Why Separate Cardio and Weight Training?
It feels great to get your workout over and done with in one session by combining a cardio and muscle training session at the gym.
But if you would like to burn maximum fat, get fit AND strengthen up you are better to work on your fitness and on your muscles in separate sessions rather than working them both on the same day.
That’s because research has shown overall calorie expenditure to be greater when you separate your workouts. It seems you get a metabolic boost each time you work out – and so combining sessions is counter-productive if you want to burn fat.
If you have too many time constraints to work out on separate days, be sure to carry out your weight training first while glycogen stores are highest to make better gains in strength.
7 Ways to Get More Fun from Your Fitness Program
Have more fun working out so that you’ll be motivated to get out there and do it more regularly!
1. Choose a Sport or Activity you Love
Why go to the gym if you hate the gym? Choose an activity which appeals to you and give it a go. When you’re ice-dancing or rock climbing, skiing or playing tennis exercise just happens and doesn’t seem like a chore.
2. Make Exercise Part of Your Social Life
Find a workout partner you enjoy spending time with so that you look forward to getting together for a run or gym session. Just don’t get so carried away and chat so much that you forget to work out! If you usually get together with friends for a meal or drinks see if you can persuade them to do something active instead. Baseball anyone?
3. Enjoy Nature
Exercise is often the only time we adults get fresh air. Make the most of your work out time by taking yourself off to the great outdoors. Find a local beach, park, lake or hill where you can work out and enjoy the wonders of nature at the the same time.
4. Feel the Movement
While you exercise, focus on your body as it moves through the air – sometimes you can feel yourself almost gliding. Feel the pleasure of the movement itself – your muscles working in a co-ordinated way, the efficiency of your body’s cooling systems, how you heart and lungs work together to send oxygen to your muscles. Imagine you had been confined to a tiny cell for weeks on end or hospitalized in a full body cast and feel the joy of now being able to move your whole body.
5. Look the Part
Treat yourself to some new workout clothes you look forward to wearing. You’ll be more comfortable and enjoy working out more in gear that is made for your sport.
6. Entertainment
An ipod filled with your favorite music can make the difference between a boring workout and one you enjoy. Talking books are another alternative. If you exercise at home or at the gym choose a time when you can watch a show you love on TV whilre you work out. You’ll never notice the time.
7. Set Yourself a Challenge
Don’t see exercise as a chore but as a challenge. Always log your workouts and set goals for yourself every week, every workout. Don’t push yourself so far that you risk injury but make sure that you are always progressing and moving one step ahead.
Push Ups for Everyone
Push ups image by Urban Mixer
Push ups are a great exercise because they use your own weight to build strength. You can do them anywhere – whether you’re stuck at home with the kids or out on the road travelling – you don’t need a gym or any equipment.
And they strengthen and tone your whole body engaging muscles in your chest, hands, arms, shoulders, back, stomach, legs and feet – and probably a few other places as well.
But the classic push up everyone is familiar with is not an easy exercise to do correctly.
You have to build up to that.
Wth that in mind, fitness trainer Funk Roberts has created a push up challenge page to teach everyone to master the perfect push up without props or problems.
He has every stage of push up perfection covered from beginners who push against a wall to intermediate exercisers who use a modified form of push up (the knee push up) to a more advanced level ready for the perfect push up.
You just have to find the right place to start for you and not go too fast too soon.
Funk’s blog post lays out a push up training program to take you from beginner to 10 perfect push ups in 8 weeks. This should be possble but your results may vary 
In any case you’ll get there by progressing through the stages one at a time.
If you ever wanted to be able to show off perfect push-ups, Funk’s page is a great place to start.
Fitness Weight Loss Tip : Split Routines
Photo by exfordy
If you’re looking to lose a few pounds and help things along with exercise, try working out twice a day rather than once.
With split routines
- you increase the calories you can burn without tiring yourself out in one long mega-session – you can work out for longer in total each day and put more effort into your routines
- you keep your metabolism firing on all cylinders giving it a big boost twice during the day
- you keep your goals central in your mind – and hopefully yourself on the straight and narrow
- you won’t have much time left for sitting around pigging out in front of the TV!
If you try this be sure and vary your activities each session and each day so that you reduce the risk of strain and injury on any one part of your body.
Split routines are used most often in weight training to mean working different muscle groups each day and avoid overtaxing any one part of the body, but if you are up for it here is a suggested a.m. p.m split routine incorporating both cardio and strength training.
Get the Truth from Body Fat Monitor Scales
I have a tyrant in my bathroom, lurking in the corner every day – a Tanita body fat monitor scale
But I’m really quite grateful to that scale.
I’ve long been an advocate for daily weighing when you want to maintain your weight and my trusty scales let me know as soon as my weight is creeping up.
If I’m 2lbs over my target weight for more than a day I am on the case. (Don’t know about you but my weight can easily fluctuate up and down by a pound or so for all manner of reasons other than pigging myself and being a lazy slob).
I’m not perfect by any means but I feel it’s an occupational responsibility to keep reasonably slim and fit otherwise what good is it me trying to tell my clients how THEY can get fit or lose weight?
