Tips to get the most out of your workout!
1. Decide whether you want to build muscle mass or to tone the muscles you’ve got.
a. If you want to build muscle:
i. Lift about 85% of your max for the particular exercise.
ii. For most exercises do 3 sets of 6-8 reps each.
iii. Lift slowly trying to keep the same speed during the lift and the return.
iv. NEVER fully extend or contract.
v. Rest about 40 seconds – 1 minute between sets
b. If you want to tone the muscles you’ve got :
i. Lift about 60-70% of your max for the particular exercise.
ii. For most exercises do 4-5 sets of 8-12 reps each.
iii. Remember to build muscle before trying to tone it!!
1. Build muscle for 6-12 months or until you meet your strength goal
2. Then spend 6-12 months toning muscle and
3. Then continue workouts to maintain endurance
2. Focus on one muscle group per workout
a. Many exercises work out multiple muscle groups so plan your work outs accordingly:
i. Biceps and back
ii. Triceps and chest
iii. Legs and core (glutes, lower back, sides, and abs)
b. Don’t overwork your muscles, if you feel tired, dizzy, out-of-breath, or (significantly) sore then stop immediately
c. Put several days to a week in between working out a given muscle group
3. Mix up your workout about every 4-6 weeks
a. Use different machines,
b. rotate in different exercises for the same muscle groups
c. switch the sequence of exercises
4. When your body gets used to a certain weight, increase the weight slightly
5. Do not lift weights right after extensive cardio exercise and vice versus!
a. The body functions by burning blood sugar. Cardio exercise burns lots of blood sugar so you will have little left to lift weights.
b. If you have been lifting weights, you may have burned much of your blood sugar and will not be able to keep up cardio exercise for long.
c. Weight-lifting is anaerobic exercise and so can combine with walking or relaxed swimming as the body will eventually switch to converting fat cells rather than just deplete blood sugar.
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