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The Details - The Basics of Working Out Part 2By Ray Burton of Building Bodies Fitness The game of fitness is a physically demanding form of art. Where else in this world do you have the joy of showing off your art to everyone you meet day in and day out? Most artists would die for this kind of exposure! Just like any master of the arts, though, in order for you to fully express yourself through this beautiful art form, you first have to know how to use your tools! The tools of the fitness artist are subtle, but potent. Each small flick of the wrist, turn of the dumbbell and shaving of seconds can have a profound effect on your masterpiece. Here are some of the most basic tools you will have to familiarize yourself with in order to become the Michael Angelo of fitness. Sets and Reps - Sets consist of a number of reps done in a row. A rest of a minute or two usually follows a set. To do a set, you must first know what a rep is. The “rep” is short for repetition or how many times you raise and lower the weight in a row. So pick up a weight and put it down twelve times in a row and you have done one set of twelve reps! In order to keep track of your workouts in your journal (you do this right?) it is written like so: the number of sets comes first and then the number of reps. If you were reading a copy of a workout, and they wanted you to do three sets of twelve reps, it would look like this -- 3x12. Sometimes you may see this -- 3x10, 8, 6. Don't panic! This means you do three sets in total with one set of 10 reps, the next set at 8 reps and the last set at 6 reps. All sets are spaced out by the determined rest period that matches your goals. Now if you know you are doing 3x12 when you record it into your journal, you must include the weight so that you can remember it for the next time and improve upon it. From what we learned in the first article in this series we all know the importance of progressive resistance. Right? Put the set number first and then weight in front of the reps like so: 1. 100 x 12 2. 90 x 12 3. 80x12 Rest Periods - Now that you know how sets and reps work, lets get on to how long you should rest between sets. Rest periods depends largely on the reason you are training. The general rule of thumb for all-round fitness is to rest one minute between sets or until your breathing returns to almost normal. This allows most of your power to regenerate while still keeping up the pace of the workout to burn calories and keep the “training effect” going. If strength gains are your priority, then 2-5 minutes is best for full recovery of energy systems. If pure fitness and fat loss is your goal, a challenging workout consisting of rest periods in the 30-45 second range or even super setting (doing sets of different exercises back to back) will serve you best. Cardio Workout - How hard should you be working your body during your cardio sessions? If you are new to fitness take 220, minus your age and multiply it by 60%. That’s the recommended place to start. This number tells you what 60% of your maximum heart rate is. Let’s say you are 40 years of age: 220 - 40 = 180 (your max heart rate). 180 x 60% = 108. So there you are on the bike, pedalling away. Take your pulse for thirty seconds (or use the sensors on newer machines) and multiply it by two. If you come up with 115, slow it down a little and vice versa. Once you are sure that your body is up to speed and the 60% mark no longer poses a challenge, use the same calculation at a higher percentage to incrementally increase your intensity. Use 65%, then 70% and so on. For steady-state cardio, when fat loss is the goal, “most” of the science states that 70-75% is a great target range to stay in for 30 to 60 minutes. Higher percentages are useful when athletic performance and improvements in cardiac function are the goal. An excellent way to mix the best of both steady-state cardio and higher percentages of heart rate is to do interval training. This involves a warm-up of five minutes and then “sprinting” hard for 30 seconds to a minute and then resting for the same. Twenty to thirty minutes of interval training can be quite intense, so make sure you are ready for it! The up side is that you will burn a ton of calories and in half the time. So it is perfect if you’re running out of minutes in the day! When To Do Cardio Training - A common question is should your cardio be done before or after training? It takes approximately 16 minutes for your body to burn through your sugars while doing cardio before you hit fat burning mode. Since weight training is largely fueled by glycogen or sugars it would make sense to do your weight training first, fueled by your body’s preferred source of fuel, and do your cardio after so you can go straight into fat burning mode. Learn to use your tools to the best of your abilities and go create a masterpiece! Watch for the third part of this series, “You, Yourself And Irene - The Mental Game Of Fitness” in the July/Aug issue. Ray Burton is a fitness writer & owner of the Calgary personal training company Building Bodies Fitness. Visit www.buildingbodies.ca for guidance on all matters of fitness. |