BUILD A FITNESS SCHEDULE

How many times have you heard that "time is money"?

Do you remember the time tables we used to have when we were younger? these tables provided certainty, you knew exactly what to do, when to do it, and the penalty for not doing it.

 

Time management has been the rage in the past decade. As people work harder and have less time to devote to what they love to do, the impulse is to drop any difficult activities, such as going to the gym. Unfortunately, our bodies will not keep themselves in shape, and we need to take responsibility for our physical fitness and wellness.

In these busy times, customising your fitness schedule around your time availability and your needs is essential; you can't afford to live your fitness to chance, the same way you wouldn't leave your clothes to chance.

With the advent of time management and productivity improvement tools, it has become easier to manage your fitness schedule with the required discipline. Tools like your phone calendar, Google Calendar, or you could design one on Microsoft Word. You could also download and print out a workout calendar from http://www.workout-calendar.com/

In designing your calendar, start with your goal (health,fat loss, muscle gain), the location of your exercises (home, office, gym), duration (30 mins, 1 hour...),  the equipment you will be working with (weights, bars,) and the commencement time of the workout.

NOTE: The only way to obtain sustainable results is by DISCIPLINED, CONSISTENT, HARD WORK.

 

SUGGESTIONS FOR ASPIRING TRANSFORMERS

I came across something on bodybuilding.com which I felt compelled to share. It's really useful for those who believe they are too old to train.

• You're never too old to start watching what you eat or to start exercising.
• You don't have to have a gym to get a good workout. I've learned that an exercise band and my own bodyweight provide a good workout anywhere.
• No dessert is worth what it takes to burn off the calories it contains.
• Buy smaller dinner plates and split meals when going out to eat.
• Eat every couple hours throughout the day.
• You'll never regret going to the gym.The beauty of the gym and your hard work is that it shows.
• What works for you is what is important. Everyone is different and there is no single workout or nutrition regimen that works for the entire human race.

 

Crazy Workouts for Building a Steel Core

"I find that my core is ostensibly the toughest part of my body to firm and shape up!!! It has been a frustrating venture for me as I have had 3 children and it unfortunately shows in the areas of my person that I do not want this to show. I don’t know if I can do it" - Worried mother

Your core is the corset of muscles and connective tissue that encircle and hold the spine in place. If your core is stable, your spine remains upright while your body swivels around it. The core comprises of all the muscles and tendons between your knees and your rib cage, partivularly these 4 muscles—the rectus abdominis muscle (the six pack), the internal and external obliques (those muscles at the sides), and the transversus abdominis. Abdominal muscles have many important functions such as contributing to breathing, they are responsible for the acts of coughing, and sneezing, as well as maintaining posture and speech.

The rectus abdominis can be worked out with the basic crunch, the vertical crunch, the reverse crunch, and the full vertical crunch, and when at a low enough body fat percentage (10-12% for males, 15-18% for females) the individual parts of the muscle become visible; many refer to this visible separation as a six pack. By exercising the internal and external obliques the stomach can be flattened while the waist line can be reduced

Here are some crazy exercises that will help you flatten that stomach and build a solid core within a reasonably short period.

The Fireman Stair Climb

Fill a back pack with books or any heavy objects (the weight should be at least 20kg for this to be really effective). Try to run up and down 10 stairs 6 times within 3 minutes. this will build your core, leg and heart to new highs.

The Mighty Plank

The plank exercise  is a great way to build endurance in both the abs and back, as well as the stabilizer muscles. This move is also great for building strength for pushups, an exercise that requires quite a bit of core strength. You can add some weight on your back to increase difficulty.

How to:

1. Lie face down on mat resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor.
2. Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows.
3. Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels.
4. Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air or sagging in the middle.
5. Hold for 20 to 60 seconds, lower and repeat for 3-5 reps.

Good Ol' School Pushups  (need I say more?)

THE MANDELA WORKOUT

A Freedom Fighter to the bone

Mandela spent his entire life fighting for freedom.

Whether it was representing non-whites that no one else would in court, or organizing protests from within the confines of solitary confinement, he never stopped at “good enough.”

He fought, and fought, and fought some more. He never gave up on his quest for freedom.

I'm currently reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. At a whopping 656 pages, it's taking me almost two weeks to read! Yet every chapter is utterly compelling, painting a portrait of a man who was unwavering in following a passion that most thought impossible to achieve.

On reading his autobiography, I was struck by just how much attention he has paid to his fitness.

Here are a few quotes I pulled out:

“I enjoyed the discipline and solitariness of long-distance running, which allowed me to escape from the hurly-burly of school life.”

“On Monday through Thursday, I would do stationary running in my cell in the morning for up to forty-five minutes. I would also perform one hundred fingertip push-ups, two hundred sit-ups, fifty deep knee-bends, and various other calisthenics.

“Exercise was unusual for African men of my age and generation… I know that some of my younger comrades looked at me and said to themselves, ‘if that old man can do it, why can’t I?’ They too began to exercise.”

