First I would like to say that I hope and pray that everyone is having a safe and productive summer thus far. I know here in the south (Georgia) the temperatures are already blazing hot with no signs what so ever of slowing down as we head towards July and August.
If you have started your work out plan, I will say CONGRATULATIONS!!! If you have not started yet, ask yourself why. As always I will post information for you to read in the easiest of terms so that you are empowered to start, maintain and continue your workout plan as not a means to an end but as a lifestyle change.
Day in and day out as I “Ear Hustle” throughout the office and various places out and about town I hear someone say how they started this “6 week diet” or that “12 week diet” and I always wonder to myself what are they going to do at weeks 7 and 13? At some point if I know the individual I will chime in and ask the question with no more than a blank stare as the answer, followed by “I never really thought about it.” Well the answer is usually after that specific time frame is up its business as usual because you can only eat so many pineapples, beans or whatever the new hot diet is before you just get sick and tired of it.
The best course of action is to incorporate small calculated changes into your diet and to set up an exercise regime for YOU!!! Not something that is set up for someone else but something that YOU can fit into YOUR schedule. Now if you need the help of a professional trainer to help you with setting up a successful plan then by all means contact me (physicalinnovations@gmail.com) or any other professional personal trainer.
When starting your workout program the good majority of you out there will want to lose weight. Like most individuals out there you will start with a cardio regime as this is the easiest to set up and requires no equipment. One thing to remember is that with any exercise program you should first and foremost contact your doctor or health care professional to find out if you are physically able to begin. I haven’t met too many doctors that would scorn at someone wanting to at least start a cardio program to get their heart in better shape. As a matter of fact most doctors are overjoyed at the thought of you starting any kind of program to increase your quality of life.
Cardio, cardio, cardio
Today I was at work speaking with a co-worker by the name of M. Abeles. He has been taking bits and pieces of advice from me for about 2-3 months now and was very excited to tell me about his cardio program. He revealed to me thru conversation that he was doing in excess of 2 hours of cardio a day. Well most of you are probably saying “that’s awesome” and “good for you Abeles!” However I was alarmed and I will tell you why.
One of the reasons is that he said that he was doing between 45-60 minutes of cardio during his first session and burning 1200 calories on the elliptical!!! Now I will not say that anything is impossible but I will say that it is improbable that he is burning that many calories on that particular machine.
So my first concern is that he is getting false readings from this machine or he is not putting the correct information in the machine for it to give him the correct feedback. For the most part I want you to remember that the machines are guidelines. They will give you figures based on averages. Now they can be fairly accurate MOST of the time but it’s just a guide folks, not the gospel according to Treadmill.
My second concern is that he has only been at cardio consistently for about 1 month. So for him to be at the 2 hour mark this early in his transformation is basically setting him up for failure. If you view the slide presentation Physical Innovations Essentials then you will know that at the rate he is going he will have to adjust his BMR weekly.
You have to understand that your body is a wonderfully capable machine that will make adjustments to any program which is why you should always change your workouts at a minimum every 12-16 weeks. The same thing applies to cardio. DO NOT start with 2 hours of cardio a day. If you do then just like the 12 week diet………………where do you go from there once your body adjust to doing 2 hours of cardio a day and slows down the fat burning process? Do you now reach for 3 hours?
The simple conclusion is this: If you are using a machine such as the elliptical, treadmill, step mill (my personal favorite pictured here) or whatever then, start with 30 minutes at level 5 or 6 for weeks 1 and 2. For weeks 3 and 4 bump up the RESISTANCE not the time to level 7 or 8. The next week follow the same system until you reach level 10. Once you reach level 10 for 1 full week THEN you can bump up your cardio to 45 minutes but drop the resistance to level 6 or 7 and continue the cycle till you reach level 10 once again. Then after about a month of that go to an hour and so on. By then the pattern should be clear. This way you don’t get burned out by starting at 2 hours of cardio and your body can’t adjust to what is going on because you are switching it up every few weeks.You can also switch up machines from time to time to add an element of change into the program to keep the body guessing. This technique along with a ‘lifestyle change” diet approach will work wonders in dropping body fat at a consistent rate.
Hopefully you will find renewed vigor in your workout plan with this approach or if you haven’t started one this will be the springboard to get you started.
For any assistance visit www.physicalinnovations.com and click on Fitness Services to see the best rates to fit your budget.
Yours in Health,
Aaron “K Nine” Washington
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