Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day Health Advice

The following seven words could revolutionize your fitness program. "Move. Intensely at Times. Often with Resistance.

Here's what I mean.

Move:
I realize this sounds ridiculously simple, but people who want to get in shape or stay in shape need to move. Merely thinking about exercise will not, by itself, improve either your body's shape or its condition. So if you haven't done so already, GET MOVING! Even as little as 30 minutes/day (even fast walking in three 10-minute segments), has been shown to be of significant value to your health.

Intensely at Times:
Now that you're moving, the next thing we want to figure out is how to get as much benefit as possible from the movements we make. Interval training is a highly effective form of exercise that alternates intense movement and relaxed movement for specific durations. Recent studies point to a 2:3 ratio as one of the most effective forms of interval training.

Here's an example. Exercise at full or very close to full intensity for 24 seconds, followed by 36 seconds of rest or very leisurely effort. Then repeat that cycle for 9 to 14 more times. This method of working out burns up to 9 times as much fat as regular cardio methods (i.e. running on a treadmill at a steady pace for long periods of time).

Sprinting is perhaps the most convenient way to use interval training (doesn't require equipment, can be done about anywhere, etc.), but many people are not in good enough shape to sprint. If that's the case, you can do interval training on a bicycle (stationary or regular), an ellipticle machine or even by walking at two extremes of intensity. Unfortunately, short-burst interval training does not work as well on a treadmill simply because it takes most treadmills too much time to change speeds. You can do longer-burst interval training on treadmills with, for example, 2 minutes intense and 3 minutes recovery speed.

Often with Resistance:
Resistance training (using weights or bodyweight or resistance bands or the like) is considered by most experts to be the most effective means of burning fat. Resistance training also helps replace fat with lean muscle mass, making for a more toned you with stronger bones to boot!

Below are a ten tips for effective resistance training:
1) If you're new to training or haven't trained in a while, consult with your physician first and then start out slowly.

2) Consider beginning with professionally designed workouts (it's easy to find some free ones on the Internet).

3) If designing your own workouts, strive to target opposing muscle groups. For example, pair push-ups with dumbbell rows or inverted rows. Training opposing muscle groups offers at least 2 key benefits. First, it helps keep one's muscles in proportion with one another. Second, training opposing muscle groups allows one to move quickly to the next exercise (which keeps one's heart rate up!) without undue muscle fatigue. It's sort of like getting cardio and resistance training all in the same short workout.

4) Rest at least 48 hours between major resistance training on any particular muscle group. For example, do full-body workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday or do resistance training every day but focus, for example, on upper body on Monday, lower body on Tuesday, upper body again on Wednesday, etc.

5) If you can do more than 12 reps with the weight, increase the weight.

6) Do not resistance train to failure. For example, if you can do 10 push-ups but not 11, just do 9 or 10 push-ups. Contrary to popular belief, going to complete failure actually weakens muscles.

7) Some soreness is natural, but if pain persists, seek medical advice.

8) Always focus on proper form, both to minimize the chance of injury and to maximize the benefit of the exercise. Working directly with a personal trainer is the safest way to go until you learn the exercises, but some exercises can be learned through video and/or the Internet.

9) Change resistance training workouts at least once/month. It helps reduce the chance of boredom and, more importantly, prevents your body from adapting to a particular workout.

So there it is, seven words than might revolutionize (or at least improve!) your fitness program.

Move. Intensely at Times. Often with Resistance.

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