| |
| |
|
Exercise Information |
|
|
|
Wise Up and Invest in Your Workout Success - Six Top Fitness Faux Pas
Already dedicated exercisers make small but costly mistakes regularly in their workouts, and one tiny change can have a huge impact on their results. Time is valuable, and for each precious moment invested you want to ensure the best possible return. If your body is not yet as lean or toned as you would like, it is likely that you are committing some key training mistakes. These errors can sabotage the efforts of even veteran exercisers. By learning about the most common fitness faux pas and their fixes, you will mistake-proof your exercise and see tremendous payoffs. Six of the biggest fitness faux pas are? Faux Pas #1 Skipping Over Your Warm-up The Facts? Warming up prepares the body to work efficiently: longer, stronger and more safely. Skipping your warm-up may cause you to fatigue early, keeping you from realizing your full potential. Perhaps more importantly, warming up drastically decreases your chance of injury. The time spent in a warm up is much less than the time required to heal a muscle strain or joint injury. Smart Fix? Invest 5-10 minutes in performing a toned-down version of your fitness activity or perhaps instead something like walking or cycling at an easy pace. Some gentle range-of-motion exercises are always encouraged. Save the deep stretching for after your workout. Faux Pas #2 Racing Through Your Reps The Facts? Racing through your repetitions when strength training uses momentum instead of muscle power. You just won't get the same stimulus for muscle building, and you won't burn nearly as many calories. You also make yourself more susceptible to training injuries such as torn muscles or connective tissue. Smart Fix? Take a full six seconds to perform each repetition; 2 seconds to lift the weight and 4 seconds to lower it. Slowing down your performance speed is the single most significant change you can make to get better results from your strength training. Faux Pas #3 Getting Married to Your Strength RoutineThe Facts? Doing the same routine again and again will cause your muscles to simply adapt. Without realizing it you are heading toward a plateau because each exercise stimulates only a limited number of muscle fibers. However, if you challenge your muscles from a variety of angles by adding or alternating moves periodically, you will recruit significantly more fibers into play and develop more tone and strength. Smart Fix? For each muscle group, learn an additional 2 or 3 exercises, trying new angles and equipment. Expand your repertoire enough so that you can easily change your entire routine every 6-8 weeks. If you can't get instruction from a trainer, there are plenty of quality books, magazines and videos available. Faux Pas #4 Exercising Too Intensely, Too OftenThe Facts? If you don't rest enough between hard cardio or strength workouts, you'll stop making progress and may even lose some of the fitness you have gained. You are also very likely to burn out on exercise. Smart Fix? To keep your motivation high and your muscles fresh, alternate shorter, tougher cardio workouts (20 minutes, for example) with longer, easier ones (40-60 minutes). Don't go all-out more than twice a week. The more intensely you train, the more time your body needs to recover. Take a day off completely after a couple of tough workouts and make sure that you take at least one day off between strength training sessions that work the same muscle group. Faux Pas #5 Lifting the Wrong Amount of WeightThe Facts? If you lift weights that are too light, you won't see improvements in tone, strength, or bone density. If you lift weights that are too heavy, you will compromise proper form, increasing your injury risk and diminishing your overall workout. You'll be forced to recruit additional muscles to help with the work, thereby cheating the muscles of a good workout. Unfortunately, a very common example of this is using the entire body to complete a biceps curl. Smart Fix? For moderate strength building, perform 8-12 repetitions per set, for maximum strength building, perform 4-6 repetitions per set. The key is to choose weights heavy enough that you struggle through the final few reps, but not so heavy that you lose your form. If you get to your final rep and feel that you could perform another one, slightly increase the weight (5-10%). It's fine to drop a few reps as the weights increase. Just remember to fatigue the muscle by the final rep. Faux Pas #6 Gliding Through Your Cardio WorkoutThe Facts? Getting complacent about your cardio workout can sabotage results as badly as pushing too hard. To truly boost your fitness levels, you need to venture beyond your comfort zone a couple of times during the week. This turbo-boost will actually enable you to burn more calories with even less Smart Fix? Instead of zoning out or doing moderate-intensity cardio all the time, mix in some high-intensity intervals twice a week. This is a great area to add variety, have fun and play. Make a game of mixing your intensities over a six-week interval. Take the time to analyze your workout routines and assess whether you are investing your time and energy for the absolute greatest results. Error-proof your exercise for a better workout and a much better body. Realize your body's full potential by using your mind to workout smart. Copyright 2005. Karen B. Cohen All Rights Reserved Karen B. Cohen is a performance and wellness coach as well as a personal fitness trainer, master yoga instructor (RYT500), and moving meditation teacher. Living in a college town in rural Virginia, she is available for seminars, workshops and individual coaching internationally. Karen can be reached through her latest project http://www.RockbridgeMag.