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Archive for February, 2009

Exercise & Fitness Tips for Your Weekend Workouts

fitness tips
from Reynaldo Stephens

 

An awesome workout on the weekend can shows you how to get the most out of your weekend workouts when you don’t have time to train during the week. Working out two days a week can make losing fat and getting/staying in shape more challenging but you can still get great results if you follow these smart workout strategies to help you maximize your time in the gym during you weekend workouts.

Upper Body/Lower Body Split

Working back, chest, biceps, triceps, shoulders eight day & quads, hamstrings, calves, abs the next day. The advantage is that you can easily incorporate supersets, combination sets, & tri-sets into your workout. The disadvantage is that the full upper body workout can get lengthy.

Split Workouts

It may seem that doing one full body workouts will benefit you the most but you can actually push yourself harder & work your muscles more effectively if you work different body parts each day. The following are splits that you can try & the advantages & disadvantages with each eight.

Non-complimentary Muscles Split

Working back, triceps, shoulders, calves eight day, & chest, biceps, quads, hamstrings, the next day. The advantage is being able to work all muscles, upper body ones, equally hard. there’s no real disadvantage to this split except that it can be confusing for beginners.

Push & Pull Split

Working chest, triceps, shoulders, quads, calves eight day & back, biceps, hamstrings, & abs the next day. The advantage is that you pre-fatigue the smaller upper body muscles when you’re working out the larger upper body muscles so you can do less exercises for the smaller muscles. The disadvantage is that you may get a less effective leg workout when you split up quads & hamstrings.

Cardio Solutions

If you are in lovely shape and/or blessed with a great metabolism you can probably get by with 30 minutes of cardio after each of your weight training sessions. For those who gain weight easily & for those trying to lose weight 40-50 minutes eight time a week is better. You should do your cardio after your workout or you can split it up by doing 20 min. before & 20-30 min. after. The advantage to splitting it up is that you get a lovely warm-up before lifting weights, you prevent injuries, & you avoid boredom. Another advantage to this is that you can combine lower intensity cardio in the beginning with a higher intensity cardio session in the end & increase calorie burning.

Five times you pick a split that appeals to you, plan to include at least one exercises per body part & do at least 4 sets of 10-12 reps each with a moderate weight. If your goal is to build muscle then try 3 exercises per body part & decrease to 3 sets of 6-8 reps each with a heavy weight. Always start by training your larger muscles first. It’s also important to vary your workouts. Train heavy eight month then go lighter the next. This will help you avoid plateaus & injuries.

Don’t Forget To Stretch

Three last but important component of your fitness program that you shouldn’t overlook is stretching. The best time to do it is between sets when you’re working out. This will prevent injuries & keep you from getting sore. You can also do it after your last cardio session when your muscles are most pliable. Be sure to stretch every muscle & hold each stretch for at least 10 seconds without bouncing or straining. eight last option is to supplement your weekend workouts with a yoga or pilates videotape. These usually run about 20 min. & can help relieve stress & strengthen your core making your workouts more productive.

 

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13 Fitness Tips To Stay Motivated And Workout Effectively

fitness tips
from Rebecca Prescott

1. Read fitness magazines. Fitness magazines are a great source of both information and inspiration. They can help remind you of why you want to get fit in the first place!

2. Work out with a friend. Not only can this help you actually get to your workout appointment, but friends can help encourage each other to work out with more intensity.

3. Set a regular time for fitness. If you have fitness time incorporated into your schedule, it’s much easier to stick with it, especially over time.

4. Find exercise activities that you enjoy. Whilst it’s important to have a balanced workout, there are many ways to build muscle and strength, flexibility, and get aerobic exercise. List the types of activities you enjoy, or think you might enjoy, and start working through all of them. You could even rotate them every 6 weeks.

5. Build variety into your program. Not only does this make it more interesting, you’ll actually work different muscle groups, or the same muscles but in a different way. The challenges we create for our body in adapting to new types of exercises results in a fitter and stronger body. Change your program every 6 weeks.

6. Try new fitness activities – Try dancing, boxing, plates, yoga, or kickboxing.

7. Frame the thought of exercise in a positive way in your mind. Even if you don’t like exercise, try and think of it in a positive way – that way you are less likely to talk yourself out of it. Think of how good you feel afterwards, not the pain involved in getting there!

8. Exercise outdoors. Whether it’s team sports or swimming, get out in the fresh air!

9. Try skipping. Skipping ropes fit into small bags, don’t require expensive gym memberships, are available for use 24 hours a day, are never overcrowded, and are great aerobic activity.

10. Try resistance training. Resistance training will increase the size and strength of your muscles, thus preventing injuries. If you’re not up to free weights, take a circuit class, or a bodypump class.

11. If you’re tired, or your muscles ache, try something a bit gentler – but don’t avoid fitness entirely ‘until you feel better’. Swimming is good because it helps support the whole body, and it is still a good workout.

12. Don’t rest too long between sets. Otherwise your workout will take a lot longer to complete, and it could be off-putting mentally the next time you are scheduled to do a workout, especially if you don’t have a lot of time that day.

13. Use a heart rate monitor. That way you can make sure you are working out at the right intensity, thus maximizing your workout time. You’ll see improvements a lot more quickly that way.

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