Weight loss is a tricky thing when you are throwing
everything you got at it. You might be one of many people eating healthy and
exercising but still struggling to reach your goals. Often clients and friends
come forward voicing their frustrations and concerns towards their wellness
goals, they “exercise” and eat healthy but still see minimal results. The first
question that comes to mind when faced with such scenarios is always “what type
of exercise do you do?” We live in a world where we exert minimal activity;
everything is designed to make our life easier and effortless. Keeping that in
mind, walking for 30 minutes or running for 15 minutes is often considered “good
exercise”. While that form of exercise is definitely suitable for a specific
population and is a good start, there comes a time where you have to push your
body more for better results. So, how do you push your body for better weight
loss results? Read on.
This blog entry was inspired after a health and fitness
conversation with a friend. The conversation raised the question “how to start participating
in resistance and weight training”. The benefits of resistance training for
both men and women are
countless, I have touched on them in a previous entry and the bottom line is: resistance
training will help you lose weight, increase yoru confidence, improve your health and tone your body. While
there is no easy way to explain this in one blog entry, there are steps you can
take to start on the right track.
Start simple and don’t
shy away
No one said you should go all out with the resistance
training. Start with a one hour session that includes: 10 minutes warm up
(light running on a treadmill), 30 minutes resistance training, 12 minutes
cardio training, and 8 minutes stretching. Don’t shy away from the gym because of the regulars,
everyone had to start somewhere and no one was born super fit.
Start by hitting your
big muscles
Bigger muscles = more energy spent exercising them = more
weight loss! Start by targeting the following muscles:
Legs (quads & glutes): The exercise: Squats.
Stand shoulder width apart, brace your core and tighten your glutes. Now throw
your hips back as if you are sitting down until you form a 90 degree angle
between the knee and leg. Make sure your heels always stay on the ground and knees
are not ahead of the toes. Now stand up again and repeat. Power should always
come from your heel.
Back (lats): The exercise: Lateral Pull downs. This is
a machine with a bar and a seat, the bar is above your head and attached to
cable weights. Start by adjusting the seat so that when you sit, the toes are
ahead of your knees and legs locked in safely. Now keeping your shoulders down
in a natural position, pull the bar down until it is between the nose and mouth
area. The elbows should be pointing downwards and aligned with your body. Your lower
back should be straight in its natural form, neither rounded nor arched.
Chest (pecs): The exercise: Push Up. This is a body
weight exercise. If you cannot perform a push up on the ground then do wall
push ups. Stand arm length away from a stable wall. Place the palms of your
hand shoulder width apart against the wall and aligned with your shoulders. Keeping your toes on the ground and
your body aligned, push forward until your nose almost touches the wall, now
push back and repeat. Your elbows should be pointing to a direction in a way
where you can place a slice of pizza between your arm and body (45 degrees). If
you can complete more than 30 wall push ups then move to a normal push up with
the same technique.
Use your gym personal
trainer
You don’t need to pay for most trainers when it comes to
advice as long as you keep it simple. Don’t shy away from asking technical questions
such as the following: “how do I perform this exercise?”, ”What exercise would
you recommend for this muscle?”, ”can you watch my form and correct it?”.
Keep it challenging
Don’t stick to the same exercises all the time. Make sure
you switch it up either by adding more exercising or increasing the resistance.
For weight loss, if you can complete 12-15 repetitions of the resistance
exercise then increase the weight by 5%. For more info on making it challenging
read my previous entry titled ”why you should work your muscles to failure if
you want to lose weight fast”.
Find an experienced
workout partner
Grab a friend who is willing to exercise with you. Bonus points
if that friend has exercise experience. You will find that having a workout
partner can help you push yourself, expand your knowledge and improve your
motivation.
Ask me questions!
What’s better than free advice? Email me and ask me your
exercise questions and I will be sure to point you in the right direction.
Love it, or use fitness & nutrition to change it,
Mohamed
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