Posts tagged: fitness
…regarding “RECOVERY.”
Be careful if you are one to work out hard at the gym every single day of the week.
1. Imagine your output being measured in bytes.
2. Now imagine an average workout being equivalent to a song file (megabytes).
3. Now imagine a heavy workout being equivalent to a movie file (gigabytes).
If you were to download a movie, you’d have to wait a few hours and for a song file, maybe a minute or 2. If you were to overlap downloads, the quality of the speed decreases, right?
In exercise terms, make sure to give your body enough energy for output AND make sure not to compromise REST. It’s nice to hit the gym hard a lot because it shows gains in endurance, but it is necessary to give the body a break to shift into muscle building/repair. “Queuing your metabolic needs” will result in a less than efficient distribution of energy allotted for recovery and basic metabolic needs.
Now if all you’re doing is “downloading picture files (kilobytes)” all week, then go crazy… weirdo.
I always hear guys say, “I do sets of 10” and girls say, “I do sets of 20.” It’s a stereotype just like the one about girls shying away heavy weight to avoid “bulking up.”
Here’s a very basic breakdown of how to determine your workout rep plan:
- Higher reps will tone/define your muscle
- Lower reps will increase strength
- Sets of 10 will maintain your muscle
- Do the most weight you can according to the number of reps where you can do about 10-20%, of the total reps extra, but nothing more than that. (If you can do more, it’s too light)
EXAMPLES:
I plan to increase my strength gains. Here’s what I do.
Cycle from
- 5sets of 5reps (5x5);
- 5set of 3 (5x3); and
- 4sets, 1 set of 8reps, 2sets of 6reps and 1 last set of 4reps (4x8/6/6/4)
- NOTE: Remember to adjust weights accordingly.
I want to tighten of my muscles. Here’s what I do.
- 4sets of 12-15reps (4x12-15);
- “Burnouts” after all my LOW REP sets are done with a weight I can hit 12-15 times
NOTE: “Burning out” means to do as many reps as you can until your muscles fail.
I want to maintain my muscle. Here’s what I do.
- 2set of 10reps (2x10)
NOTE: Due to the low amount of sets, you can do an exercise 2-3 times a week without rest.
MAIN POINT
-Men and women benefit from both low and high rep workouts. It’s all about what shape and what functionality you want your body to achieve. Don’t focus too much on what magazine or website articles tell you in their “celeb” workout plans. As long as you can look at your body and see what needs work, pick and choose the associated exercises and apply these simple rep rules. Otherwise you’re just wasting your time doing someone else’s workout.
FINAL NOTE: Remember to eat well and make sure you understand what each exercise targets. Use the concept of reps/sets and modify it for your body. Sometimes it’s just genetics!
Any questions?
“Fitness”
You ever notice that some people are just “naturally” thin and some are “naturally” hella fat? Pues…
Maybe you’re an ECTOMORPH?
- Thin frame, long limbs and lean muscle mass
- Hard to gain/keep muscle aka “HARDGAINER”
- Flat chest and small shoulders
Maybe you’re a MESOMORPH?
- Broad shoulders, well-defined aka “hard body”
- Strong and Athletic
- Gain or lose muscle/fat fairly reasonably
Maybe you’re an ENDOMORPH?
- Larger frame, wide-waisted aka “stocky”
- Stronger lower body
- Gain muscle/fat easily
Or maybe you’re a combination of 2 kinds? Regardless, keep the terms in mind when addressing future workout plans. And btw, these pictures and descriptions are very exaggerated, but I’m sure you can honestly associate with at least one if not two somatotypes.
I get so tired of hearing the same ol’ thang.
“I don’t lift so heavy because I don’t want to get BIG.”
The point: Your body builds with what you give it.
If you overeat, you tend to gain weight, correct? If you starve yourself, you lose weight (in an unhealthy way), correct?
So if you eat decently healthy according to a person who weighs around 140 lbs, then you will stay around 140 lbs. So if you work out and STILL EAT THE SAME WAY CONSISTENTLY, certain things could happen:
-You could lose weight from burning calories, thus, altering the total amount of calories taken in
-You could gain weight (maybe a pound in a week or two) in muscle by doing work and pumping iron (also at the same time lose more than a pound from calories burned)
-You might stay the same weight, but look more toned and/or feel healthier and stronger
To put simply, if you don’t wanna get too “big” then watch how much you eat.
All the women I talk to seem to agree with the same argument:
“I don’t like to lift weights because I don’t want to get too big.”
Weight lifting will help shape the body and tone muscles, making them more dense. Neglecting to do so and focusing solely on cardio will leave you thinner, maybe, but flabby. If the weights seem too light, don’t be afraid to push more.
The only thing I will say is, if you’ve never really lifted weights, the weights you would use to start weight training would be too light to make you “buff.”
The reason why guys bulk up is because they lift weight at a higher ratio according to their body weight and they eat a lot more.
If you’re not yet convinced, take your left hand and reach around your right arm and squeeze your right tricep. Squishy, right? I rest my case.
Any questions?
I’d like to get to know some of my followers. What kind of fitness/health goals do you have for yourselves? What kind of body type do you wish to have? What celebrity body best fits such body type? Leave me a message in my ASK box!
-James
Do you have a friend that likes to be super productive at the gym? He picks up a random weight and works out a new muscle in between sets because he doesn’t want to be stagnant? Do you find yourself at the gym EVERY day? All I have to say is, “take it easy, bro.”
Keep this in mind
-Adrenaline gives you the drive to work more than your body can normally handle
-Adrenaline wears off and you’ll feel the pain later
-Muscles degrade to be repaired into stronger and more efficient muscles
-Rest so that the energy from food can be used to repair muscle instead of supplying the body during more exercise
Rest according to body type
-Bodybuilder: 2 hard workout days, rest the 3rd day
-All-around: 5 moderate workout days, rest 2 consecutive days
-Fat ass: Rest all the time
Exceptions
-Supersetters, but they still REST after each superset
*Superset: a cycle of 2 or more exercises done consecutively without rest
-Light cardio can be done daily for 30 minutes
The Point
I’m sure you are capable of doing extraordinary things with your body, but don’t go to the gym to show what you can do. Go workout so you can strengthen your body for those actual situations you may need to use it. Do work, but take it easy, bro.
