HOW TO LIFT WEIGHT FOR MAXIMUM DEFINITION

A lot of people want to change their bodies, we all want to burn fat, get lean and remain healthy. However, this cannot be achieced merely by jumping on the treadmill and running till kingdom come.

If you really want to lose weight and gain quality muscle, you need to tone down on the treadmill and hit the weights (and I'm not talking about those itty bitty weights). To build quality muscle, you need to use weights which are at least 25% of your body weight. This means that if you weigh 100kg, you should lift at least 25kg in weight.

 

Weight training helps speed up your metabolism, burning more calories than if you merely performed cardio. It also strengthens your bones, reducing the possibility of contracting osteoporosis in the long term. It also improves your coordination and balance, improving your strength and muscular endurance.

 

In order to build definition, you need to lift weights that weigh approximately half your one rep maximum ( This is the amount of weight which you cannot lift more than once). Thus if your one rep max is 90kg, then you need to lift about 45 kg to define your muscles.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends 8-12 reps for muscular strength and 10-15 reps for muscular endurance. They also recommend training each muscle group 2 to 3 times a week. But, the number of times you lift each week will depend on your training method. In order for muscles to repair and grow, you'll need about 48 hours of rest between workout sessions. If you're training at a high intensity, take a longer rest. Perform at least 1 set of each exercise to fatigue although you'll find that most people perform about 2-3 sets of each exercise.

 

 

INTENSITY: THE KEY TO FITNESS SUCCESS

A gym peeve of mine is seeing people working out with too little intensity (intensity refers to how hard you work). I often see gym goers lifting far less weight than they should be working with, reading novels, and carrying out animated conversations during their workouts. As a general rule, if you can carry on a conversation whilst you are working out, then you are not working at the appropriate intensity. You should feel like your muscles have been thoroughly worked out, but you should not feel so utterly exhausted that you can't do anything else after the workout.

 

 

You can improve your workout intensity by working out for shorter periods of time whilst increasing weights and distance, cross-training, working out on an incline bench, and maximizing your body weight while working out, by using a weighted vest or ankle weights.

 

Research has shown that the higher the intensity, the more calories you burn, not only while exercising, but after you leave the gym, when your body benefits from an“after-burn” mode. Research also indicates that strenuous exercise blunts your appetite after workouts more effectively than longer sessions of easy exercise do.

 

By increasing the intensity of your workouts, you save time and improve your fitness, helping you to achieve and exceed your fitness goals much faster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARE YOU WASTING YOUR TIME????

IT IS an all too familiar warm-up routine for most gym-goers.

Slip on your trainers, stretch off  your muscles … then  choose your music, untangle your headphones, check your messages and make sure your water bottle is full.

But fitness fans will waste 21 minutes of each hour on activities that simply burn up time rather than calories, a survey has found.

Chatting and adjusting clothes are other popular procrastination tactics which help the typical gym member waste around 35 per cent of each visit - spending only 39 minutes an hour actually exercising.

The poll found that up to 55 per cent of gym members fiddle with their phone or iPod to work out the music to go with their session.

30 per cent of regulars take as long as ten minutes to sort out their headphones, according to the survey of 1000 adults.

Up to a third (32 per cent) admit they regularly interrupt their routines to chat to other gym-goers.

Other time-wasting habits to emerge from the study include the constant refilling of water bottles, adjusting clothes and trainers and checking phones.

Kevin Yates of fitness chain Harpers, which carried out the survey, said: "Your time at the gym shouldn't be spent untangling headphones, choosing music or checking your phone, and we hope this makes gym-goers more aware of the time they spend exercising and the time they spend not exercising."

 

 

STOP SOCIALIZING AND START EXERCISING

I fall into this trap from time to time. I carry out some sets with maximum intensity, and in the process of taking a short break I strike up a discussion with a friend or acquaintance. Within a short time the 'short' discussion becomes an hour long conversation. At the end of the session, I leave the gym feeling distinctly unfulfilled and knowing that I could have achieved much more with the time I spent in the gym that day.

