Archive for March, 2009
Do You Have What it Takes to Lose Weight?
March 31st, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
Some people have been down the weight loss road so many times without success that they stop believing they are capable of losing weight and keeping it off. They feel like they just don’t have what it takes to lose weight.
But the truth is that inside you, you already have everything you need to succeed. You might find it hard to believe but you already possess the right body, the right mind, adequate knowledge, strength and determination to change. You simply need to bring these qualities to the surface so you can use them.
Now I am not saying that thinking different alone can allow you to lose weight, you certainly need a proper diet-and-exercise regimen; but if you rely only on the diet and exercise you will never achieve the life-long results you want. How can I be sure? Statistics show that 95% of dieters will gain the weight back. They worked hard; they followed the diet; they went to the gym; they lost the weight, and then gained it back. Why?
The answer is simple; they ate differently; they moved differently; but they never thought differently. They used willpower to make the change, but willpower never lasts a lifetime. To truly change course in your life, you must reprogram your mindset and start to believe in yourself and your ability to change. Without this belief change will not happen.
It is easy to tell if you are sabotaging your weight loss efforts. Simply take a day and tune in to the things you tell yourself about your weight, food, the bathroom scale, your reflection in the mirror and all other related things. Are you telling yourself negative things, berating yourself or calling yourself names? These are symptoms of a faulty weight mindset and they have the power to prevent you from losing weight.
When you use negative self-talk you cover up the qualities that help you succeed and prevent them from coming to the surface. You need to start telling yourself a new story, you need to start believing in yourself and your ability to change and build a high sense of self-worth. You do have what it takes to lose weight and by simply shifting your attention toward the positive qualities you already possess you will find losing weight can be a reality for you.
If you’ve tried diet and exercise but have had difficulty sticking with your plan then you will benefit from my FREE Report Think and Grow Thin! Get your free copy by visiting FREE HELP. Dr. Becky Gillaspy is the creator of Weight Loss without Worry helping you change your mindset and your weight in just 7 weeks.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1233062
Tags: exercise, Lose Weight
Obstacles to Avoid when Trying to Lose Weight During Menopause
March 30th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
Whether you’re out to lose the weight you’ve already gained or you’re a little ahead of the game and determined not to let a few pounds force you into a new wardrobe, 41 year old, Dara Torres winner of 3 Silver Medals in Beijing may inspire you to take the weight loss challenge.
As any athlete will tell you, identifying and preparing for obstacles is just as important as practice. From recognizing self sabotaging behavior to mastering the tricks of the trade, covering all of your bases will increase your chances of achieving your goals.
Self sabotaging behavior sometimes hides behind good intentions but more often lingers in the background disguised as “excuses.” We may unknowingly employ these behaviors for a variety of reasons – a cop out to avoid working harder or to simply deny ourselves something we think we don’t deserve. No matter what excuse you choose, self sabotaging thoughts and behaviors can easily destroy your best weight loss efforts.
Here are a few examples of self sabotaging thought patterns or behaviors to recognized and avoid:
1. The good intention excuse:
I don’t have time to think about myself right now. With worrying about my elderly mother’s health issues and driving her back and forth to her appointments, my needs will just have to wait.
2. The too busy excuse:
I can’t start an exercise regimen now in the middle of summer, it’s too hot and I don’t like going to the gym. I’ll wait until fall, and besides that, our new work project is going to start next week and I won’t really have the time to exercise.
3. The I don’t deserve it excuse:
That dress is adorable and it would look so cute on a petite figure. Oh well, it’s not my style anyway.
No matter how creative you are and well disguised your excuses can be any goal worth having will have its own obstacles. Here are a few obstacles to beware of:
1. Putting you first:
Make a commitment to taking care of yourself instead of always letting others come first. Women inherently nurture and are born caregivers. Young girls typically learn from role models how to put themselves last. Menopause is the ideal time for making changes and braking old habits. This can be a very liberating time in a woman’s life for accomplishing many postponed goals.
