Light cardio is the perfect way to begin an exercise program because it helps raise your heart rate and burn calories at a faster rate. After about 10-20minutes of cardio you will be ready to begin your strength training and muscle building exercises to begin burning that excess fat.
It is important to clear up some common misconceptions right now regarding strength and muscle training. Many women believe that muscle toning and strength training is something to avoid because it will make them big and bulky, this is not true.
Women do not have the physical capacity to become big and bulky unless performance enhancing drugs are used. Also, it is important to note that working to build muscle is the most efficient way to increase your metabolism all day, every day, thus enabling you to burn fat 24 hours per day.
Whereas the fat burning effects of light to moderate cardio are apparent while the exercise is being performed, the fat burning effects of weight lifting and anaerobic type exercises can last 24-72 hours after your workout!
Choosing and creating your own muscle building training regime can be difficult in the beginning; it can be hard to know where to start. First, it is important to know that when it comes to building muscle you have to give your body sufficient rest in between workouts; nothing more can be accomplished by wearing out your muscles and working out each and everyday. This resting period can be anywhere from 24-48 hours after an intense workout and will vary based upon your exercise intensity.
With that being said, many fitness professionals choose to work out a different muscle group each time they visit the gym. By setting up a strict schedule you can cover each and every muscle group in turn and repeat this cycle each week. A more efficient approach however is to use total body movements such as squats, deadlifts, pull-ups/pull-downs, and various presses.
These exercises are proven to be the key body transforming movements and work your body in ways to accomplish more than just athletic prowess. These movements will actually increase your bodies capacity to burn fat even when you are not exercising!
No matter what you think your problem areas are, you still want to cover your entire body and every muscle group. Whether you choose to start with your legs or arms or glutes does not matter as long as everything gets covered during a week of working out. Let's start with your abs.
When it comes to achieving great abs, consistency is very important. You will be amazed just how much ground you can lose by skipping your abdominal routine for only a week. With that being said, your abs should be worked on at least 2-3 times a week.
Whether you choose to do crunches, sit-ups or hanging abdominal exercises the best way to start for beginners is to do 1-3 sets of 12 repetitions and then work your way up from there. Many people prefer to use the stability ball when it comes to abdominal workouts to put less pressure on their backs, this is your choice, and the results are arguably the same. Essentially, if you are a beginner, any exercise will do the trick!
Your arms and back can be done together or on a different workout day. For many people their backs can be quite sensitive and even problematic and by working out the back muscles you can lessen the occurrences of back pain. Your goal should be to both lengthen and strengthen the muscle groups in both the upper and lower back.
You will find your gym facility will have back related weight training machines but if you are working out from home you can choose to conduct bodyweight exercises such as leg lifts and back extension type exercises.
Your butt, hips and thighs can be grouped together and there are many different exercises for these muscles groups which allow you to constantly switch up your routine if you begin to become bored with it. Squats and lunges are perhaps the best exercises that work the major muscle groups of the legs.
You can choose to use extra weights for more resistance but this is not necessary for beginners. Simply conduct 2-3 sets of 12-25 repetitions and feel free to escalate as your body progresses. If you do have a gym membership you can consider adding weights to your squat and lunge movements to make them more difficult.
Starting off slow is always the best way to go and be sure to add some type of progression to increase the intensity of your workouts as you become stronger. Remember, consistency is the key. Just visualize yourself adding more calorie burning muscle mass to your body and you will be on your way to using this powerful concept of muscle building to elevate your weight loss to an entirely new level!
When embarking upon a weight loss journey, there will be hills to climb and plateaus to cross. Some days the scale will not be your friend and others you will want to fall on the floor and kiss that small piece of electronic equipment. The key to kissing the scale everyday during your weight loss adventure is the concept of muscle confusion.
Utilized by bodybuilders, muscle confusion centers on the concept of keeping the muscles guessing all the time in order to see the greatest gains. Everyone who is trying a new weight loss plan, will know the importance of exercise in the plan. Exercise burns calories and creating negative calories means weight loss; the ultimate goal of a weight loss program.
Exercise regimes often become stale after only a week or so. The body knows well how to adjust to the current activity being performed everyday and when the body learns and adjusts, the exercise just does not provide the higher levels of calorie burn needed to continue to lose weight. Imagine a retail manager that walks 30,000 to 40,000 steps a day. Those steps are not counted as exercise, they are simply a normal activity for that person body. The same happens with exercise. Here in lies the beauty of muscle confusion.
When starting an exercise plan, a white board is the perfect tool to have. Not the treadmill or the elliptical, a white board or dry erase board. On this board you will write down 20 different exercise activities. Each day, when the time comes to exercise you will choose a different exercise. The key is to use the muscles of the body every day, but in different ways than the day or the week before. Constantly changing the angle you are working the muscles will increase calorie burn and muscle building.
When the muscle is constantly confused, it never adjusts the activities and thus consistently provides a higher calorie burn and a steadily decreasing number on the scale. Muscle confusion will work with every style of workout. Cardio, weight lifting, and even more passive exercise choices like vigorous housework or hop scotch can be utilized to keep those muscle totally oblivious to what is going on.
Once the list of 20 exercises has been depleted, do not start out at the top. Erase the board and write a new fresh list of exercises. These exercises can be either one activity done over an extended period of time or several activities broken up throughout the time you have chosen to exercise for the day. No matter how you go about completing your daily burn, as long as the muscles are confused, the calories burned will remain higher.
Weight loss is all about burning more calories than consumed. While exercise in general is always beneficial for the body, the concept of muscle confusion is the most effective way to prolong those high calorie burns for an indefinite period of time. Burn more, burn longer and keep that body guessing with the concept of muscle confusion for weight loss.
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