With a gym popping up on every corner, health club enrollment is at an all-time high. Hordes of people are signing up with hopes of trimming and reshaping their bodies. While some notice a difference, most eventually give up on their dreams of a new and more appealing figure. Ninety percent of those who join a gym do not accomplish their desired goals. With so much fitness information filling our heads whether it be through radio, television, magazines or books, people are truly confused as to what exercising and eating properly truly entails. Clearing up all misconceptions can immediately empower those people desperately seeking change, thus bettering their bodies beyond what they ever dreamed possible.
Gym joiners often get caught up in aerobics. They huff and puff on a treadmill, bike or elliptical machine, or else get into an aerobics class thinking it's the solution. While aerobic exercise is a piece of the puzzle, it is not the sole answer. Most people think aerobic exercise increases metabolism. Well, it doesn't. Resistance exercise does by adding muscle that is metabolically active tissue. Therefore the more muscle you have, the greater your caloric burn. Now I know some women might be thinking, 'I don't want to get big muscles.' Don't worry ladies, you can't. Because of the high proportion of estrogen to testosterone, women do not develop the muscularity that men can. So for that toned, tight look, incorporate some resistance exercise into your workout. Using aerobic exercise in a timely and sensible fashion can be crucial to fat loss. Weight training is dependent on glycogen for fuel. If you tap into your stores of glycogen during aerobic exercise and then proceed to lift weights your body has to break apart muscle tissue to use for energy. In simpler terms, doing aerobic exercise before weight training can result in a loss of muscle. So not only do you lose muscle but you also slow your metabolism since muscle is the place where fat is burned.
While it's important not to do aerobic exercise before lifting weights, except for a brief warm-up, you also must not do aerobics for too long. If pushed beyond its limit to supply fuel from nutrients, the body can again break apart muscle tissue to meet energy demands. Never do more than 90 minutes of total exercise, including resistance and aerobic training. When just starting to regularly make trips to the gym, people stick with one routine that may seem relatively easy yet sufficient. This may be fine for a month or two, but eventually it will become boring. This results in a loss of motivation, dreading visits to the health club or quitting altogether. Simple boredom is one of the top reasons people stop going to the gym. Besides getting stale, a program that lacks variety gets you nowhere fast. Your body eventually grows immune to the same daily workout routine. A workout that previously seemed enjoyable and provided positive results turns monotonous and relatively useless. That's because you've reached a plateau, you can't get any stronger or leaner and fat loss comes to a halt. By switching programs every month, the body gets new stimulus for continued results. It would be impossible to list all of the intricacies of resistance training principles, but I can tell you some of the basics:
These basic concepts can keep you motivated and provide enough variety for consistent results. By understanding how to exercise anyone can take control of his or her body.
Casey Einhorn