Different people have different purposes for during cardio.   Cardio is  generally thought of as a one stop shop when it comes to fitness.  However, before beginning cardiovascular training, one must ask them what the purpose of the cardio is.  Is the purpose of your cardiovascular training to lose body fat , or is it to  create a stronger  heart and lungs ?
The average person who want to lose weight views running and walking as the perfect, cheapest, most efficient exercises you can do to lose weight.  The truth is that they are correct in the assumptions, however what is most important when doing cardio is your heart rate.  In previous post i have mentioned the term Target Heart Rate and how it is important to weight loss. Your Target Heart Rate(THR) is a range of numbers that your heart rate needs to be between while doing cardio.  In order to figure out your THR you first need to know your resting heart rate.  You can take this by sitting or laying(laying down is preferable) for at least 10minutes.  This heart rate that you get will be called your resting heart rate.  From here insert the necessary info into the following formula.

Beginner or low fitness level . . .50% - 60%
Average fitness level . . . . . . . . 60% - 70%
High fitness level . . . . . . . . . . . 75% - 85%
Now that we’ve determined and gathered the information needed, we can pull the information together in the Karvonen Formula:

220 - Age = Maximum Heart Rate
Max Heart Rate - Rest. Heart Rate x Intensity + Rest. Heart Rate = Training Heart Rate For example, Sally is 33 yrs old, has a resting heart rate of 75 and she’s just beginning her exercise program (her intensity level will be 50% - 60%.) Sally’s training heart rate zone will be 131-142 beats per minute:Sally's Minimum Training Heart Rate:
220 - 33 (Age) = 187
187 - 75 (Rest. HR) = 112
112 x .50 (Min. Intensity) + 75 (Rest. HR) = 131 Beats/Minute Sally's Maximum Training Heart Rate:
220 - 33 (Age) = 187
187 - 75 (Rest. HR) = 112
112 x .60 (Max. Intensity) + 75 (Rest. HR) = 142 Beats/MinuteIf your purpose is to burn fat you need to stay with your THR.  When in this zone the body will switch from carbs to stored up fat as a predominant energy source.  Essentially you  use the fat you already have for energy.  If you allow your heart rate you will no longer be in this range and will actually begin  burning muscle.  If your heart decrease below the minimum, you basically aren't doing anything.  Remember, staying in your Targer Heart Rate Zone means an increase in fat as an energy source, which it turn means you burn fat faster than by not monitoring you heart rate.  It is this reason why it is not always best for someone who has been inactive for quite sometime to begin exercising by just jumping on a treadmill and running.  Because they have been inactive, their heart rate will easily skyrocket and they lwill eave their THR zone. At that time, they begin training the lungs and heart, more than training for a loss in body fat.  They should gradually progress into running, or walking with an incline.  For individuals with back, hip and ankle injuries, a recumbent or seated bike can accommodate you as well.  When doing cardio increase your heart rate by adding and incline or just going faster, and decrease your heart rate by doing the opposite.  Remember you must check your heart rate often to maintain your THR. Following this plan for cardio, consuming a healthy diet and resistance training a minimum of 3-4 times a week will show definite progress.
Working harder is not always necessary.  It is my job to educate you with the tools in order to reach you fitness goals and further your individual fitness program.  Check back soon for other great fitness tips.

for more information on THR visit www.primusweb.com and check back here at www.vacatiobodies.com, Your Personal Trainer.

70-80 percent of any results that an individual will see when working out will come directly from the way that they eat. What this means is that it matters what you do when you are in the gym, but it matters more so what you are doing away from the gym. You just went out to lunch, what are you eating? Its a beautiful Saturday…do you plan on laying around all day, finishing that same bag of chips? Its Sunday afternoon, will you stay at home and watch your favorite movies, or will you get outside and do some yard work or go to the gym?

There are roughly 168hrs in a week. Most people work out for 1 hour a day, for 3 days a week. Do the math! That equals 175 hours out side of the gym where you are not being physically active. It is during these 165 hours that your activities and eating habits need to supplement what you just did in the gym. In other words….Do not have an excellent workout, and then blow it by going to eat a burger and fries!!
I have listed below a set of Dietary Guidelines or a Meal Plan for individuals who need ideas on how to eat healthy. The idea behind both, is to increase your protein naturally, which will aid in building nice lean muscle. Building lean muscle yields definition, loss in body-fat, and an increase in metabolism.

Dietary Recommendations

Breakfast- Something light, but with a decent amount of protein in it (at least 30 grams). Your daily requirement is at least 150-180grams of protein.

