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Freeweights or Machines, Which Is Better?

April 1, 2009 By 3 Comments

Colin writes in:

I started working out about 6 months ago and I’m feeling great.  I have a question, which is better, freeweights or machines?  Also, is it true that people who use freeweights get injured more?

Hello Colin, congratulations on your 6 months of working out.  You’re past the hardest parts.

I think I answered a similar question a few months ago but since I couldn’t find that article myself, I guess I’ll answer this again.  If any reader manages to find the original post, please link it in the comments.

As for your question.  Let me handle the second question first.  Yes, free weights do pose a greater injury risk.  First of all, it’s easier to injure yourself through simple mishaps such as dropping a weight on your foot or falling down, things that are nearly impossible when using a machine.  In fact, my only gym injury in 6 years happened because I dropped a dumbbell on my head.  Second, because your body isn’t confined to a limited range of motion, there is a greater chance to stress muscles and joints in an inappropriate manner while working out with free weights.  For example, if you try to do dead lifts incorrectly with free weights, you can strain your back or your legs.  Doing back exercises with a machine is much safer since your range of motion is limited.

However, that said, I am still a big proponent of free weights and believe that they are superior to machines in a number of ways.  When you work out with machines, you are limited to a very specific set of motions and muscles.  For example, when you do a back exercise on a machine you are only working out the back muscles, nothing else.  When you do a similar back exercise with free weights (dead lifts for example) you are working out the back but you are also recruiting the leg muscles, shoulders and upper arms in a variety of ways.  Yes, the back muscles are still the ones being worked out, but you’re also seeing benefits all over your body.  In other words, working out with free weights is a more “natural” way of working out.  You’re doing motions that your body does normally, only with weights.  Where as machines limit you to a very narrow motion.

The key is good form.  If you have good form, you will minimize your injury risk and maximize your free weight workout.  Good form means control and isolation of muscles.  It means you lift the weights with the muscles you’re trying to work out, recruiting other muscles only for stability, and you control both the speed and the range of the lifting motion.  If you don’t have good form and you have no desire to learn good form, you should stick to machines.  You’ll get a better workout and you won’t injure yourself.

Filed Under: Injuries, Reader Q&A, Work Out Tagged With: , ,

Stop Using The Escalator!!!

March 27, 2009 By 4 Comments


escalator

Originally uploaded by gal.josefsberg

The picture you see here is a relatively well known one but it never fails to amaze me. People avoiding the stairs and riding an escalator up to the gym. The first thing that went through my head is “wow, those people are pretty dumb” but the next thing I thought of is “Why is that escalator there in the first place?”

We all know that we have an obesity epidemic and we all know that the leading cause is the crap we eat and the amounts of it that we consume. However, the second leading cause of our ever expanding rear ends is our unwillingness to get off those rear ends and move around a bit, and that’s not just true at the gym parking lot.

Our Bodies

First of all, let me be the first to admit that I sometimes fall prey to this too.  That is, I sometimes avoid instances where I can be physically active because I don’t notice them.  I’ve become so accustomed to this culture of ours where physical activity has become something to avoid that I forget how much I enjoy and appreciate it.  I say this because I don’t want you to feel as though I’m yelling at you.  I’m trying to encourage you to change your behavior by making you see it for what it is.  I’m not better or smarter than you and I’m wrestling with the same issues you are, but I hope that I can help you a bit by teaching you what I’ve learned through my own struggles with weight and health.

Part of the problem is our culture.  We have been taught to think that a life of luxury is a life of comfort.  A life where other people do things for us and where we need to do very little for ourselves.  We tend to think of an active lifestyle as a “blue collar” life fit only for those who are poor or uneducated.  If you’re educated then a healthy lifestyle is one in which you work out once a day for about an hour at a time.  Now this is a generality.  There are many people for whom an active lifestyle is filled with many activities, only some of which are performed at the gym.  However, those people are probably not reading this blog.  They’re out there somewhere hiking or camping.  :)

You and I unfortunately, are not those people, at least not yet.  You and I haven’t quite accepted physical activity into our lives, which is why we’re still struggling with our weight and our health.  So what I want you to do is think back for a second. Imagine our ancestors in whatever forest, prairie or mountain they lived on. Look around them. You probably see them hunting for food, gathering materials for clothing and tools and performing the other day to day tasks of life in the stone age.

Now look closely. Do you see that stone age guy in the back on this bowflex machine doing knee curls? What about that woman in the furs doing bicep curls using a mammoth bone and two rocks? OF COURSE NOT! That’s because people back then didn’t work out. They didn’t jog for fun nor did they go to the gym. The only sprints they did was when a saber toothed tiger was chasing them!  Our daily workouts are a substitute for their active lifestyle and a pretty poor substitute at that.

Rather than being active all day, we sit at our desks most of the time, go to the gym for one hour and call ourselves active.  Unfortunately, that just doesn’t cut it. Being physically active means taking every opportunity to move rather than taking every opportunity to avoid moving.

Examples

  • Those people on the moving sidewalk at the airport? They’re avoiding being active.  I know how tempting it is to ride those things.  I’ve been there too.  You’re carrying the bags, you want to get to your gate and sit down already.  However, your body needs that walk.  It needs to carry things.
  • Called up your neighbor recently? Why not walk over and talk to them instead?  I know it’s convenient to pull out the cell phone and just call, I’ve done it myself on many occasions.  However, we need to teach ourselves a new way.  We need to start telling ourselves to stop avoiding activity and start seeking it out.  That question for the neighbor is an opportunity to walk.  It’s good, not something to be avoided.
  • Got a ride-on lawnmower?  Why?  How about enjoying the day and the chance to walk around your lawn for a while.  I’m not asking you to use one of those push mowers, just to walk behind a motorized one.  Trust me, you’re not going to pass out and you may even find yourself enjoying the experience.  I know I do.
  • Touring a new city? Don’t take that Segway tour, or the tour bus.  Walk around those streets, talk to the locals, see the sights close up.  You’ll feel tired but you’ll also have a much better experience.

