Building Better Bodies Fitness

I received this question in my email the other day and I thought it’s probably a common thought amongst those not used to working out. So, I thought I’d share my response with all of you – just in case you were wondering too.

While it’s not suggested that you do a full body workout on the same day, over the course of the week, you should be focusing your efforts until you have worked out all of your muscle groups.

For example, if you’re working out three days each week, one day should focus on upper body. Another day may focus on abs, while the third day focuses on a lower body workout.

Burning fat is not much of a fun experience for anyone. You may mentally sike yourself up for an hour a day routine at the gym moving from cardio machine to cardio machine, but in the end you either give up or go into a coma from boredom. A better fat burning option is using the High Intensity Interval Training, also known as HIIT

What is HIIT?

HIIT is several short, but hard exercises followed by short and less intensive exercises. Some of the benefits of HIIT are that it doesn’t take a lot of time to complete a workout and it doesn’t take a lot of time to start seeing the positive results. The drawback is that these types of workouts are tough.

Research studies reveal, however, that HIIT programs tend to burn nine times the number of calories burned in traditional cardio workouts. Shorter, more intense workouts with far better results than longer, more boring workouts; it seems like a fair tradeoff.

How HIIT Works

A HIIT workout causes the heart rate and energy consumption to spike, which triggers the release of huge amounts of growth hormone and other fat burning and muscle growing chemicals into the body. Intense workouts, such as HITT, also turn the metabolism on full blast, so a higher rate metabolism continues for several hours after your workout is over.

It’s not to say that HIIT is an easier way to lose weight and burn fat because it is intense. HIIT does, however, payoff faster and more effectively than any other type of cardio workout.

As I laced up my tennis shoes the other morning to head out for a run, I asked my girlfriend if she wanted to come with me. She scoffed at me and said something to the effect of, “I don’t run. Running is bad for your knees and back and stuff.”

Contrary to my girlfriend’s beliefs, running is one of the best exercises you can do. If you’re not much of a runner, per se, then walking is right up there as being good for your health and your body. Running and walking are two exercises that give pretty much your entire body a workout.

Not only does it work on your leg muscles, thighs, butt and more of your exterior parts, running is also good for your internal organs like your heart and lungs.

While it’s certainly acceptable to jump on the treadmill, running or walking in the great outdoors can do wonders for you too. If you always walk or run at the gym, try something new and jog in a park near your home or go a couple rounds at the local high school track instead. Your trusted treadmill will be there for you when you return, but switching up the location where you run or walk can keep the exercise slightly more exciting – making you more apt to continue to do it.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a magic formula you can use to create the perfect body building routine. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to create the most effective body building routine for you – a routine that blends your body’s needs with your schedule.

Overall Health

The first item to consider when creating your routine is your overall health. Are you physically fit or do you have health problems you need to consider before starting your routine? Your health determines what your body is capable of doing so understanding this upfront helps you to cater your workout to fit your health. Whether you’re physically fit or not, most health experts agree scheduling rest days into your body building routine is imperative.

Concentrates on Body Parts

Another important aspect of an effective body building routine is that the routine concentrates on specific body parts. While one day the routine may work on your upper body, the next day focuses on your lower body. Cardiovascular workouts should also be included throughout your routine. At least two days of rest should also be included each week.

Clearly Defined Goals

Another important part of your bodybuilding routine is setting specific goals. By setting goals, you have something to strive for and have a way of measuring your success (or failure) in reaching your goals. Your goals also dictate how to create your routine because someone who is trying to lose weight is going to have a different workout routine than someone who is trying to build body mass.

In order to create an effective body building routine, make sure your routine contains these three important aspects. Creating the right routine for you and your body depends on it and helps you to achieve your body building goals.

When training my clients and friends I always keep in mind that we don’t have a lot of extra time to devote to body maintenance and work outs. That is why I try to incorporate exercise routines that are short and to the point – to get in and out of the gym with the most bang for your buck and time. These exercise routines usually take less than an hour and will have you building muscle, burning fat and becoming physically fit. I try to incorporate at least one of the following training methods when helping my friends and clients.           

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) 

This method of training has been shown in countless scientific studies to be superior to the traditional hour long session of cardio training. One good way to do HIIT is by running as fast as you can for one full minute, either on the treadmill or outside. Follow this one-minute run by two minutes of walking. When the two minutes is up, run again as fast as you can for one minute and then walk again for another two minutes. Continue this routine for a full 30-minute session. Also remember to properly warm up for 3-5 minutes at the beginning and end. 