2. Accepting Mother Nature’s timetable:
Stop living in denial. Your metabolism inevitably will slow down as you age – it’s a fact of life. You will never be able to return to the careless dietary habits of your youth. You must change your lifestyle if you haven’t already. You must eat a healthy diet and use up more calories than you consume. It’s just that simple.
3. Using metabolism enhancing tricks of the trade:
Take advantage of scientifically proven methods to assist in speeding up your metabolism and burning calories more efficiently. By eating small low fat, low calorie meals (instead of 3 squares) every few hours you will boost your metabolic rate. In addition, exercising often (12-15 minute intense bursts) to burn fat and increase muscles mass will also speed up your metabolism because lean muscle burns calories more efficiently than fat flabby muscle.
4. Taking your daily supplements:
You are what you eat! Unfortunately it’s very difficult today to get all the nutrients your body needs. A hectic lifestyle supports fast food consumption and other nutrient deficient dietary habits. Our crops are grown in over-utilized nutrient deplete soils and if you live in an area of the country where sunshine is a rare commodity, you may be at risk for vitamin D and other dietary deficiencies. The healthier you are the better your weight loss results will be.
5. Reducing your stress and balancing your hormones to get rid of stubborn belly, butt, and thigh fat:
Thanks to our estrogen saturated environment women begin developing hormone imbalances such as Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) long before reaching menopause. In addition, chronic stress elevates the fat storing hormone cortisol. Cortisol increases your body’s production of estrogen which makes you gain weight in the female fat zones while at the same time reduces progesterone (the hormone that counteracts the effects of estrogen).
This deadly combination of estrogen elevating effects leads to what is known as Estrogen Dominance resulting in symptoms of PMS, peri-menopause (the 10 years or so before the end of menstruation), and menopause. These conditions are all the result of an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone, the two big players involved in a women’s menstrual cycle and more.
Stress reducing techniques such as yoga, mediation, a long walk, or even listening to music may seem trivial but can go a long way toward helping to shed those unwanted pounds.
No matter what strategy you use to accomplish your weight loss goals, research tells us that the most popular diet plans promote weight loss. However, long term weight management requires implementing a success strategy that includes a variety of supportive techniques.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1233139
Even at rest, muscles burn energy
March 29th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
Life is so unfair. If only we could do whatever we wanted without any penalty! Sadly, I can’t hit people just because they annoy me (although the idea is so tempting sometimes) and I can’t get all the things I want without paying for them. And then there’s my weight. It’s so unfair I can’t lose weight just by thinking it would be good to be slim again. Why must we always pay for what we want or do? Well, OK, life is unfair. You can’t spend money on eating lots of fatty food and avoid putting on extra pounds. It’s like playing a game. If you hit a ball with a tennis racquet or a baseball bat, it flies away from you. Cause and effect. So reversing that, if you save money by eating less, you lose weight. Fewer calories means fewer pounds of fat bulking out your skeleton. The best way to eat fewer calories is to eat smaller portions of healthier food. To speed up the process, you can use acomplia. Research has consistently shown that people using this drug in combination with a better diet lose up to 10% of their body weight. But there is another factor. Physical exercise. Some of you flinched when I used the dreaded words but you should relax. No-one expects you to go into training to run a marathon or climb a mountain. Just a little exercise makes a big difference. There is considerable research to prove that simple progressive resistance exercise for strength training builds up muscle and reduces fat. This produces a “double whammy” effect. First off, even though your body weight may not change immediately, replacing pounds of fat with lean muscle is good for you by improving blood circulation. Secondly, the more muscle you carry, the more energy your body burns at rest. Your metabolic rate automatically increases when introduce exercise into your overall regime to lose weight. So even when you are asleep or lying on that couch, you are burning more energy than before you began to exercise. Combine this with a healthier diet and acomplia, and your weight loss increases. So how much exercise are we talking about? Giving up about half-an-hour, three days a week will be sufficient to raise your metabolic rate so long as you keep it up. But just one or two weeks is not enough. It must be a regular commitment for months. You don’t have to go into a gym although the guidance of a trainer is useful and helps to keep you motivated. Working out on your own requires more willpower to push yourself a little bit harder each week. Making friends and working out with them will keep you going longer. Then it’s just down to you to keep eating smaller portions of healthier food and, if you want the fastest result, using acomplia as well.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1233652
Tags: muscles, muscles burn energy
Can Women Still Exercise While Raising A Family?
