Cardio before weight training, or vice versa?
I get this question monthly in the fitness centers I work, so here you go, the final word. The simplest answer to this question is “what are you trying to accomplish that particular workout?” Consider your fitness “game plan”: whether attempting to lose weight, training for your wedding or running a marathon, you should have a well rounded approach including improving your cardio endurance, strength training, proper nutrition, and incorporating sufficient rest, recovery and “de-stressing” activity.
*Note that I said your focus may be “improving your cardiovascular endurance”, not burning calories, when bringing up typical cardio exercise.. The days of coming in to do 60 minutes on the elliptical to burn your weekend calories are so yesterday, as research shows time and again the key to weight management is muscle preservation and a healthy, efficient metabolism, both primarily the result of strength training and nutrition.
Consider your goal for that workout, and use the bulk of your energy there. If your focus is strength that day, if you’ve planned to run outside or do the elliptical trainer Mon Wed and Fri, and you walk into the fitness center on Thursday afternoon, go ahead and dominate your workout with weight training. Do no more than 10 minutes of a cardio machine to warm up with, then do your weights.
So there you go, whatever your focus is, if it’s strength that day, begin with weights, when you are freshest. But if your focus is cardio, hit this right away when you are fresh. (Know #5: Always Know YOUR Nutritional and Physical Focus - one of the 8 Know’s of YOUR Success - from the Succeed the S.A.F.E. Way Program.) Read more
Perfect Exercise Form, No Trainer Required
While seeing results often requires leaving your physical, and sometime psychological “comfort zone”, we must first work to develop our personal comfort zone, both within our fitness program. This may mean becoming comfortable with your new habits, walking into an oft intimidating fitness center each day, and in this case, in your own body.
5 Keys to Perfect Form:
1. Comfortable & Safe - before beginning the exercise, make sure you are comfortably in position, safe from losing your balance, and operating the exercise equipment correctly to avoid injury. If on a machine, check out the picture to make sure you are in the correct position.
2. Posture - train the way we want to live, stand, and sit. If we train with bad posture, we’ll walk and stand with bad posture. Whether seated or standing, keep your chest up, neck neutral, and your shoulders back but relaxed. Read more
Five Keys to an Effective Fitness Program
September 25, 2008 · Posted in Five Keys to Fitness Program · CommentWe should all be “working out”, or following some sort of fitness program. So, whether you are new to fitness, your doctor has asked you to increase your activity, but has given you little guidance, or you just want to make sure you have a well balanced plan of attack for maintaining (or improving) your fitness level, here is a check list of 5 factors required for an effective fitness program.Compare your current plan, in the context of a week, to the ideas below, and maybe you will discover why you may not be seeing results. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Using these ideas, we hope you can develop a weekly and daily routine of specific exercises to keep your time and your effort on track.
5 Keys to an Effective Fitness Program:
To remain motivated, we must keep in mind the first key to any program: PURPOSE.
1. Purpose - A key to remaining motivated with exercise is to understand exactly why we are doing this stuff in the first place. “Functional fitness” is the idea that both our fitness plan and the specific exercises within the plan serve a purpose, or a function. Consider each exercise you perform, are they specific to improving your posture, helping you get up off a low chair, improve your golf game, allowing you to pick up your children, or manage your weight?
2. Frequency - this is the number of days per week you are physically active. Whether walking the dog, (at a decent pace), or coming to the fitness center, you want to find activity you enjoy, one that keeps your heart rate elevated for 30 minutes or more, and do this activity more than 3 times per week. Read more
Starting Out in a Fitness Center
September 25, 2008 · Posted in Starting Out in a Fitness Center · CommentGet the Most Bang for you Fitness Buck at Your Local Fitness Center
When you talked to the health club salesperson about the center you have now joined, they probably told you all about their Olympic length swimming pool and locker room amenities. And now, you are standing here in the weight room with an “elliptical cardio trainer” and a weight bench staring right back up at you wondering what in the heck to do next. Well we’re not talking center square footage and brand names of treadmills anymore ladies and gentlemen. Hold on to your water bottles and grab a towel as we break down the simplest, most effective ways to get the most calorie burning, health and fitness improving bang for your fitness buck in your health club or fitness facility.Doing “Cardio”
To walk the walk, it helps to talk the talk, so get familiar with gym lingo. “Cardio” refers to any physical activity that challenges the cardiovascular system, that is, your heart and lungs, along with all the veins and arteries running to and fro. When you hop on a “cardio machine” like the treadmill and walk 4 mph for 30 minutes, you are doing a ½ hour “cardio workout”.
Getting this treadmill workout is as simple as standing on the sides of the treadmill (or carefully on the pedals of an elliptical, or sitting on a stationary bike) and hitting the green START button. All of the pieces have a quick start and an emergency STOP button.
Hold on to the handles first on the treadmill, and don’t worry, it will begin you at 0.5 mph, (very slow), and bump up the speed button one point at a time until you are walking closer to 3.0 mph. Your goal is to walk a sustained 2.6 - 4.2 mph.
Performing 20-40 minutes of cardiovascular exercise at about 60-80% intensity (effort level should be 6-8 out of 10), 3-5 times per week should be enough to keep the rust off and heart pumping good and strong.
Strength / Resistance Training
Mother Nature is only trying to strip us of our muscle mass and bone density, therefore, strength training is A MUST! The best way to get used to the strength training equipment is to put 10 lbs or less on a machine, sit down, and check out the convenient little picture located on the machine. Slowly attempt to do what the picture depicts. Read more