Oatmeal, Eggs, Nuts, Very Lean Meats + one carb( lean beef +brown rice)

SNACK- Meal Replacement Shake.

Tuna Fish,

Nuts- (walnuts, almonds etc.)

Lunch- Again 1 Carb + 1 protein source.

-Sweet Potato + Tuna

-Brown Rice + Lean Beef

-Salad + Chicken Breast

SNACK- Meal Replacement Shake.

Tuna Fish,

Nuts- (walnuts, almonds etc.)

Dinner- Again 1 Carb + 1 protein source.

-Sweet Potato + Tuna

-Brown Rice + Lean Beef

-Salad + Chicken Breast

- Beans or lentils + Turkey Legs

SNACK- Meal Replacement Shake.

Tuna Fish,

Nuts- (walnuts, almonds etc.)

Fruit-(Grapefruit, Unsweetened Applesauce, Tangerine

REMEMBER

-Eat 3-6 Times per day

-Eat every 2-4 Hours

-No eating 2-3 Hours before bed

-Always eat Protein and Carbs Together ( never just a protein)

SAMPLE MEAL PLAN

* In the future for more great dietary advice check out www.bodyforlife.com and www.vacationbodies.com , Your Personal Trainer.

The average person who frequents the gym, only makes about 2 visits per week. They expect huge results from these visits as if it is enough to see a mountain of results. The truth is that the only people who may seriously see a benefit from attending the gym only 2 times per week are individuals who are currently inactive. It is for this group of individuals that any amount of the right type of exercise will yield results. This is the same for rehabilitation patients. For the average regular gym goer, 2 visits per week are not enough.

When deciding how serious you are about going to the gym, first be a realist. Its all too common that people give answers that are unrealistic when asked how many times they plan on visiting the gym per week. The last thing you want to do is set yourself a high goal such as six visits per week, when you currently can't even prepare dinner that many times in a week.

Give yourself a feasible goal such 3x's a week first. 3 visit a week are enough for you to begin seeing results, but its also enough to give you a good idea of the possibilities, if you visited more. Start out with 3x, in 1 month if you can maintain that, then add 1 day…not 3 more. As you continue to see results, you will become more motivated. You visiting the gym serves as a place for you to work on those results. You daily routines are the settings where those results are noticed by you and others. Your time away from the gym is your chance to change your eating, and prepare your workout plan catered to your physical desires. When you become more physically fit you realize that your time outside the gym is just a critical as your time in the gym. The activities you do at home, or when going out, and the eating habits you maintain all affect you reaching your goals.

When you are ready to get started, make a goal. When you have made your goal, begin work. When you have began working out…stay consistent. This is how you get results.

How many of you have seen the commercials on T.V., or read something in the tabloids about how someone losses 20-30lbs. in two weeks. The first question you should as is, "Is it real?", and the answer is probably not.
The problem with rapid weight loss is that you don't just burn fat, you can also burn muscle. The end result is someone who burns a lot of fat, but now they look worse. They look worse because there is no muscle definition, no shape, no good curves. In a way, the person has actually become fatter. They are pleased with the numbers on the scale, but now more dissatisfied with themselves when they remove their clothes. Generally this happens to people who deplete the amount of protein that they take in, have cardio as their only source of exercise, and those who do not weight training. In addition to actually increasing their body-fat percentage, they have also slowed down there metabolism, because the less muscle you have the less fat you burn.
This is the reason why many teenage girls wonder why their male counterparts can eat so much, and never gain weight. They understand that if females eat the same amount of food as males, they actually gain weight. The reason for this is simple. Men are born with more muscle, which means a higher natural metabolism, which means they burn more calories at rest than their female counterparts.

There are many different ways to lose weight. There are a couple of things that you should keep in mind when you are taking external aides in order to lose weight.

Fat Burners are designed to help increase the body's metabolism, mainly its fat metabolism( the bodies ability to transform fat in you a usable energy source). Metabolism is defined as the how many calories that the body burns at any point during the day. So if your goal is to lose weight, your method should be to burn more calories during the day. Your questions should be…how can i increase the amount of calories that I burn in a given day. Now most Fat Burners actually strip the body much needed vitamins and nutrients. Keep this in mind, if you are taking these Fat Burners you need to take in a multi-vitamin, and consume more water. The average person is supposed to consume at least 96 ounces of water every day. Most Americans consume half of that or less. It is most definitely necessary that you consume one and a half to double the normal required amount of water if you are taking Fat Burners or Creatine.

