So after the holidays we all feel like our fitness has decreased and could do with a bit of weightloss. If you are prepared to put in the effort, you will get the rewards! How?
Well all the basics but with a few extras.
1) Get yourself an empty journal and a basic heart rate monitor, you can get the basic ones relatively cheaply now from a Rebel Sports Store or somewhere similar. This is going to be really useful.
2) Measure your resting heart rate, time how many heart beats you have in 30 seconds then double it to get your resting heart rate. This is going to be useful in tracking your fitness progression.
3) Take your age away from 220 to get a rough idea of your maximum heart rate. You want to be working consistently at 50-60% of your maximum heart rate to achieve a result, anything higher and you enter an anaerobic zone and at this point you don’t want to be there. Not at the start.
4) So start by walking and monitoring your HR via your monitor or by taking your HR after you have been walking for at least 10 minutes to make sure you are in the correct zone. Continue your walk for a minimum of 45 minutes. Preferably you will do your walk after dinner in the evening or both in the early morning and evening. Make sure you are safe if you are walking after dark. NOTE: if you increase your HR too quickly and go too hard too fast, you risk your changes of injury, fatigue and lactic acid build up which isn’t pleasant.
5) You also want to work on building muscle mass, so assuming you have a few weights at home try concentrating on the eccentric phase of your exercise, this means the part of the exercise that lengthens the muscle i.e. the lowering part of a bicep curl, so slow it right down, focus on the downward part of a step up, walking downstairs or a squat/lunge. The eccentric phase has shown to be more efficient in building muscle. NOTE: remember that you also need to take in adequate proteins for building muscle but don’t get crazy and only eat protein, add in a protein shake every second day.
6) Weightloss, the fitter you are, the more energy burning units you have in your cells, the more efficient your body is at using the energy you are putting into it. Essentially, feed your body only what it requires and with balanced nutrition. See my Face Book Page for the latest nutritional chart. Follow the basic rules and you will be surprised with adding in more activity you will get a result.
7) Make sure you increase your workouts and walks by 5-10% each week, so work out your plans and stick to them. Take note of your resting HR in your journal so you can see your progress, after a week start adding in some intervals. For interval training your HR should be up to 80% of your HR Max. So changing the intensity at regular or irregular intervals, run/walk, add in some lunges and squats, step ups and push ups at different parks around your walks.
8) Adequate rest, do make sure you have adequate rest days, at the beginning 3 days, then 2 days and at a minimum 1 day. Your body does need rest or it is detrimental to your efforts and can cause you to have exhaustion and a decline in your fitness programme. Take your resting HR again in a few weeks time to see how you have improved!
For more information on planning an exercise programme, please feel free to ask!
Contact Angie at Create Health and Fitness, personal trainer Perth, Mt Hawthorn, Mt Lawley, Joondanna, Subiaco, North Perth, North Beach and surrounding suburbs.