 

 

However, I have been able to combat the temptation of socialising during my workout time by following these simple steps.

 

1. I plan out my workout beforehand and I ensure that I meet every limit set in my workout plan. This prevents me from wasting time

 

2. Get to the gym very early, before the time wasters start arriving.

 

3. Cut down on classes if they are not HIIT based. Many classes involve lengthy warm up and cool down sessions which eat into your training time.

 

4. Get yourself a nice personal music player with your favourite tracks. Once you pop on your headphones, your concentration should be multiplied.

 

By following these steps, your training time will be maximised and you'll see results much faster than before.

SWEATING IS NOT WEIGHT LOSS

 

So you've spent hours in the gym, counted the calories, and taken all the classes from Aerobics to Zumba, but everytime you climb the scale your weight remains the same.

 

So what could possibly be wrong?

 

 

Many people go into the gym and make several fundamental mistakes which prevent them from achieving their fitness goals. This swiftly demotivates the individual, causing them to reduce their gym attendance, and in most cases they stop attending the gym altogether.

 

I see lots of people make the mistake of spending an inordinate amount of their workout session going from one cardio machine to the other. Many people equate sweating with weight loss. Sweating just means you have a hyperactive internal system,” he says. “It doesn’t have a single thing to do with losing weight, or with burning calories, which is how much work you do. Also, sweating is all water weight --which is all replaced once you take in liquid again. It doesn’t mean anything.”

 

Maintaining a healthy bodyweight is a function of several lifestyle decisions, not merely jumping on the cardio machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 



DOES A WORKOUT GIVE YOU A BAD HAIR DAY?

 

Apparently it does. and it's worse for women of African origin.

 

A study conducted by the Center for African American Health and the University of Colorado School of Medicine's Center for Women's Health Research finds that African American women whose hairstyle is affected by perspiration may avoid physical activity altogether. Prior studies have found that between 29 percent and 48 percent of African American women say that their hairstyle was a factor in deciding whether or not to exercise. Some women involved in the study who experience hairstyle barriers to physical activity explained that it can take too much time or money to restyle their hair after exercise that causes perspiration.

 

Hair issues may be reduced by using "low-maintenance" hairstyles such as wearing braids or ponytails. Researchers are looking for ways to reduce the effects of pespiration on the hair.

 

 

 

 

TOP 25 MOTIVATIONAL FITNESS QUOTES

1. Strive for progress, not perfection.
-Unknown

 

2. You want me to do something... tell me I can't do it.
-Maya Angelou

 

3. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
-Wayne Gretzky

 

4. If you don’t make mistakes, you aren’t really trying.
-Unknown

 

5. You live longer once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted.
-Ruth E. Renkl

 

6. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
-Mahatma Gandhi

 

7. Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.
-Norman R. Augustine

 

8. I'd rather be a failure at something I enjoy than a success at something I hate.
-George Burns

 

9. Energy and persistence conquer all things.
-Benjamin Franklin

 

10. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

11. No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.
-Aesop

12. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
-Albert Einstein

 

13. Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.
-Lou Holtz

 

14. Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
-Jim Ryan

 

15. I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
-Michael Jordan

 

16. Fear is what stops you... courages is what keeps you going.
-Unknown

 

17. The finish line is just the beginning of a whole new race.
-Unknown

 

18. The difference between a goal and a dream is a deadline.
-Steve Smith

 

19. Just do it.™ -Nike

 

20. In seeking happiness for others, you find it for yourself.
-Anonymous

 

21. The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
-Mark Twain

 

22. It's not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.
-Anonymous

 

23. Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.
-Oprah Winfrey

 

24. It's never too late to become what you might have been.
-George Eliot

 

25. Clear your mind of can’t.
-Samuel Johnson