March 28th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
Exercise & Keeping Fit While Having A Family By Phil Beckett Copyright © Physique Concepts Inc.
Do you know how to quickly and easily adapt your eating and exercise habits so you can achieve the results you want and deserve, and still have the time for a great family life?
But first, understand this; Your health is the most valuable asset you have and if it goes south, you’ll inevitably spend everything you have, financially and emotionally, to get it back!
But intellectually understanding what should be done, and actually doing it, as it relates to exercise, are two very different things.
So please take a few minutes to carefully read this information, because having the RIGHT information is critical.
Exercise sure looks very easy to fit into your daily life, if you go by what you see in all the magazines, ads and television programs out there, doesn’t it?
These ads are the same everywhere you look. Women going to the gym for their daily workout. Then leaving feeling great and ready to tackle the rest of the day.
If you go by this, it would seem that it’s extremely easy to fit into the every day life of all women.
But is this “vision” of exercise, reality for you and most other women, especially if you have a family?
Of course not.
It’s these same magazines, ads etc that never tell you about exercise and family life; looking after an ill child or children at home, having to change 20 diapers a day (and in the middle of the night), making meals for your entire family, etc.
I could go on forever listing all the things we as parents have to do, and being a parent of a small child I know first hand the difficulties that can arise.
I’ve been a fitness professional for over 14 years, and even I find it difficult at times.
It’s even worse when you have older children who have after school activities as well as a baby at home; both of my sisters are in this situation.
As I mentioned to you earlier, exercise is essential for a healthy life. There are many ways that you can incorporate it into your life even if you think you can’t.
Exercise on a repeated basis, even moderate exercise like going for a walk, walking up stairs instead of taking an elevator, parking your car at the far end of the parking lot when shopping, etc. will help you to improve your fitness and reduce your risk of health problems like heart disease.
Keep in mind to see any health benefits you have to do this type of exercise on a regular basis several times a week.
You might be saying to yourself that this may be fine for health reasons, but what if you want to see greater benefits?
Like many women who are raising a family, because of all the ads you see and exercise magazines you read, you may have difficulty with the commitment it appears to take to see the results you want.
You may also be unable to understand the importance of progression and versatility, and lack the personal accountability to achieve your goals, which inevitably leads to eliminating exercise all together.
Why? Three reasons: 1. Bad information; 2. It’s easy to cheat yourself… 3. No guidance.
If you prepare your exercise sessions and program sensibly, help your family and friends to understand why you want to and need to exercise, and look at it in a new light yourself, you can easily eliminate any roadblocks that you may have.
Exercise With Your Family
When you include family activities that can be used as exercise, you will create a strong family commitment and support system. You can use the following exercise guidelines to make exercise fun for you and your family, and see some actual physical results.
- Go for daily walks with your entire family. If your children are old enough to ride a bike or rollerblade, let them while you walk, jog, ride a bike or rollerblade yourself; – Get a baby jogger. You don’t have to run or jog; walking at a fast pace will
You know that it’s good for you, so make it a part of your every day routine. You can effectively exercise while keeping up with your other everyday-jobs.
Think about your current health and fitness situation, and imagine where you’ll be very soon if you use just some of the exercise tips mentioned.
The best way to have a stress free family life, good health and the body you desire, is through consistent exercise.
But It’s Important To Remember…
You must exercise on a regular basis if you are to notice any positive results.
Whether it’s using some of the methods mentioned here or taking it a step further and buying some home exercise equipment or going to the gym to have a short but very productive exercise session, you must make an effort to do it consistently.
