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60 in 3’s last series of articles dealt with the most effective things people can do when they first try to lose weight and get healthy. Now, I’d like to cover the opposite topic. What are some of the least effective steps people take when they try to turn their life around? What are some of the things that seem helpful but may actually be harmful to your health and to your efforts to improve it? Just as with the last list, this one will consist of an initial post with the topics and some general information about each, and then follow up posts with more information on each item. So without further ado, here’s the list of things not to do when you’re trying to lose weight, get in shape and be healthy.

1. Fad Diets - You’ve heard of them, you might have even tried them. The diet with nothing but fruit, the diet with nothing but bacon, the Atkins diet, the North Beach diet, the diet with nothing but shrimp or even the diet where you fast for three days to detoxify. All of these are fad diets. They might show some initial weightloss but are difficult to maintain and, in some cases, bad for your health. You’re much better off living a better lifestyle with healthy eating habits than you are trying one of these fad diets.

2. Do no exercise - This is particularly bad among women. The belief here is that weightloss and health is something that is directly related to eating habits and nothing else. Exercise and physical activity is seen as unnecessary, which is why you often see women engaging in some diet but seeing little in the way of results. Yes, physical activity is absolutely necessary if you want to be healthy and lose weight.

3. Do no research - And before the men get too cocky, here’s the common failing of most men. Rather than do research, they simply do what they think is right, what their friend Bob the mechanic thinks is right, what they remember from that show they saw on the Discovery Channel two years ago and what they think that girl they dated two years ago did to lose weight. Many men will do absolutely no research before engaging in life changing projects.

4. Cardio too soon - While cardio is a vital part of any healthy life, try it too soon, when you’re still overweight and out of shape, and you’ll find yourself out of breath, demoralized and discouraged. Even worse, you could actually damage your health by pushing cardio too fast and too hard before you’re ready for it. Take it easy. It took you years to get your body into the doughy shape it’s in now and it will take some time to fix that damage. So start out slow and work your way up.

5. Weight training too hard - This is another one for the guys. We tend to work out too hard when we first get to the gym, especially when it comes to weights. It’s as though we think the whole world is judging us and laughing at the fact that we can’t bench press more than 50lbs. So we try too hard and we lift too much and two days later we’re in the most intense pain of our lives. And sometimes, this makes us never come back to the gym. Start out slow and with a low weight, then work your way up.

6. Treat little setback as complete failures - This one is common to both men and women and it’s one I wrestled with when I first started recovering from my health meltdown. It’s the tendency to blow up any little setback into a major failure and then self destruct. You wake up in the morning and the scale tells you something you don’t want to hear, so you get frustrated and spend the whole day binging on chocolate. You try to walk up two flights of stairs but are out of breath by the second one, so you get demoralized and stop walking altogether. You give in to temptation and eat a donut in the morning and then you beat yourself up and binge on steak and cheesecake in the evening. We tend to think that one small failure means all our efforts mean nothing. Even worse, we use that one small setback as an excuse to leap headlong into failure. After all, if we already had one little failure, then the rest of the day’s worth of major failures doesn’t count, right? Wrong. It all counts. Stop using your little failures as justifications for bigger ones. So you made a mistake, so what? It’s not the end of the world.

7. Do it yourself, with no support - Human beings are social creatures. What we do and how we act depends in large part on the people around us. Our eating habits and physical activities are reflections of our upbringing, family, social circle and professional life. A change of health and fitness involves changing all of these things. Therefore, it’s much easier to do if you don’t try to do it alone. Get your family engaged in your project, get your friends involved. At the very least, keep people informed so they know what you’re trying to do and why. You’ll find that your family and friends can be very supportive of your efforts to live a healthier life and you’ll find that your health can greatly benefit from their support.

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One of my readers asked for a list of 10 steps to good health. I provided it, but now I want to break each of these items down and give you more useful details. So here’s step 5, cardio.

Almost everyone who’s trying to get healthy and lose a bit of weight will eventually take a look at cardio activity, and if they don’t they’re making a mistake. Cardio is an essential component of every healthy lifestyle. It promotes weight loss, increases cardio vascular health and improves your stamina.

Personally, I started doing true cardio about a year into my health recovery. By then, I had lost enough weight that running no longer hurt and I understood fitness and health enough to know that small failures are just temporary setbacks. So I was ok with being unable to run fast or far. Instead, I simply started running and slowly improved.

Benefits of cardio

Weight loss - Cardio burns a lot of calories. During an average cardio training session, I can burn upwards of 700 to 800 calories. However, cardio also elevates the metabolism causing your calorie burning to continue throughout the day.

Cardio vascular health - Most people don’t think of this, but your heart is just one more muscle. Like any other muscle, it could use a workout to get healthier. A cardio workout is sort of like a weight workout for your heart. You’re putting additional strain on it temporarily to strengthen and condition it. That way, your normal heart rate will be lower. That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but in general, cardio training really benefits your cardiovascular system.

