness go-ers think they are too good for a warm ups, you think it’s a waste of time. Well, you should always start your exercise session with a warm up. Michael J. Alter, M.S., author of Sports Stretch says “To decrease the chance of injury, you need to elevate your body temperature before you do anything more intense.” Not only that, when body temperature rises, your red blood cells are able to transport more oxygen per cell for greater performance.
Now, I know there are some self-proclaimed fitness gurus out there still telling people to stretch before you exercise. In actuality, a good stretch session before you exercise can have negative effects on your performance.
Read More About: Pre Exercise Stretching Is Bad For You
Make sure that you warm up before training and stretch after you train, not before.
So, how can you warm up properly? Do approximately ten minutes or long enough to feel your body temperature change, of low-intensity cardio based exercise. For example: stationary bike or treadmill.
Know Your Routine
Your routine should have specific goal, whether the routine your doing is going to make you bigger, slimmer, stronger, leaner or for endurance.
Depending on your goal, your sets, reps and how long you should rest in between sets should change.
If you’re aiming for muscle gain, shoot for 8 to 12 reps. For power and strength 3 to 6, and for fat burning and muscle endurance 15 to 20 reps.
For your rest interval, you should consider three things, your goal, fitness experience, and your genetics.
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Generally, you should rest 30 seconds for fat burning and muscle endurance, 1 minute for muscle gain and 2 to 3 minute for power and strength.
Never exceed 3 minute mark when resting because your muscle will start to cool off.
Never Do Same Workout Routine Repetitively
This is what you call muscle confusion, confusing your muscle by constantly changing up your routine so it always has to adapt.
If you’ve been performing the same workout routine as long as you can remember and you haven’t seen any results from last month, your body has reached its plateau. This means your body has completely adapted to your routine and it doesn’t need to change (bigger, stronger, etc.) to perform the routine.
So, to avoid plateaus, you have to change your training methods every six to eight weeks which is the average amount of time it will take for a body to get use to certain stimulus. Remember, your body will only change when you give change.
Know How Much You Should Eat
Most men must consume an extra 2,500 to 3,500 calories weekly in order to gain one pound of muscle each week. You can pump iron all day long, but if you don’t mix your training efforts with sufficient food and liquids, you will not get any larger.
M. Kleiner, Ph.D., R.D. and author of Power Eating “When it comes to gaining muscle, the most important thing is eating enough calories to fuel both your exercise and the metabolic processes needed to build muscle. Most guys who have trouble gaining weight and strength simply aren’t eating enough.” Keep in mind, if you want to be 200 lbs of muscle, you have to eat like your 200 lbs of muscle.
Know When to Eat
The most important times to eat a meal are when you wake up in the morning and after you weight train. Because you need fuel in your system in order to train hard. When you don’t fill up your system at breakfast, you’ll be running on fumes later on in the day.
Jacqueline R. Berning, Ph.D., R.D., an assistant professor at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs advises to “Make sure the majority of your breakfast consists of carbs, with some protein, maybe in the form of egg whites, thrown in for good measure.” In addition, she also suggests that “Low-fat yogurt, or milk and cereal, would also fit the bill.”
It’s equally important to refuel instantly after you weight train because when your body’s cells are most open to stock up the energy they just used. It is suggested that one drinks a premade drink that has both carbs and protein. This will satisfy instant postworkout needs in the short term.
A larger meal, that contains complex carbs and complete protein for example, chicken breast, which contains a better amino-acid profile than egg whites, must be eaten within 3 hours of training.
Read More About: Timed Nutrients Just as Important as What You Eat
Harder Exercises Are Good For The Body
So, yield not to temptation. The majority of exercises can be described as either single-joint or multi-joint movements. This includes the barbell curl, in which only the elbow joints move. Along with the deadlift and the bench press, the last includes the squat, during which the ankles, knees and hips are all being stretched and flexed, while your upper body works harder to maintain the load stable. Multi-joint movements are the much harder of the two types to do, but its well worth the try to learn the right execution, since they result in the highest level of muscle growth of more difficult muscle groups like the chest or the legs. Thomas M. McLaughlin, Ph.D., CEO of Biomechanics Inc. in Marietta, Ga says that “People often get too specific in their exercise selection,”. He also believes that”At some point, you really need to do big multi-joint exercises that involve large amounts of muscle mass.”
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Know When to Do Cardio
Unless cardio is your main focus of your training, do cardio after (not beforehand) you lift weights. You can do it later on during the day, or a different day. “If you perform aerobic-type exercise first, you’ll be fatigued for your weight training,” Cotton explains. “As a general rule, strength training has less of an impact on cardio than cardio has on strength training.”
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Importance of Recovery
This is just as important as weight training it self. When lifting weights, a person is breaking down muscle fibers. It’s only after a person has finished a workout that muscle tissues start the rebuilding process. Just allow that process to spread out the right way and give your body enough breaks in between workouts.
When starting off, never lift more than 3 or 4 times a week and don’t work the same muscle group on repeated days, and don’t weight train a muscle group that’s still sore from a previous workout.
For best results, you also have to maintain a good nutrition program. That means for 5 or 6 nutrient-packed small meals every day. You need to get sufficient rest – at least eight hours of rest. Getting enough sleep keeps you mentally and physically on your toes. Remember, the act of sleep itself provides the release of growth-inducing hormones.
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Don’t Forget To Cool Off
Try not to jump right out of your training mode. Make sure that you follow with a brief cool-down in which you just keep moving for 5 minutes or so, with another five to ten minutes of stretching. NSCA study shows people who finished their workouts with stretching showed 20 percent increase in strength gained compared to non-stretchers. So, finish with a nice stretch session.
Don’t be an “exercise-aholic
Some beginners train busily under the impression that working out more is better. On the other hand, you’re better off taking it slow at first.
According to Richard Cotton, M.A., chief exercise physiologist with First Fitness Inc. in Salt Lake City and a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise “You increase your chances of success by moderating your activity a little bit. The morning after a workout, you want to feel like you trained, but you don’t want to have to crawl to the bathroom.”
He also believes “At first, your muscles aren’t ready to do a lot more than they were doing before–they’re ready to do a little more,”