You are your own best guide to what is right for you when it comes to exercise.
Through exercise you’ll receive many different health benefits, and a terrific family life can also be added to that list.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=8955
What Can I Learn About Womens Health And Fitness Training Options?
March 27th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. 1 Comment
There are many different options for women and women’s fitness training that are available. A lot depends on what your fitness goals are. This will also encompass how long you are giving yourself or have to get into shape.
How much weight you are looking to lose and if you are looking just to tone up or lose weight too. But with all the options that are available for women’s fitness training, it should be fairly easy to find one that will suit your personal needs.
One option that women tend to really like for women’s fitness training are aerobics classes. Your local gym or sometimes a YMCA center usually offers these. These are great for losing weight, because the fat burns off a lot easier with aerobics. However if you are looking to tone up you will need to add some weight training to the mix as well.
Your best bet is to find a class that you can enjoy and that will work for you. A lot of the classes will offer lower impact and higher impact varieties, so choose which one would be easier for you. All in all there are a pretty wide variety of classes to choose from and you are bound to find one that will work for you and your fitness goals and needs.
Something else that is a good option for women’s fitness training is a gym. In fact there are even all women’s gyms that are out there, if you prefer. This can help you with your confidence, not having to worry about men being around and such.
This is also great because a lot of the exercises and equipment are geared specifically towards women and their needs. You may also want to choose a gym that will allow you take advantage of a personal trainer. This can help you get a better workout that is just for your needs.
Yet another option for women’s fitness training is purchasing home gym equipment. This can be a little expensive but worth it in the long run. This is mostly for those who don’t have the time to get out to a gym on a regular basis. Home gyms are also a good option for those who don’t feel comfortable working out in front of other people. There are many good ones out there and even some that may be geared specifically towards women and their personal workout needs.
When it comes to women’s fitness training there are definitely a few options out there to choose from. Once again it is really up to you which one will work best for your fitness goals and needs. You will also need to take into consideration your budget and time you have to spend on a workout routine. How fast you have to get into shape will also effect your decision as well. But whichever option you choose you are well on your way to a healthier and happier life.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=384363
Tags: Fitness Training, Health And Fitness Training, Womens Health And Fitness Training
Exercise and Womens Weight Loss
March 26th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. 1 Comment
My wife exploded out of the den last week and said she finally knows how to fit weight loss into her busy schedule. I like any good husband said, “Honey what are you talking about, you are fine the way you are”. Hey. I am not going to slip up and be ridden to the couch for a week. Womens weight loss can be a touchy subject you know.
She told me she found this guide “The Advanced Guide to Fast Weight Loss for Busy Women” and she had just purchased it and read over it’s content. A womens weight loss program must be guided by someone who has been there and done that, a mentor so to speak.She was suprised not to find another gimmicky product, but that actually works. She started using the methods inside and I could notice the little flap of arm fat around her triceps had begun disappearing. Her butt started to get that firm look, plus it felt like it had firmed up.
She said she learned how to speed up your metabolism, learned a 20 second technique to help flatten her stomach. I thought that was pretty cool, but I hoped she wouldn’t become obsessive about her womens weight loss.
Society and especially Hollywood the ultra thin model look. I quite frankly cannot stand that look. I like women who have some curves. Womens weight loss can be taken to extremes and I did not want my wife turning into a waifer like model.
I told her she might want to think about joining a gym and adding some lean muscle mass to her womens weight loss program. She didn’t even yell at me when I suggested joining a gym. Phew, thank goodness for that.
Womens weight loss progams and excercise combined will speed up a womens weight loss, plus the added benefits of feeling better and looking better. My wife really enjoyed the benefits she receieved from her womens weight loss program. Now, we will see just how long she stays with that program.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=562892
Tags: exercise, Exercise and Womens Weight Loss, Womens Weight Loss
The Real Facts On Female Bodybuilding
March 25th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
You should first know that no amount of physical activity can give you your desired body if it is not coupled with bodybuilding nutrition and a total body workout. Actually, it is the bodybuilding nutrition that is the most vital factor in building the best body.