How to start

Here’s something you can learn from my experience, jogging is not the only cardio alternative out there. For some reason, many people are familiar only with jogging and so that’s what they think of when you tell them about cardio. Actually, there are a number of cardio alternatives out there and I’ve discussed several of them in this previous post. So pick the activity you like and don’t be afraid to change things around later.

Now start slow. Don’t push yourself to failure the first day. That’s bad for your body and it’s bad for your soul. That first day failure almost made me quit. It’s much better if you slowly and gradually work your way up. So yes, you’ll start out that first day at a slow pace, but who cares? At least you’re doing something!

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I got an email yesterday from a reader of 60 in 3. They were reading the four day workout series of articles but they felt a bit lost. Here’s a quote from their email:

It sounds like a great workout, but I don’t even know where to begin. I’m 100lbs overweight and I don’t even feel like I can get on a treadmill and forget about the weight training. I don’t even know where to start. Is there a list of things I can do to start out with?

Well, I’m not a big fan of lists, they usually don’t provide enough information to be really useful, but I thought I would try something. I’m going to list out the ten biggest steps I did to turn my life around. I’ll start with the first step I took and end with the last. In today’s post, I’ll just list them and give a brief description, but over the next ten days I’ll go over each one in details. I’ll include details on why you should do it and also on how you should make the change. I hope that way I can give you the list but also make it useful.

So here are the biggest steps I think I made in my life to get fit, become healthy and lose weight. Number 1 is the first step I took and number 10 is the last. As I write the more detailed post, I’m linking them back to this list, so click on the specific items to see more information on each.

1. Walk - One walk every day. Doesn’t matter if it’s raining or blistering hot, I’m out there for at least 30 minutes.
2. Cut out the junk snacks - That means those corn dogs you ate before dinner, the chips you ate while watching TV and those pizza pockets you chomped down during the football game. They all have to go.
3. Cut out sodas - No need to drink your calories. If you really need the caffeine boost then switch to diet sodas. Otherwise, stick to water.
4. Weight training - That doesn’t necessarily mean going to the gym, it just means working out with some weights, and yes, this applies to women too.
5. Cardio - Yep, everyone needs to sweat a bit. Whether it’s on the treadmill or out on the dance floor.
6. Active life - Stop watching TV and start doing something active. That could mean walking instead of driving, taking the stairs instead of the elevator or going hiking instead of watching a movie. Choose to be active, not passive.
7. Healthy breakfast - It’s always a good idea to start out your day with a good breakfast. It will keep your energy levels high and your binging urges low.
8. Sleep - Regular sleep is a must. Get between 7 to 9 hours every day. Go to sleep at a regular hour and wake up at the same time every day if you can.
9. Smaller and more frequent meals - Don’t eat all your calories in one meal, split them up into smaller portions that you eat throughout the day. Like a healthy breakfast, this will keep your energy high and your binging low.
10. Cut down on the meat - No, you don’t need to become a vegetarian or a vegan, but you should eat less meat and especially less processed beef and pork.

There they are, the first ten steps to getting fit and losing weight. Tomorrow we start with the first one, walking.

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We’ve covered a standard four day workout over the past few days. We looked at how each day’s worth of exercises is constructed and we looked at cardio options as well. So what’s left? Well, nothing except a few tips and tricks to keep you motivated and interested.

Tracking - Tracking progress is vital if you’re going to keep at this. It doesn’t have to mean a journal or anything complex like that, it can mean a simple spreadsheet where you list the exercises you do each day, the weight you use and the number of reps you plan on performing. If you want to track all this online, there are a number of sites that can help you do so, like FitDay. Personally, I think FitDay is a bit of overkill, but to each his own.

Improvement - When something becomes easy, raise the difficulty. Yes, you should constantly be challenging yourself and your body. Now that doesn’t mean you should push yourself at all times, but it does mean that you should look for gradual and steady improvement. My philosophy is to look at my workout plan each week and improve one thing. Perhaps I will raise the number of reps of pushups I do per set or maybe I’m going to increase the weight on a specific set of exercises. Whatever it is, I just choose one thing and improve it while keeping everything else constant. Next week I choose something different and so on. Slowly but surely, my entire workout gets harder, but the change is so gradual that I never notice it.

Change - When it comes to workouts, change is good. You’ll find yourself hitting plateaus or finding specific exercises that just don’t agree with you. Also, it’s nice to change things once in a while to keep yourself interested. For me, I try to change out one exercise every month and replace it with something else. Of course, you’re going to need to replace it with something that works out the same muscle group, but that’s easy to do. There are various online resources that can help you find exercises for specific areas of the body. I use EXRX and Cooper’s Guns (Cooper’s was brought to my attention by a reader here at 60 in 3 and I can’t recommend it enough, it’s a great site).  You can also ask other people at the gym for advice, you’ll find them very willing to share.

