The best exercise you can do is the one YOU ENJOY doing the most. In theory, the optimal time to work out is first thing in the morning to "jump start” your metabolism- that’s what the experts tell us. As a practical matter, the best time to work out is when it’s most convenient for you. To facilitate being successful at establishing a lasting exercise routine, most will find it helpful to work out at the same time every day. Again, whatever time works best for you, but at least initially, try to stick to that time slot.
If you’re a marathoner, a cross country cyclist, just out of boot camp, just finished training for an elk hunt, or fit enough to go surfing for three hours, by all means start off on “Day 1” doing "as many push-ups, sit-ups, crunches as you can". For most though, this is a sure fire recipe for failure. Plain and simple- if it’s too demanding in terms of time or effort, more than likely you will not stick to your program. If you are out of shape (as we all have been at one point or another), in the beginning anyway, focus more on an EASY cardio program. Set a medium range goal and several smaller goals that will support achieving it.
For example:
By Memorial Day Weekend (which is still twenty weeks away), I’d like to be walking (or riding a bike, swimming, etc.) 30 minutes a day, six days a week. I’d also like to be able to COMFORTABLY do 25 repetitions of each of the following “floor exercises”: Push-ups, sit-ups, side-bends, and lying knees-to chest (or whatever).
Week 1: On Monday-Wednesday-Friday, 10 minutes of walking, and 5 reps each of the “floor exercises” - push-ups, sit-ups, side bends and knees-to-chest.
Week 2: Monday-Friday, walk for 11 minutes and do 6 reps of each floor exercise
Week 3: M-F walk for 12 minutes and do 7 reps of each floor exercise
Week 4: M-F walk for 13 minutes and do 8 reps of each floor exercise
Week 5: Monday-SATURDAY walk 14 minutes and do 9 reps of each floor exercise
Now compare your week 5 results to your week 1 routine.
Week 1: You walked a total of 30 minutes and performed 60 total floor routine reps.
Week 5: You walked a total of 84 minutes and performed 216 total floor routine reps.
Here’s the beauty of EASING into an exercise program. By now you’ve established a routine, probably dropped 2-4 pounds and are actually looking forward to your next work out. Why? Because although you have made very significant weekly progress, in terms of a total daily time commitment, your week 5 daily routine only takes about six minutes longer than your week 1 routine.
During week 6 through week 20, continue to add just 1 MINUTE to your daily cardio routine and go up 1 REP in each of your four floor exercises. By Memorial Day weekend – WEEK 20 – you’ll have established a daily routine that you’ll be able to knock-out in about 36 minutes.
Compare your weekly starting routine to your WEEK 20 results!
Starting Weekly exercise totals: 30 minutes of cardio and 60 total “floor routine” reps.
Week 20: 3 HOURS of cardio and 600 total “floor routine” reps.
This is a routine that virtually anyone, regardless of their current fitness level or age can successfully EASE into without becoming discouraged. Over this twenty week period, without dieting, you will more than likely loose 12-15 pounds. If you will make a conscious effort to cut back on the horse-pucky foods (and we all KNOW what these are) just 4 ½ days a week, allowing the weekends to still indulge yourself, you will more than likely lose 20-25 pounds before Memorial Day (Note: This is (approximately) a SAFE pound/week average or 50-60 pounds over the course of a calendar year!!!
If we set ourselves up for failure, we most often achieve that result. When we set ourselves up to succeed, we most often achieve that result too! The choice is ours
to make.
Topic: 2008 workout thread!! (Read 6156 times)