Female Bodybuilding Myth #1 – Weightlifting makes you look bulky.
Due to the fact that women do not and cannot naturally produce as much testosterone (one of the main hormones responsible for increasing muscle size) as males do, it is impossible for a woman to gain huge amounts of muscle mass. Unfortunately, the image that may come to your mind is that of professional female bodybuilders. Most of these women, unfortunately, use anabolic steroids (synthetic testosterone) along with other drugs in order to achieve that high degree of muscularity.
In addition, most also have good genetics coupled with an unbelievable work ethic that enable them to gain muscle quickly when they spend hours in the gym lifting very heavy weights. Believe me when I say that they do not look like that by accident. Women who conduct weight training without the use of steroids get the firm and fit cellulite-free looking body that you see in most fitness/figure shows these days.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #2 – Exercise increases your chest size.
Sorry girls. Womens breasts are composed mostly of fatty tissue. Therefore, it is impossible to increase breast size through weight training. As a matter of fact, if you go below 12 percent body fat (which I do not recommend doing), your breast size will decrease. Weight training does increase the size of the back, so this misconception probably comes from confusing an increase in back size with an increase in cup size. The only way to increase your breast size is by gaining fat or getting breast implants
Womens Weight Training Myth #3 – Weight training makes you stiff and musclebound.
If you perform all exercises through their full range of motion, flexibility will increase. Exercises like flyes, stiff-legged deadlifts, dumbbell presses, and chin-ups stretch the muscle in the bottom range of the movement. Therefore, by performing these exercises correctly, your stretching capabilities will increase.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #4 – If you stop weight training your muscles turn into fat.
This is like saying that gold can turn into brass. Fat and muscle are two completely different types of human tissue. What happens many times is that when people decide to go off their weight training programs they start losing muscle due to inactivity (use it or lose it) and they also usually drop the diet as well. Therefore bad eating habits combined with the fact that their metabolism is lower due to inactivity, and lower degrees of muscle mass, give the impression that the subjects muscle is being turned into fat while in reality what is happening is that muscle is being lost and fat is being accumulated.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #5 – Weight training turns fat into muscle.
More alchemy. This is the equivalent of saying that you can turn any metal into gold; don’t we wish! The way a body transformation occurs is by gaining muscle through weight training and losing fat through aerobics and diet simultaneously. Again, muscle and fat are very different types of tissue. We cannot turn one into the other.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #6 – As long as you exercise you can eat anything that you want.
How I wish this were true also! However, this could not be further from the truth. Metabolism for an individual is determined by how many calories we burn while we exercise and while we rest. If we eat more calories than we burn on a consistent basis, our bodies will accumulate these extra calories as fat regardless of the amount of exercise that we do. The myth may have been started by people with such high metabolic rates that no matter how much they eat or what they eat, they rarely meet or exceed the amount of calories that they burn in one day unless they put their mind into reaching that goal. Therefore, their weight either remains stable or goes down.
Women’s Weight Training Myth #7 – Women only need to do cardio and if they decide to lift weights, they should be very light.
First of all, if you only did cardio then muscle and fat would be burned for fuel. One needs to do weights in order to get the muscle building machine going and thus prevent any loss of muscle tissue. Women that only concentrate on cardio will have a very hard time achieving the look that they want. As far as the lifting of very light weights, this is just more nonsense. Muscle responds to resistance and if the resistance is too light, then there will be no reason for the body to change.
Women Should Train Hard Myth #8 I have trained with girls that train as hard as I do and they look nothing but feminine. If you want to look great, don’t be afraid to pick up the weights and lift hard!
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=900246
Tags: Bodybuilding, Female Bodybuilding, Real Facts On Female Bodybuilding
Women’s Health: Shape up for Summer! Part 2 of 2 Parts
March 24th, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
Diets are not fun for anyone not the person who’s on the diet or the people around them who have to deal with those sad looks and their own guilt when they take another bite of that chocolate mousse that the dieter must deny herself. A sensible diet is one you can adapt as a lifestyle, and easily maintain as a lifestyle. It’s not just about losing weight (though weight maintenance is important to a woman’s health). It’s about getting fit and staying that way.
