Real Fitness Experts

The game of fitness is a physically demanding form of art. Where else in this world do you have the joy of showing off your art to everyone you meet day in and day out? Most artists would die for this kind of exposure! Just like any master of the arts though, in order for you to fully express yourself through this beautiful art form, you first have to know how to use your tools!

The tools of the fitness artist are subtle but potent. Each small flick of the wrist, turn of the dumbbell and shaving of seconds can have a profound effect on your masterpiece. Here are a list of the most basic tools you’ll have to familiarize yourself with in order to become the Michelangelo of fitness.

o Sets and reps
o Rest between sets
o Cardio Guidelines

What are sets and reps?

Sets consist of a number of reps done in a row. A rest of a minute or two usually follows a set. To do a set you must first know what a rep is. The “rep” is short for repetition or how many times you raise and lower the weight in a row. So pick up a weight and put it down 12 times in a row and you have one set of 12 reps!

In order to keep track of your workouts in a journal (you do this right?) it is written like so. The number of sets comes first and then the number of reps. If you were reading a copy of a workout and they wanted you to do three sets of twelve reps it would look like this, (3×12). Sometimes you may see this 3×10, 8, 6. don’t panic! This means you do three sets in total with one set of 10 reps, the next set at 8 reps and the last set at 6 reps. All sets are spaced out by the determined rest period that matches your goals. Now if you know you are doing 3×12 when you record it into your journal you must include the weight so that you can remember it for the next time and improve upon it. Because of the first article in this series we all know the importance of progressive resistance right? Put the set number first and then weight in front of the reps like so:

1. 100×12
2. 90×12
3. 80×12

Now you know how sets and reps work, lets get onto how to how long you should rest between sets.

Rest periods

How long you rest between sets depends largely on the reason you are training. The general rule of thumb for all round fitness is to rest 1 minute between sets or until your breathing returns to almost normal. This allows most of your power to regenerate while still keeping up the pace of the workout to burn calories and keep the “training effect” going. If strength gains are your priority than 2-5 minutes is best for full recovery of energy systems. If pure fitness and fat loss is your goal, a challenging workout consisting of rest periods in the 30-45 second range or even super setting (sets done back to back of different exercises) will serve you best.

How hard do I work on cardio?

If you are new to fitness take 220, minus your age and multiply it by 60%. That’s the recommended place to start. What this tells you is 60% of your maximum heart rate. Let’s say your 40 years of age. 220-40= 180 (your max heart rate). 180x 60%=108. So there you are on the bike pedaling away, take your pulse for thirty seconds (or use the sensors on newer machines), and multiply it by two. If you came up with 115 slow it down a little and vice versa.

Once you are sure that your body is up to speed and the 60% mark no longer poses a challenge, use the same calculation at a higher percentage to incrementally increase your intensity. Use 65% then 70% and so on.

For steady state cardio when fat loss is the goal “most” of the science states that 70-75% is a great target range to stay in for 30 to 60 minutes. Higher percentages are useful when athletic performance and improvements in cardiac function are the goal.

An excellent way to mix the best of both steady state cardio and higher percentages of heart rate is to do interval training. This involves a warm-up of 5 minutes and then “sprinting” hard for 30 seconds to a minute and then resting for the same. Twenty to thirty minutes of interval training can be quite intense, so make sure your ready for it! The up side is that you will burn a ton of calories and in half the time, so its perfect if you’re running out of minutes in the day!

When To Do My Cardio

Should your cardio be done before or after training? It takes approximately 16 minutes for your body to burn through your sugars while doing cardio before you hit fat burning mode. Since weight training is largely fueled by glycogen or sugars it would make sense to do your weight training first, fueled by your bodies preferred source of fuel and do your cardio after so you can go straight into fat burning mode.

Learn to use your tools to the best of your abilities and go create a masterpiece!

——————
About the Author

Ray Burton is a fitness writer and owner of the Calgary personal training company Buildingbodies Fitness. Visit http://www.buildingbodies.ca/fitness-site.shtml for guidance on all matters of fitness and diet.