The way you actually lose fat through exercise is mainly through your Target Heart Rate, which I have discussed before, and your energy-in/energy-out ration. This simply means that you need to be burn calories during the day than what you are taking in. You can do this by eat less high calorie foods(not by cutting down how many time you eat through out the day), and also by burning more calories through exercise. Practicing this method will help you lose body fat more consistently and keep it off, while actually toning up in the process. One pound of fat has 3500 calories in it. If you burn through exercise 500 more calories during the day than you normally would for seven days in a row, you will burn 3500 calories or 1 lb of fat.
*Know this, there is no easy way to lose weight or increase muscle, it takes good old-fashioned work. Being successful at any task is easy, its just being consistent with the plans you made in order to ensure success thats difficult. Be consistent in the correct manner, and the results will be yours

 

QUESTION: 

Should I do my weight training exercises BEFORE or AFTER my cardio work-out? I always thought it was after…

ANSWER:

This is a very good question that has been debated for quite a while.  Some will say before, some will say afterward, and some will say that it depends. In my professional opinion, I believe that cardio should be done after you weight train.  But do not misinterpret my words.  It is necessary that you warm-up first before you do anything, even before stretching.  The purpose of your warm-up is to get good warm blood flowing in and out of the muscles.  Its there also as a preventative measure for injuries.  Too many times people go straight to the weights without warming up or stretching.  Warming up lets the body know that you are getting ready to start, and depend on what the exercise is that you will be doing, also prep the specific energy source.  So my answer is to first warm-up for about 5-10 minutes until you have started to sweet a little bit. 

If you do your complete session of cardio first, you run the risk of tiring out the body so that you can not adequately complete you resistance training exercises.  Since more muscle burns more fat it is essential that you can give a 100% effort while strength training.  After you have completed you weight training then do you cardio.  You find that you are exhausted, but the actually helps you.  If you can complete your regular cardio session after doing your weight training, then imagine what you could do if you just had a cardio day.  So this should be your order when you exercise:

Warm-up

Stretch

Hit the weights

Cardio

Stretch

 

Your other option to this is to divide up your week into cardio days and weight training days.  4 days of weight training and 3 days of cardio, or whatever combination you decided.  However, if you are the average person, your schedule wont allow you to work-out 7 days a week. So thats the word…try it

 

QUESTION: 

I've been working out a lot more lately, and I already notice a difference in my legs, but I'm trying to tone up my abs a bit more. My stomach is relatively flat, I just wish it were more defined. Help me

ANSWER:

Well, let me first start out my saying this,  most body builders do their ab routine before their initial work-out as a warm-up.  It helps to activate the core, and lets the abs know that they are getting ready to be used.  Once you are aware of you abs it will be easier for you to call upon them when you are doing your exercises.  The one problem with this is knowing when to stop.  Beginning with abs is fine just dont fatigue them, otherwise you will feel weaker during your work-out.  Your ability to exhale during an exercise, and hold you breath when needed will be compromised.  So do those abs first, just dont kill them first.

Training abs is like training any other muscle, that need to really be worked and have time to rest also.  One other thing that is important is doing abs with weighted exercises, or just exercises lke crunches and sit-up? One of the most common problems that overweight individuals have is that they don't see the results from weight training especially if they are 50lb overweight or more.  The muscle are actually hidden underneath layers of that.  For that reason most exercise plans recommend cardio and weight lifting to increase muscle, definition, and decrease body fat.  If you have a relatively flat stomach I recommend putting someweight behind your AB exercises to bring them out, and help them look more complete.  If you are overweight, i recommend high reps with no weight…at least in the beginning.  For an overweight as well relatively defined person you need to first activiate the abdominal muscles by doing relatively high repetitions, then later you can make your AB exercises even more productive by adding weight and combination exercises that focus on eccentric or static movements, and possibly bring down the reps.

 

QUESTION:

I would really like to know how to loose fat off my bust. I'm 5ft, and slim. Bra size 34 G. I eat a good diet, cutting out suguar and sat fat. I weight train 3 times a week, and also go on my lateral Thigh Trainer, and rebounder for cardio. I also want to try Yoga. I don't want to have sugery. Would really appricate an reply. I can't think of anything else to try.

ANSWER:

The first thing that you must realize is that the bust is nothing but adipose tissue, commonly refered to as fat.  So to decrease fat off you bust, means to decrease you bust size…period.  The important thing for you to realize is that losing body fat takes time.  There is no proven rapid weight loss plan guranteeing that the pounds stay off.

The average person who has great eating habits and does cardio and resistance training will still only lose 2-5% in body fat every 6 weeks.  Know that what you are asking takes time, but I believe that i can give you a few pointers to help speed up the process.