There are specific areas you should focus on when working on losing weight:
* Get some exercise. Walking is the easiest exercise, and one of the healthiest. Taking a brisk half-hour walk daily can aid tremendously in weight management by burning off unwanted pounds.
* Pay attention to what you eat, and when. Skipping meals does not help you lose weight it just makes you grouchy when your blood sugar level crashes. Be willing to leave a few bites on the plate ‘for the angels,’ as Dolly Parton puts it.
* Make sure you have enough fiber, and drink plenty of water. These two things are vital to keeping your elimination of wastes in motion when you’re working to lose weight.
* Take the right supplements. There are a number of nutritional supplements that can aid in weight loss and improve women’s health in general in the process.
In Part 1, we covered the benefits of green tea and weight loss. Following are a number of other supplements that you can easily fit into your diet, that will help you accomplish your weight-loss goals:
* Fiber supplements are a great idea if you aren’t sure whether your usual diet provides enough fiber to keep your intestines functioning optimally.
* Fucoxanthin is the active ingredient in brown seaweed (used in miso soup) that helps the body burn off fat stored in the abdomen. As many women tend to build up fat deposits in this area, fucoxathin as a supplement can be helpful. It is also abdominal fat that increases a woman’s risk of heart attack, and is a serious threat to women’s health.
* Conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, is an essential fatty acid that comes only from dairy or meat products, or supplements. Like fucoxanthin, it helps to burn off abdominal fat. Initial studies also indicate that it may be of benefit in cancer prevention.
* Hoodia gordonii, a popular appetite suppressant with no known side effects, is generally available in pill or liquid form, or in compounds with other nutritional and weight-loss products.
* Apple cider vinegar is an old home remedy for everything from flatulence to bad breath. Now researchers are discovering that grandma knew what she was doing. Cider vinegar added to your daily diet (either mixed with water or as a supplement) can help melt the pounds off. Just ask grandma.
If your schedule doesn’t accommodate working out at the gym daily, supplement your diet with those products that will help you keep trim and fit — it’s a vital part of women’s health.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=950139
Tags: Health, Shape up for Summer, Women's Health
Womens Body Building Strategies
March 23rd, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
Womens body building strategies are hard to fine, but I’m going to share a bunch that I’ve learned in my time training. I didn’t have any one to coach me when I started out because it wasn’t socially acceptable to have a female doing this. I learned most of what I know today from trial and error. I don’t recommend this type of training because it takes too much time. I’m going to give you the correct methods for having success in this sport.
You’re going to have to do everything right in the gym to maximize your results. Most people, surprisingly, do the wrong things in the gym. They focus all their energy on the things that don’t produce much in the way of results. I found an easy solution to this problem. Always do the most compound exercises first. If you’re unfamiliar with this, it’s basically the exercises that work huge portions of the body like squats and deadlifts. Always do these first and if you have any energy left over, you can do those smaller ones.
A stellar diet is going to give you stellar results. Remember, muscles don’t just build because you lift weights, they grow because you have the proper nutrients coming into the body to feed them. Most people end their body building when they leave the gym. The fact is that you need to have a full time job in the kitchen, feeding your body correctly.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1049946
Tags: Body Building, Body Building Strategies, Womens Body Building Strategies
Periodization – The key to long term exercise success
March 22nd, 2009 by Winston Salem, under winston salem gyms. No Comments
Periodization
Periodization is the key to exercise and used by every professional athlete the world over. Yet almost no one outside of this circle has heard of it. The science of periodization was developed in the USSR and former eastern block countries as a system to design exercise and training programmes for their athletes.
The principles are based on the fundamental way that the body responds to exercise. The majority of my work is in personal training in London (Clapham). Most my personal training clients are not athletes but as we all respond similarly to exercise, the principles must be used for everyone’s training programmes and not just that of the elite athletes.