Schedule - I really recommend that you find a schedule and stick to it.  Too many people think that a four day workout means that can keep putting it off.  “I’ll just start my workout on Tuesday…” is the common line I hear.  Except they never start on Tuesday, they keep pushing it off and it never gets done.  Decide which days you will work out on and stick to that schedule.  Yes, if you happen to miss one it’s ok, you have three more days in the week to catch up, but that should be the exception, not the rule.

That’s it, all the tips I have about this specific workout.  If anyone else has anything to share about what keeps them motivated and interested, I’d love to hear about it.

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We talked about a good four day workout last week. We covered the various exercises you should do as well as some tips and tricks for each. Now we’re going to finish it up with cardio. Yes, cardio is important for anyone serious about their health. You can eat healthy and lift all the weights you want, but you’re not done until you add some form of cardio.

I’ve covered some cardio options in the past in this article and I’d recommend you go back and read it. It will give you some overall information about the various cardio possibilities. However, for today’s article, let’s go with a bit of everything. Remember, you don’t have to do this at the same session as your weights workout. In fact, you don’t have to do these on the same day. Your weight sessions could be Monday to Thursday while your cardio is Thursday to Sunday. You could also do cardio before or after your weights. It’s all up to you and what you feel comfortable with.

The Exercises

Day 1 - Running. This means jogging on the street, running on a trail or spending time on the treadmill. 5 minute warm up at a slow pace, 30 minute run at a moderate pace and 10 minute cool down at a slow pace or walk.

Day 2 - Biking. Again, can do this on a stationary bike or you can actually go out there and bike. 5 minute warm up at a slow pace, 30 minute ride at a moderate pace and 10 minutes cool down at a slow pace.

Day 3 - Walk. This is slightly different from standard walking. It’s faster and harder. That means you need to find a tough hiking trail or an elliptical machine. Alternatively, you could find a set of stairs and then go up them for a while. Same setup, 5 minute warm up, 30 minutes of exercise and 10 minutes of cool down.

Day 4 - Run or bike but interval style. Interval style means exercise as hard as you can for a short period of time followed by a few minutes of slower exercise and so on. So for example, I usually run at 6.5 mph. On Day 1, I would simply run for the entire 30 minutes at 6.5 mph. On day 4, when I’m doing intervals, I will run for 1 minute at 7mph and then 4 minutes at 6mph. Do that 6 times and you’ve gone the entire 30 minutes. Intervals can be a bit tough at first, so if you’re just starting out, you may want to be careful here. Take it easy and don’t push too hard.

Summary

That’s four days of cardio right there, plenty for a whole week. Now doing this doesn’t mean you can sit on the couch for the rest of the week. You should still be out there, as active as possible. Go hiking for fun, dancing with a special someone, walk up the stairs at work and take a short hike after lunch. These are all things that should be part of your everyday life and have nothing to do with the amount of exercise you perform every week. Still, a structured exercise plan is a good thing to have, so take this four day workout that we’ve laid out in this series of articles, modify it to suit your needs, and then follow it every week.

We’ll finish up this series tomorrow with some tips on how to customize and modify the workout to better match your specific requirements.

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Today’s post is a response to a question posed by a reader. Here’s an excerpt from his email:

My local gym had a trial month, and I enjoyed the wide range of equipment but the normal monthly rate is just too high. So instead I’ve been thinking of getting a cross trainer (around $200) for home and doing other exercises that don’t need any equipment. Does that sound reasonable or do you need all that special equipment the gym has to offer? Also, how does the use of a cross trainer compare to a home trainer? To jogging? To swimming?

Maybe I should mention that I’m mostly interested in:

• losing some weight
• becoming fitter (I haven’t done sports for 10 years)
• getting my back into shape (I’m sitting at a computer all day)

Let’s start by dealing with the top question.

Home Vs. Gym

There’s no doubt that the gym offers more options than any home could. You have a greater range of machines, weights and facilities at a gym which means you can work out different muscles in multiple ways. However, working out at home can be almost as effective. Will you get a workout at home that’s 100% as good as the gym? No, but you can easily get a great workout at home that’s very close to the gym one. I find that I can do about 80 to 90% of what I want to at home. In fact, the only thing I really can’t do at home is cardio, which this reader is going to address with the purchase of a cross trainer. The only thing I would add is a set of dumbbells. You can easily get a good set with a variety of weights for under $50.

Cross Training vs. Swimming vs. Running

First of all, a terminology clarification. Cross trainer is a word that’s usually used to refer to an elliptical machine. However, it can also be used to refer to one of those home gym sets that offers a wide range of weight exercises, like a bowflex. I’m guessing this reader meant an elliptical machine by the context.