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Unstable And Proud Of It! Power to the Push-Ups! When I get finished teaching you this never-before-seen version of the push-up, you're going to think that either I'm crazy or a genius or both! Of course, the results you'll get from it will speak for themselves.First, we need to set the stage for this version of the push-up. Lower Back Extension Exercise This is an excellent exercise for the lower back that is very simple to perform. This exercise requires no equipment and it can be performed almost anywhere, even at your office. Thirty Minutes of Exercise a Day Keeps the Doctor Away "Exercise is good for you!" If you had a dollar for every time you heard this statement uttered, you'd be rich by now, right? Well, proponents of everyday physical activity aren't just blowing smoke when they repeat this mantra. Medical research has uncovered resounding evidence to back up this "good for you" claim. 2-Minute Fitness Why would I want to write about yet another fitness program? There are so many out there. There is no escape from fitness programs whether you watch TV or read a magazine or newspaper. Debunking the Myth of Spot Reduction Do you ever wonder how to shrink the fat on your thighs or reduce the flab on the back of your arms? Ever wake and up and dream about wearing your favorite pants from the glory days of college? Well, short of plastic surgery, there is no way to simply eliminate certain problem areas.The reality is that slimming your figure is not a simple task. Super Charge Your Metabolism 1. Cardio in Combination with Strength Training- If you need to combine your cardio with Strength training then do your Cardio AFTER your Resistance Training workout. Lance Armstrong's Training Tactics - The Tortoise or the Hare? I have been counseling people on weight loss, exercise efficiency and nutrition for over twenty years. Every time I go to the gym I observe people, their training tactics and their workout habits. The Top 10 Reasons Why Your Dog is a Great Workout Partner 1) He or she is never late for a workout session. Chances are good that your dog lives with you and has a reasonable clear schedule. 7 Reasons To Start Up With an Exercise Program Most of us need to follow an exercise program. This is due to the fact that just a minority of Americans exercise in a significant way. 10 Workout Mistakes Cheaters Make "When I'm lifting free weights, I tend to go pretty fast on the downward motion when I'm supposed to be using more control," says Beth Pekol, who works in banking in Chicago."I lean on the StairMaster when I'm on it," says Shaun Stewart, a new bride who lives in Memphis. Take a Break Writing is a strenuous creative activity, and like physical activity it produces fatigue that requires rejuvenation and renewal, so when the mind is blocked, it is time to rest it. Many writers call this 'writer's block' but others claim that no such state exists. Do You Have A Fitness Battle Plan? In fitness, as in war, you want to be on the offensive, not the defensive and this means that rather than reacting to maladies as they occur, far better to be in good general physical condition; preventive maintenance is preferable to remedial effort every time. One general rule of thumb I use is energy is the basic coin of the fitness realm and without it is damned difficult to mount any kind of serious fitness effort. 10 User Friendly Habits for Successful Home Gym Training Are you dissatisfied with your current training program? Are you not achieving the results you had hoped for when you started training? If you are you stuck on a fitness plateau and are in need of some tips on how to start seeing progress then keep reading.I am sure you want to see results from your training program (why would you do it if you didn't want to see results, right?). Flattening Your Stomach in Four Easy Steps You look at it every day and wish it would just go away; that little pouch below your belly button that keeps staring back at you. You do crunches, sit ups, the works, and yet there it is just "hanging around. Pilates: A Challenging and Motivating Exercise Regimen Pilates is named after its creator Joseph Pilates. It is an exercise regimen that uses machines and special stretches. How to Choose a Good Jogging Stroller If you lead an active lifestyle and you want to include your new family additions in your outdoor activity then you need to consider getting yourself a good jogging stroller.Choosing a jogging stroller can be like trying to decide on what car to buy. Bodybuilding, Weight Loss, and Exercise Tips - Goal Setting for Long Term Results My name is Greg Ryan. I am a fitness expert, professional bodybuilder, personal trainer to movie stars, former employee of Kathy Smith and have over 50,000 hours of paid personal training sessions under my belt. Exercise - More is NOT Better! Years ago when I was a professional bodybuilder, I fell into the mindset that the more I exercised, the less fat I ate, the better I would look and feel. At the time this seemed like the logical thing to do. Exercising With Kids -- Tips For Parents Making exercise a priority is a challenge for everyone. And for parents it can be especially difficult to find time to workout because of the full plates that they often juggle. How to Maximize Your Fitness Results What I am about to reveal to you can make a drastic change in the out come of your fitness results. Many of us are willing to dedicate a decent number of hours each and every week to our workout plan.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