The need for periodization
If you are some one who has embarked on an exercise routine and really enjoyed it at first, then found that you became bored with it and simply stopped doing it, or have been training hard but stopped making improvements, you have been a participant in an example of how the theory of adaptation works, and this was the very reason Periodization was designed.
Periodization is the all encompassing theory of how to combine the theory of adaptation, progressive overload, diminishing returns, rest and recovery, into one.
What it means for you is, if applied correctly, you will make the greatest gains ever that you have had from the gym, while enjoying it, staying clear from injury and keeping fresh mentally and physically. Before looking at the theory, lets quickly examine the principles behind exercise.
Theory of adaptation
This states that when a new exercise stimulus is given to the body e.g. going for a 10 minute jog, doing level 7 instead of 4, lifting 60 kg etc the body is shocked by what it experiences and reacts by improving itself so it can cope with the stimulus if it is encountered again in the future.
The body changes the physical ability that was stressed during the exercise e.g. in response to jogging, increases occur in aerobic power; through lifting an 80kg weight, the body adapts by increasing strength and muscle size. This response to exercise is the underlying theory used in designing exercise programs.
Once the body has become accustomed to the stimulus, it no longer increases the physical ability in response to that exercise routine. It is said to have reached a plateau. This is an undesirable stage as your fitness attributes are no longer improving despite your efforts e.g. even though it hurts to do the exercise you still end up lifting the same weight, or completing the run in the same time. It happens because the body feels it can handle the exercise stimulus.
It is at this point you will become bored with the training routine and at a future point along the curve you will either stop doing your exercise (if you do not love exercise) or carry on but make few improvements
Progressive Overload
To avoid reaching a plateau, a technique called progressive overload is used. The theory works by continually giving the body a progressively more difficult and challenging exercise stimulus. The more demanding stimulus makes the body continually respond by increasing the attributes stressed. The difficulty is increased through alterations of the training variables within an exercise program, e.g. increasing the weight, decreasing rest, increasing number of repetitions etc.
Periodization techniques
Periodization is the theory and principles of how to structure your training programme so improvements are made month to month and year to year while avoiding over-training and injuries. The theory sees the year being divided up into different periods of time (phases) where unique training routines can be used that are different from one phase to the next. This ensures the principles outlined above can be adhered to.
The basic principles are very simple to use. Professional athletes may use a highly sophisticated form but everyone should be using it to some degree. There are different levels that you can apply to your training programmes
Phases
Under periodization your year is divided into phases. Each phase has a different focus and training programme to achieve. As well as these, planned periods of rest are also incorporated, these can be timed to coincide with holidays, work demands and more. Using phases during the training year is the key to getting the most out of your exercise routine.
Training Variables
This relates to the way you change the actual variable of how you do your exercise routine. These refer to the amount of exercise you perform (volume), the difficulty of exercise you perform, compared to your maximum (intensity), the type of exercise you do (specificity) and rest taken (density).
Each of these variables can be applied to the four areas of exercise, aerobic, resistance, core and flexibility training.
For example, imagine a resistance exercise, you could do:
2 sets of 15 reps (volume) using 10 KG (intensity) with 30 seconds rest (density) of a squat exercise. (Specificity) or could change to 2 sets of 5 reps (less volume), with weight 25kg (higher intensity) with 1 minute rest (lower density) of the squat exercise (same specificity).
Please do not be confused by this, the main point is that changing what you do in the exercise is the most important thing in fitness training. When even the basic principles are grasped it will revolutionize your training programme.
Periodization is the key element to teaching exercise. For effective results it must be backed up with correct nutrition, for this you should use metabolic typing
Ben Wilson BSc (Hons) CSCS NSCA-CPT CMTA EFT Dip On line metabolic typing, fitness training and emotional freedom technique (EFT) Rugby fitness training information and coaching<a>
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=786568
Tags: exercise, long term exercise, long term exercise success