If so, cross trainer is going to be used for a cardio workout. Compared to running, the cross trainer is better in that it’s much lower impact. Your feet and knees are safer on a cross trainer than they are jogging, especially if you intend to jog outside on pavement. However, the cross trainer is a bit lower energy than running, meaning you won’t burn quite as many calories on it as you would running. However, the difference is relatively small and for someone just starting out, I would recommend the elliptical cross trainer over running just because of the lower injury risk.

Swimming on the other hand, is about as close as you can come to a perfect cardio workout. The only problems with swimming are the equipment you need (do you have year round convenient access to a pool?) and the boredom factor (how long can you swim back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth without going a little crazy?) If you’re ok with both of these issues, then go with swimming. Personally, I do have access to a pool but I just can’t handle the monotony of swimming. I can’t listen to my iPod or watch TV in the pool, so I choose other forms of cardio.

Summary

I think this reader is off to a good start. I would recommend starting out easy. If you haven’t worked out for ten years, you’re going to find yourself very sore if you overdo things. Do a short weight routine followed by some light cardio three to four times a week. Make sure you adjust your eating habits as well, since exercise alone is not as effective.

Make sure to document everything. That means keeping track of how much you exercise, what exercises you’re doing, what weights and so on. Then, each week, make a small improvement. That could mean staying on the cross trainer an extra minute, adding some weight to a specific exercise or doing an extra rep per set. Just keep increasing things gradually and consistently and you’ll slowly start seeing great results. Remember, you’ve been out of shape for years. You’re not going to fix that in a week or even a month. They key is to gradually improve in ways that you can maintain for the rest of your life.

Related Posts

Ways to cut down on the costs of a gym

A variety of cardio options

Designing a workout, general details

Designing a workout, some specifics

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We’ve been building a workout together over the past few days. We’ve gone over weight training and cardio. Today, we’re going to cover all the small details that you may not be aware of but which should make your workout experience a bit better.

Stretching

Stretching is important both before and after a workout. I try to do five minutes of general stretching before I start my workout. I then finish my weight workout with five minutes of stretching specific to the area I just worked out. I find that I avoid many of the aches and pains associated with a hard workout when I do this.

Warm up and cool down

This is sort of like stretching before and after your cardio. You really shouldn’t just start running at full speed. There should be a warm up period before your cardio where you go a bit slow, to let your body get used to the movement. Then cool down period after your cardio to let your body have a chance to slowly return to normal. I usually spend five minutes walking before and after my treadmill running workout.

Increasing intensity

We all like making progress, but how do we make progress at the gym? Well, by increasing intensity. You can do it by increasing difficulty or increasing quantity. With weights, increasing difficulty means increasing the weight while increasing the quantity means increasing the number of reps or sets. With cardio, increasing difficulty means increasing speed or resistance while increasing quantity means increasing time. I have a little spreadsheet that I use to keep track of my workout numbers. It’s not very sophisticated, but it helps me remember what I did last week so I can try to match that or beat it this week.

Just remember that this isn’t some kind of competition. You don’t have to improve everything every week. An easy goal to try for is to make one improvement every other week. That means every two weeks you will take one of the components of your workout and improve it. That could mean an extra minute on the elliptical, 5 more lbs on your biceps curls, 1 more rep of squats and so on. Just go for little improvements. Believe me, they add up over time.

Hydrate

Don’t forget to drink water. No, you don’t need a gallon bottle to drag with you everywhere you go. Just stop at the water fountain every 15 to 20 minutes or so.

Change It Up

Don’t be afraid of changing your routine. I see a lot of people who get stuck in a workout and never change it. Your body will adjust to this workout and stop improving over time. So make some differences. Just like I try to improve something every two weeks, I also try to change something every two weeks. Try a different exercise, do your legs workout on Monday instead of Wednesday, try the stationary bike for a day or take a spinning class for an hour. All of these things will keep your body engaged and they’ll keep you interested.

Safety

Remember that you’re trying to be healthy here, which means avoiding injury. This means be safety conscious. Don’t use machines that look broken. Ask someone to spot you if you’re not sure you can lift the weight. If you feel a pain somewhere, stop your workout. Try to walk it off. Does it seem like something temporary? Is it coming back every time you make a certain motion? If you have a chronic pain, something that comes back every time you work out, go to a doctor.

Make Friends

This is the best part of a gym, there’s people around you who are all interested in the same thing you are. Think about that for a second. You’ve just decided that health and fitness are important, and so has everyone else in the gym. Don’t think of them as people to ignore or obstacles on your way to the treadmill, these are valuable resources. They’re potential friends and workout partners. They’re people you can ask for advice. They’ll help encourage you, motivate and challenge you.

That’s it. Every tip I have for a successful workout. Next week we go over some tips on eating healthy. Until then, be healthy!

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