“I attended the gym for one and a half hours each evening from Monday through Thursday… We did an hour of exercise, some combination of roadwork, skipping rope, calisthenics, or shadow boxing, followed by fifteen minutes of body work, some weight lifting, and then sparring.”

I was deeply touched by the following paragraph.

" I have always believed that exercise is a key not only to physical health, but to peace of mind. Many times in the old days I unleashed my anger on and frustration on a punch bag rather than taking it out on a comrade or even a policeman. Exercise dissipates tension, and tension is the enemy of serenity. I found that I worked better and thought more clearly when I was in good physical condition, and so training became one of the inflexible discipllines of my life. In prison, having an out let for my frustrations was absolutely essential.

Even on the Island, I attempted to follow my old boxing routine of doing roadwork and muscle building from Monday to Thursday and then resting for the next three days. on Mondays to Thursdays I would run on the spot in my cell in the morning for up to forty five minutes. I would perform a hundred fingertip push ups, two hundred sit ups, fifty deep knee bends and various other calisthenics."

I don't think I could have said it better myself; no wonder the man remains so trim and active at 93!

(DE)TRAINING AND ITS EFFECTS

I just picked up the weights after taking a two week break to recover from an injury sustained during training; and it feels terrible. My joints feel like someone poured sand between the surfaces, each inhalation feels like I’m taking in molten lava instead of oxygen, I’m as stiff as the Tin man, and let’s not even go near how my muscles felt after the first session.

Haven’t you ever wondered why you feel weaker, get exhausted quicker and generally feel like crap when you resume exercise after a break of a few days or weeks? That’s the effect of Detraining (sounds like a legal term, doesn’t it?). This is the gradual loss or reversal of the beneficial effects obtained from exercise after a few weeks of not exercising.

For exercise to be effective, it has to be performed regularly with increasing levels of intensity. This has the effect of convincing the body that it is facing an external threat and forces it to develop speed, muscular and cardiovascular endurance, agility, strength, and flexibility.

Therefore, when we reduce intensity levels, or even cease exercising entirely, our bodies revert to lower fitness levels. This is because your body feels like the threat posed by the external stimuli which required you to grow stronger, move faster/longer or become more flexible, has passed and it is no longer required to remain at the earlier fitness level.

While the specific effects of conditioning require at least 4-6 weeks of consistent training to see, deconditioning/ detraining occurs relatively quickly. You start to detrain within 1 week of reduction or cessation of exercise.

In order to combat the negative effects of detraining, it is best to maintain usual exercise intensity during exercise and strength workouts, when the number or length of workouts is decreased. In other words, if you can only train for 10 mins a day as opposed to the 20 mins you were used to, you have to reduce your rest periods and ensure that each repetition is performed with perfect form.

Try to exercise at least 2-3 times a week, this will keep your fitness levels fairly steady and minimize the effects of detraining. Strength gains can be maintained by including one or two strength exercises in each workout as opposed to waiting for a particular day to perform strength exercises.

Fitness is not a one off thing, it’s a lifestyle.

Getting that Ripped Body --Without a personal trainer!!!

What do the military and Olympic gymnasts and Captain America have in common?

They train and accomplish great things without the Bowflex, Ab roller, Total Gym or any other fancy equipment. For too long, the media has made the rules as to what fitness requires. We are daily bombarded with fancy fitness machinery and equipment that promise much and deliver very little, if they deliver at all.

The human body is very tough and can handle a lot of work and exercise; it is only limited by the strength of the mind that controls it. Therefore, to become your own personal trainer, you first have to prepare yourself mentally to achieve the physical results you desire.

 

The truth is, if you focus on achieving that fit, ripped body that you have always wanted, and you condition yourself mentally towards achieving that body, it is only a matter of time before your mental picture starts manifesting in the physical. 

Steps to preparing your mind for fitness

• Understand that the race is a marathon, not a sprint; start small and make minor changes in your lifestyle. Avoid overwhelming yourself and you stand a better chance of success. 
• Give yourself the chance to fail -- and learn from your failures; never expect too much for your body, you are only human. 
• Make sure you enjoy the journey; fitness should be fun. Don't stress yourself out trying to make a 180 degree change in your lifestyle
• Set a goal which you can reach within a particular period; now work towards it!!!

The benefits from exercising regularly are vast,  and the benefits are available to you wherever you are reading this, right now.  So without further ado, let's get you into shape.

Lets Get you into shape!!!

Total Body Workout

A total body workout routine is a great way to stay fit, healthy, and energetic.

The goal of total body workouts is to perform more work in less time. An individual can complete a total body workout in half the time of a traditional strength training workout.

Total body workouts are usually completed with circuits, total body exercises and functional training, or a combination of all three. Your fitness level, experience and free time will determine which total-body workout is right for you.

During total body workouts, individuals typically feel more out-of-breath than muscle burn. This feeling equates to more calories burned but less muscular growth. An ideal total-body workout program will incorporate strength-training and aerobic-training days.