Circuit Routine

Circuit routines save time by having you use a circuit of various exercises. Using light to moderate weights, do about 15-20 repetitions and run through the circuit 1-3 times in 30 minutes, with minimal to no rest.  I usually rest long enough to go from one station to the next and when I’m really tired less than one minute. Once I finish one circuit I rest about two minutes. Track yourself so next time you can try and set a new personal record.

The exercises consist of working out the bigger muscles first and finishing off with the smaller ones. My routine consists of squats, incline dumbbell bench press, deadlifts, sitting dumbbell press, alternate dumbbell curls, triceps extension, calve raises and crunches. This method gets a lot of work done in 30 minutes, and it is very effective in building a better body. It can be pretty grueling, so start of slow and work your way up.

Core Training

With this type of training weights are not needed and can be done in the comfort of your home, office, hotel or local park.  In my core workout I incorporate pushups, boxer squats (squat down and come up lift one leg and throw a jab repeat for opposite leg and that is one rep), bicycle (lie on your back and pedal your legs from side to side while crunching your abs from side to side hands behind your head), front planks, and side planks(hold in this position for as long as you can rest and repeat three times). All exercises are done to failure and at a quick pace do 3-5 sets with little to no rest leaving the planks for the end of your routine. Basically, you have no excuse not to workout with these routines you can get your workout on in less than one hour. Good luck, have f

If you love to dance and you’re looking to maintain or work off some weight as part of New year’s resolution, you may be in luck. Dancing can be a fun and effective way of staying in shape and losing weight. Zumba, which is a Latin based dance, is sweeping the nation as a popular dance-based exercise class. From younger adults to senior citizens, Zumba classes are filling up across the nation. A one-hour Zumba session can shed 500 calories.

Check your local gyms, YMCAs, community and recreation centers to see if a Zumba class is on their exercise schedule.

We do everything else online, why couldn’t working out or working with a personal trainer online work too? The answer is that training online does work. If you think about it logically, working out in the comfort of your own home means that you don’t have to travel to the gym and you don’t have to workout in front of all of the people in the gym.

There are personal trainers that offer online training programs. These programs give you access to nutritional information and exercises and even include one-on-one workout sessions completed via web cams (one in your workout area and one in the trainer’s office).

Building Better Bodies Fitness is rolling out an online training program in 2010. If you’re interested in getting on the VIP list to be one of the first to be notified, send me an email to info@buildingbetterbodiesfitness.com.

This is a great question and what I usually tell people is both are good choices–depending on your goals. For example, if your goal is strength training, then I would suggest that a majority of your exercises are conducted with dumbbells and barbells. Take a look at the barbell squat. When done correctly, you are using your abs, lower back, hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes and calves. That is six major muscles being worked out at one time.

Now look at the leg extension machine, which is a great exercise but only targets the quadriceps. By working out more muscles you are burning more calories in each set, getting stronger and will be able to achieve your fitness goals faster.

With the machine exercises I tell people to incorporate them toward the end of an exercise routine. For example, when doing chest start with incline barbell or dumbbell presses, flat bench press, decline dumbbell press, and leave the pec deck fly for last. I also like to use more machine exercises for those clients who are in the maintenance phase of their workout and are just trying to maintain what gains they have achieved or are trying to workout comfortably and not put too much stress on the body. Likewise, if a client has a lagging body part that he or she wants to concentrate on, I would recommend some good machine exercises.

To me, free weights and machines are both important in building a good physique. Now stop reading this article and get to the gym. Good luck.

I hear this at least ten times a week clients from who have only been working out consistently for 3-4 months. Their belief is that because they’re not sore or aching within a few days of their workout that the exercises they’re doing aren’t working.

This is not true.

The soreness and aching muscles is usually attributed to a person who is straying a new workout, has not worked out a particular body part in a long time, has gone up in weight lifted or is doing more repetitions. It does not necessarily mean the workout isn’t any good. If you are doing the exercise correctly, with proper form and execution this will not cause soreness.

Hat I do suggest is you switch up your workout routine every 6-8  weeks. This way your muscles won’t get accustomed to the workout day  in and day out. Switch the times you work out too. Studies show that  working out before breakfast burns more fat. Likewise working out in  the evening can lead to more loss of calories for the next 24 hours,  which leads to more being burned.

Workout 30-60 minutes per day and don’t overdo it because it can cause muscle related ailments. Switch from “working out” to playing sports instead. Playing basketball for 30 minutes is sure to leave you aching and sore the next day. Finally, stretch those muscles you worked out because this lessens your soreness and allows you to achieve your goal of a firm physique.