First, know that 80% of any of the results that you see, come directly from your eating habits.  What this means is that all the weight trainig and cardio in the world won't do a thing for for you if your eating habits are crap.  People gain weight by consuming more calories through food, than they expend through their regular metabolism and exercise. One option for you is to try to count calories.  It is a tedious process, but the results you experience from this are real.  One pound of fat = 3500 calories.  If you want to lose at least one pount a week, you need to first log what you are eating.  After you log this, you can decrease the amount of calories you eat everyday by 250 calories.  Pair this decrease in caloric consumption with an increase in calories burned daily by 250 calories, and you have a total of 500 less calories daily.  If you multiply this times 7 (for each day in the week), it equals 3500 calories.  By the end of the week you would have lost exactly 1 pound.  Now if you desire is to lose more, then change you calories accordingly.

SECOND, let us talk about you cardio.  You can count the amount of calories you burn by completing them on a treadmill bike or some sort of electronic device.  Make sure that in the beginning you are burning at least 250.  Gradually, every week I would increase the amount burned by about 50 calories  at least until you reach 500 caloreis burned.  In your question you stated that you do cardio for 3x per week.  It is now time to increase your cardio to 4-5 times per week, and alternating your sources of cardio.  If it's a day where do don't feel like hitting the weights, at least do some cardio to help keep your metabolism humming along.

LASTLY, resistance training is the key to your progress.  I encourage you to continue doing you weight training and not just focus on your cardio.  If you do some chest exercises such as a chest press, push ups or pec fly, you can train to keep the skin tight and actually lift the bust line, but remember to train your total body.  Additionally, muscle contributes more to your metabolism, so it would be advantageous for you to continue to train. Be sure that you are weight training the entire body, because the last thing you want to do is to become thin from the cardio and dieting, and not have any definition.  Your exercises should generally be 3 or 4 sets ranging form 12-15 repetitions.  This will help to keep you defined.

~Remember that your body wants to remain proportional. This means when you lose body fat, you will lose it over the entire body.  Try to be consistent, and give yourself at least a month of total committment…this will ensure satisfactory results.

Many people have questions on what kinds of foods they should eat when they go out to eat.  As a personal trainer, I constantly receive text messages and phone calls on what their eating habits should be while eating out.  Today i've listed a few tips you should keep in mind while eating out.

-Drink one cup of water before your entree arrives, and then again after you finish eating.

-If you are eating a salad, try basalmic vinegar as dressing.

-If you like steak, get a center-cut filet.  Its a smaller cut, and one of the leanest cuts you can get. 

-Don't force yourself to finish eating everything on your plate.  If you cooked meals the same size as a resturant cooks your dinner portion, you would have left-overs from your home-cooked meals.  If this is the case, why try and finish everthing you get at the resturant.

-If you order chicken, order it baked or grilled, instead of fried.

-Try not to have a soda.  One 12oz soda has as much caffiene as 2 cups of coffe, and 24 of those little packets of sugar. 

- Try not to eat and go directly to bed.  Give yourself at least 2 1/2 hours before sleeping.

- Don't just eat bread, or meat by themselves.  80% of your success in the gym come directly from your eating.  Packaging your Proteins, Carbs, and Fats is essential.  Instead of just chicken, get a salad with it.

I hope these tips help. If you have any question, leave a  comment.

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If you bought a brand new pair of shoes, would you put old laces on them?  If you just fixed you favorite drink, would you knowingly put it in a glass thats cracked?  Lastly, if you just bought a new BMW, would you put regular unleaded gasoline in it.  The answers are NO, NO, NO.

It's sad but when you practice poor nutritional habits, we are basically doing this to our body.  The fact is that 70%-80% of any of the results that you see will come directly from your eating habits.   What this means is that your work-out plan may be perfect.  Your plan could have been created a personal trainer with a PhD. in training, but that will not benefit you if your eating habits fall short.  

There are many informational sources out there to help you begin and maintain healthy eating habits.  The first is www.mypyramid.gov.  Many of you may remember this as the government organization that helped produce the food pyramid.  Well in the last couple the food pyramid has changed, and its changes have reflected the nutritional habits of the current American population. 

The second source is www.glycemicindex.com.  The site can be used as a source for knowledge and understanding how carbs are divideded into high and low groups. Different types of carbs have different affects on the bodies blood sugar.  These are just a few things that indivduals need to keep in mind when trying to reach a specific fitness goal.

The moral of the story is to eat smart America.  Take care of your body on inside first.  The effort you put into it will show on the outside.