3 Steps 2 Success In Fitness

So you have decided that you want to do something positive for your health, but you don’t really know where to start …

Use these 3 easy steps to kick off your new healthy lifestyle.

Step 1 : Choose your goal: Before you do anything, you will need to decide what you would like to achieve. Simply rocking up at a gym and doing a bit of this and a bit of that will not get you anywhere. Ask yourself: what changes do I want to see in the next three months.

Step 2: Decide on your routine. Exercise will only help if you make it part of your routine. Research has shown that over 60% of all people that join a gym will quit within the first 3 months. For this reason, it is good to have a plan.

Step 3: Set a starting point. A wise man once said that progress is a slow process. This certainly can be true when you start working out. A good health assessment can help you monitor your progress and will determine the most effective way to reach your goals.

It is that easy.  Now let’s have a closer look at these steps

Step 1: Choose your goal.

Different workouts will have different results. So before you do anything, you will have to determine what you would like to achieve with your workout routine. Your trainer can help you set up a program designed to get the result you want. Here are a few options:

Lose weight: The first step in losing weight is to determine how many calories you burn in a day.The second step is to eat less than that amount. Exercising can help you burn more calories and eating smarter will make sure that those nasty kilos won’t come back. Both cardio and resistance training will help you achieve your goals. Cardio training tends to burn more calories during the workout and resistance training will help you burn more calories after your workout.

Build muscle: This goal is usually more for the guys. The increase in muscle size is also called hypertrophy. Hypertrophy will develop by doing 6 to 15 reps and is commonly done in a 3 set format. It is recommended to start in the higher rep range and slowly progress to lower numbers and more weight. This will allow the body to adapt. Muscles develop faster than tendons so going to hard, to fast can lead to some serious injuries

Develop endurance: Endurance is based on performing an exercise for a prolonged period of time. Endurance can be Cardio based (for example running 5km), or muscle based (performing 15 reps or more). The major benefits of endurance-training is that it stimulates your blood-circulation with a relatively low impact. Endurance training will also create less hypertrophy, so you don’t have to be afraid of bulking up.

Stimulate strength/power: Developing strength and power requires very low reps (up to 6). The goal is to activate a maximum amount of muscle fibers at the same time. This is often an approach used in sport-specific training. Power/strength training will make you jump higher, throw further and run faster. It is a very intensive form of training and is therefore not recommended for beginners.

Improve flexibility: Flexibility training, better known as stretching is recommended in all forms of training. When muscles are trained, they tend to tighten up. Stretching after a training can help the muscles relax and improve range of motion.

Step 2: Decide on your routine

This may be the most important step in the process. Fitness will only help you improve if you stick with it. The best way to do this, is to make it a part of your routine. Decide when you want to train and how long you want to train for. Once you have decided on this, you can create a program that suites your needs. You might only have 15 minutes a day, but there is still a lot that you can do in those 15 minutes. You can split your program in several short sessions or you can do a full body program and get it all over with in 1 session. Not all activities have to take part in the gym either. You can start with simple things like parking the car 15 minutes away from work and walking the rest.

Step 3: Set a starting point.

Progress is a measurement between 2 points. For this reason it is good to set a starting point. The best way to do this is by hiring a personal trainer. A personal trainer has the equipment and the knowledge to give you precise information on things like your fitness level, body fat percentage and blood-pressure. However there are some things that you can do yourself. A starting point can be as easy as timing your first run or writing down the weights you use in your first session. Another tool that you can use is your body mass index.(located in the top menu under Tools) This will give an indication on where you stand with your bodyweight.

Remember progress is a slow process, so don’t expect to see results in the first month or so. Instead, I suggest you write these numbers down in your diary, 3 months from now and just forget about them for the time being. After about 3 months you can do the same tests again to measure your progress. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.