To be honest, I’m always struck by the pretty sizeable men and women (even those who have lost some of their vast bulk successfully) selling diet books and programs – I have come across 3 in the past week where I thought they could be listening to their own advice a bit better first. (And no I’m not going to name names because I think that would be pretty hurtful – you can see them for yourself all around the net) I just don’t want to be one of them.
The scales I use also have an inbuilt Body Fat analysis function. I don’t use that very often – maybe once a month or so (I can never remember how to do it without getting out the instructions).
I know body fat analysis with scales is not that accurate but I think it’s worth getting that functionality if you are going to buy scales anyway. It lets you do a regular check to see if it looks like you are losing lean body mass (muscle).
If you lose weight too fast (more than one or two pounds a week after the first week or two of initial rapid water weight loss) or you don’t keep active enough, you are probably reducing the proportion of lean tissue in your body. You can tell this is the case on your scales if your weight is going down but your body fat percentage is not.
If you lose as much (or more) muscle than fat, you will pile the weight back on after you stop dieting. Muscle is active tissue which burns fat even at rest and you don’t want to lose ANY of it.
Keep up your lean body mass with exercises to tone and strengthen your muscles while you lose weight – at the very least keep as active as you can so that your body does not give up muscle tissue without a fight.
See the whole range of Tanita body fat analysis scales here.
Using Exercise to Lose Weight
You have to be pretty dedicated to lose weight through exercise alone.
I remember how astonished I was when I first worked out that at 3500 calories a pound you have to run more than a marathon to lose a single pound of fat!
That’s why going to the gym and then rewarding yourself with a snack is counter-productive – you will probably eat more calories than you use up.
Yet, exercise is still good for weight loss for many reasons :-
- every calorie counts whether it’s 10 or 1000 – better to use them than not use them
- it helps build muscle and muscles burn calories even when you are at rest – your metabolism (the rate at which you burn calories) increases
- it improves your mood and general sense of well-being – so you are better able to avoid comfort eating
- it keeps you occupied and away from the fridge
- if you exercise enough, you can eat just a little more and still lose weight. This helps to prevent a sense of deprivation
- you will keep your muscles and skin in better condition as you lose weight and are less likely to lose muscle tissue and tone
The best way to lose weight is to combine exercise with healthy eating so that you exercise a bit more (say 250 calories worth of exercise a day) and eat a bit less than you need at your normal (non-exercise) level of activity (say 250 calories) – that way you’ll steadily lose about 1lb a week without too much hardship.
10 Second Fitness Tip : Mini Workout at Your Desk
Are you slouching over your computer?
Sit up straight like your mom taught you!
Good posture at your desk means you’re engaging the core muscles in your stomach and back as you sit. And you’ll be getting a mini workout without taking up any extra time at all. Plus you’ll look like you instantly lost 10lbs and guard against a sore back.
That’s the theory behind those exercise ball chairs
I suppose sitting on a ball is bound to make you work harder at staying upright in case you land on the floor with your legs in the air (very undignified!)
Anyone tried one? Leave a comment and let us know how it worked for you…
Fitness Tip 6: Don’t Rely Only on Machines
You know fitness is for real bodies which have to do real tasks The machines at the gym are created to help you but they are rarely as effective as doing things under your own steam.
Anyone who has ever run a 5K or 10K distance outside will tell you that it’s a very different experience from going the same distance on a treadmill – even if you use a program designed to add variety.
Outside you have to contend with the weather, uneven road surfaces, hills, pedestrians, dogs and traffic so an indoor run is often more appealing.But the very fact that you are dealing with all those things gives you a better, more natural workout.
Fair enough, don’t run in conditions or areas which are actually dangerous but whenever you can safely do so, take your workout outside the gym and experience the real thing. There’s no workout like it.
And the same goes for weights at the gym.
Don’t always use those machines which are designed to isolate one muscle group – you know the kind that are meant for those of us who can’t be trusted to deal with real weights – the kind with stacked weights and a pin that varies the amount of resistance.
You get much better exercise which will make you fitter for the world we live in by doing real movements such as squats and lunges for your lower body and barbell or dumbbell presses for your upper body. With these kinds of movements you develop better functional strength and stability in your key muscles and that helps prevent injury during sport and everyday life.
Fitness Tip 5 : All Things Equal
Everyone has the exercises they like doing and ones they don’t. And most people have a stronger side and a weaker side.
Whatever you do, don’t neglect to do the exercises you don’t like doing or do more reps on the side that’s stronger or more flexible.
You’ll end up out of balance. (Think Charles Atlas shoulders and Mr Bean legs!)
You have to strengthen and stretch all muscle groups on both sides to get a balanced symmetrical physique.
Working to make all parts of your body in balance will also help prevent the poor posture, tears and muscle strains caused by having some body parts weaker than others.
It will be enough for most of us just to remember not to neglect the areas we don’t like working on.
For those looking to get closer to perfection, get a program which trains for every range and angle of movement in every part of your body and which balances the various movements in equal measure.
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