GenXXLSports for the Real World Athlete (and Weekend Warrior)
Avoid any Excuse to Get Fit
There is simply no excuse not to work out because exercise can be performed anywhere. Motivation is what many people need, so training with a partner or listening to cool music will certainly help. What if you do not have a gym membership but want to get fit for the New Year. It would be great, would it not, to lose weight on your own without having to join a gym and then unleash the ‘new svelte you’ before your mate in a couple of months time. Serious weight loss does not take long to accomplish with deep effort, and when you gradually start to see the pounds shifting, it will spur you on.
All you need is motivation, your own body weight to use as resistance, and a friend to spur you on, if you choose to. The hardest thing for someone who has not undertaken any exercise in a long time is the feeling of breathlessness. Exercise pushes the heart to pump round more blood and, in an unfit person, this will show as a side effect of fatigue and breathlessness. It is important to go slow and not push yourself too hard in the early stages. Exercise of any kind is always more beneficial than none.
Obviously, the heavier you weigh the harder it will be to perform bodyweight training such as press-ups, sit-ups, burpees, squat thrusts, jumping jacks, skipping, one-legged squats, dead lifts etc but this will cause your body to shed a lot of excess fat as well as build lean muscle tissue which increases the natural resting metabolism.
If you have a partner to work with, great, if you do not, place that funky CD in the machine and state in your mind that you are ready to make a change. You do not need to buy or use any items of equipment with body weight training because your body supplies the resistance. The heavier you are the more calories you will burn because your body has to perform the exercises against more weight. The pounds will start to fall off but you should aim to burn off around 7000 excess calories per week or 2lb of fat. This is only 1000 calories per day so with exercise and a calorie deficit, this can be easily done. The more exercise is done the more calories will be burnt. If more than two pounds is shown as weight loss on the scales, it will more than likely be water loss and will return when fluid is consumed.
As well as working your heart and burning fat, exercise will also change your total outlook on your diet. Exercise will curb cravings for junk food and, as you continue, you will start to make positive dietary changes.
So how does one start out training alone. Firstly, if you have never undertaken any exercise, consult your doctor for their advice. State that you will not be exerting yourself too much but you want to lose weight naturally through diet and exercise. I would advise that you keep your sessions to a minimum in the beginning, especially if you have never performed this type of exercise before, so aim to train for a minimum of ten minutes.
- Try to perform a minimum of five press-ups, (pull in abdominals, and keep back straight. If these are tough, get on your knees and perform the same number of press-ups)
- Ten sit-ups (without straining the neck and continue to look up at ceiling. You should feel a pull in your abdominal area. Try to perform them slowly to build that fat burning muscle.
- Aim for twenty seconds of squat thrusts or alternate squat thrusts (where either the left or right leg jumps out and the other leg jumps back in to train alternate muscles on either side).
- Burpees may be too tough for a beginner but I will explain exactly what you must do here. There are various varieties of burpees, some that include a press-up or others which are started in a press-up position but jump your legs in and then perform a high jump. That is one rep. Try to perform up to five and keep working at these fantastic body toning moves. This exercise works your arms, legs, buttocks, and abdominals, plus builds lean muscle tissue.
- Jumping jacks are a fantastic workout for the heart. Try to work up to thirty seconds but always listen to your body if the pain gets too much.
- One-legged squats are one of the best exercises to tone the buttock muscles. Very similar to a normal squat where the bottom is pushed back as far as possible, back is straight, and the thighs are parallel with the feet. One-legged squats are tough. If you need to hold onto something for support to get used to the kind of balance you require, use that help. Hold one leg in front of you or behind and squat down on one leg as far down as you can go so you are able to return up to the starting position without causing strain. Try to perform at least two on each leg.
- Dead lifts usually use weights but tins or bottles of water can be used. Stand tall and pick up the weight from the ground and pull it toward the hip area so you stand upright but lean back to lengthen your back in a deep stretch. Keep the back straight and bend the knees slightly. That is one rep. Try to perform up to ten dead lifts.
This may not seem like a lot of exercise, but to a novice some of these exercises will be tough. This will help to build your fitness and burn fat. In the next article, I will talk about how cardiovascular exercise is important for weight loss and in others I will talk about intermediate and advanced methods of training at home.
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