Posts Tagged ‘workout program’

Today I want to talk about something I have come to recognize during my last three weeks of exercising. That the standard method of using set numbers and repetitions probably isn’t the best way. I understand the concept. Using a set number of an exercise can hep push you to do one more than you thought you could by giving you a goal. It also helps you track your progress by increasing the reps. The thing that I don’t like about it is that it’s easy to focus on the number rather the the exercise. Using a set number can also cause you to underachieve rather than push harder. I think there is a better way to do it.

In order to get a good workout, you need to keep your form as clean as possible and keep your movements controlled. This forces your body to use a number of stabilizer muscles as well as forcing the targeted muscles to work harder. However, form is usually sacrificed when focusing on achieving a number. It’s common to speed up your movements to try and gain momentum to make sure you hit your number. It’s a way of proving to yourself that you can do it. Unfortunately, that number goal is counterproductive of our goal to strengthen your body.

A Better Way to Use Numbers and Repetitions

I think using numbers are important, but the way that we use them to judge performance are not very good. Instead of of using a number that is just within reach, use one that is just out of reach. For instance, if you can barely do 10 push-ups, but could probably do 12 if you pushed real hard, then use 15 as your number. Now each time you do push-ups, you will be striving for more than you can already do. To decide the number you should use, do as many as you can until you are unable to continue (basically until you collapse). Then choose a number that is a few reps (2-5) above that number. Once you achieve that number, either raise it a few more or find more difficult ways to do the exercise.

Keeping Good Form

Regardless of what your number of repetitions are, it is very important to keep a good form. This will be better for your body (especially your joints) and will help you get a much better workout. In general this means going slow. It will be difficult at first, but will eventually get easier as your muscles begin to develop. Your body will also try to avoid doing the exercises slow to as they will require your body to work harder. It is far better to do a few good reps than a lot of bad ones. Don’t let yourself be tricked by doing meaningless repetitions.

First off, I would like to apologize for not getting yesterdays post out. I was at a festival that ended much later than it was supposed to. It’s actually normal for things to start amazingly late here in Miyakojima, but I still haven’t gotten used to it. To be totally honest, there wasn’t much to post about. I did about a 10 minute warm up routine along with a 30 minute workout. Mostly focused on upper body strength. Sets of push-ups, pull-ups, and various sit-ups. Thanks to a tip I picked up in the workout program I am using, I am getting a much better workout out my my sit-ups.

We have all done sit-ups at some point in our life. In high school, I was able to do nearly 90 sit-ups in one minute due to my small size. Did I have a six pack? Far from it. I used my momentum and lightness to make my body go back and forth quickly. I had to be in decent shape to do that many per minute, but it really didn’t take much strength at all.

For the last several years I have been using a balance ball to do sit-ups. It definitely does a much better job than a regular sit-up, but after several days on the ball I usually stop getting the burn. So what’s the big secret?

It’s in making them as difficult as they can possibly be. The biggest difference for me has been to really squeeze my abs at the peak of the crunch and even hold it like that for a second or two. It makes your ab muscles contract much harder than they are used to. Our bodies tend to shy away from pain and so when we do a workout, the body tries to get through the hard parts as quickly as possible. A sit-up is much more effective done slowly.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s actually quite substantial. If I can get the maximum result out of each exercise, I can spend less time working out and get better results. I would much rather do 10 difficult sit-ups than 50-100 easy ones. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Diet

As I promised, my diet has not changed. Not to say that I am eating fast food everyday (I rarely eat fast food), but I am by no means counting calories or going without. In addition to the three meals I eat everyday, I generally tend to have snacks and deserts. Today I had ice cream before lunch and yesterday was pudding.

Now for anyone who is really serious about losing weight or getting in shape this isn’t the smartest thing to do. Keeping a very balanced diet and knowing how many calories you intake makes a lot of sense. The program I am using actually has full details on choosing a meal plan to best suit your workout. It would help you achieve your results quicker and make sure you are burning more calories than you are taking in. I have no idea. I could be taking in more than I burn and have no progress after 30 days. I guess we will see if there is any visible difference when I post pictures tomorrow.

The challenge was to see if I could get fit without following all the rules. If I can achieve it in 30 days, then someone who does a full workout and changes their diet should be able to do even better.