Our culture is based around avoiding effort. Dirty house? Get a cleaning service! Yard needs work? Hire a gardener! Hungry? Order food delivery from the internet! Everything can be done for you so that you never have to get up off that couch. Which leaves you plenty of time to complain about never being able to lose weight (or save money). We spend our lives paying for ways in which we can avoid activity and then wonder why we’re fat and out of money.  And again, I’ve been there myself.  I still find myself there sometimes.  Just the other day I found myself at the local hardware store looking at my lawn and thinking “boy, it sure would be easier if I hired a gardener”.  Then I remembered that I wanted to be healthy.  I wanted to be active.  I also remembered how much I liked the smell of freshly mowed grass and the feeling of looking at my lawn and knowing that I did a great job making it look pretty.  So I put my wallet back in my pocket, got out the lawnmower and got to work.

How about you join me?  How about we all start doing this together?  Let’s stop avoiding physical activity and start welcoming it into our lives.  Let’s seek out physical activity in all parts of our lives, from the office to our hobbies, from the lawn to our family time.

So how about we change this?

  • Take one item in your life which is currently powered and make it unpowered. For example, I am going to stop trimming my hedges with a power trimmer and start using normal muscle powered sheers.
  • Stop using escalators and elevators.  Ok, those of you who work on the 40th floor may still want to use an elevator, but if you’re at the mall and need to get to the pretzel shop on the 2nd floor food court, how about climbing the stairs? If that sounds like too much effort, you probably shouldn’t have the pretzel…  :)   As for me, I’m going to stop using the car for any trip less than a mile and start using my legs and bike again.  It’s summer time here in California and I love walking.
  • Stop using the phone and internet for everything. Got a coworker or neighbor you need to talk to? Stand up, walk over, say hello and talk.  I’m talking to you Pete!  You’re going to see me knocking on your door more often :)

Whatever it is, stop avoiding physical activity and start welcoming it into your life. It will keep you healthy and put a few extra dollars into your wallet in the process.

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EDIT – The first version of this post was much more negative than I intended.  Thank you to those of you who sent in feedback about this.  I know I sometimes get preachy, but I had no such intention here.  I hope you forgive me for my lapses and keep working with me as we journey together towards a better life.

Filed Under: Healthy Habits, Work Out

Is Improvement Necessary?

March 23, 2009 By 5 Comments

When I first started working out, I couldn’t lift anything other than the bar and I couldn’t run for more than 5 minutes at 4.5mph.  That’s pretty bad no doubt about it.  Slowly but surely I improved to the point where I can lift a respectable amount of weight and maintain a 6.5mph pace for over an hour without feeling tired.  I’m very proud of these accomplishments and I’m happy with the way my body performs these days, but now I wonder, should I keep trying to improve?  Should I keep pushing myself to lift more, run faster, go longer?  Is there a point to improvement beyond a certain level?

Let’s take weight as an example.  Clearly there is an “ideal” weight that I should be aiming for.  This weight should not be too high nor too low.  Once I get to it, I should stop trying to change my weight and just focus on maintaining that level of weight.  It’s a bit difficult to figure out that ideal weight but with the help of a doctor, a trainer or any of a number of websites, you can come pretty close.  So in terms of “improving” my weight, I know exactly what I need to do.

Unfortunately, workout performance isn’t quite the same thing.  I am running today at 6.5mph.  Should I try to improve?  Will there be benefits from improvement?  Will those benefits be worth the effort needed in order to improve?  This isn’t as clear as the weight issue.  Theoretically, performance can always be improved but realistically there’s going to be a point beyond which I cannot progress.  Also, what’s the point of running at 6.6mph compared to 6.5mph?  Sure, I’ll be running faster, but is there any benefit to my body?  My heart rate and blood pressure are excellent.  Will improving my cardio performance help my body?

What about weights?  If I bench press more weight will it really help me?  I already have very good muscle tone and I’m lifting a considerable amount of weight.  Will trying to improve that improve my health or will it just increase my risk of injury?

Purpose

As I was struggling with some of these questions, I noticed a few things.  Look at the way in which I phrase these questions.  “Will doing X improve my health?”  That’s important because it clearly shows what my goals are.  I didn’t say “will doing X help me win the race” or “will doing X give me bigger muscles”.  I am concerned with health and that’s it.  I’m not trying to imply that winning races or building muscles are bad goals, I’m simply saying that, for me, the goal is health.  We all have our own reason for working out and recognizing those reasons is important when it comes to making decisions.  Without knowing WHY we workout, we’re going to make bad decisions about HOW we work out.

Let’s take the running question as an example.  I have no intention of becoming a competition runner.  I don’t need to run very fast nor am I looking to beat some specific time goal.  I run because I enjoy running and because I want to keep my body in shape.  So my decision on improvement should take these factors into consideration.  Will improving my speed improve my health?  The answer is yes but only slightly and only up to a certain point.  Improving my endurance by running for an hour at 6.5mph as opposed to 5 minutes at 4mph was clearly a huge change.  Improving from this point will only provide me with a marginal health benefit at best.  Plus, at a certain point, I might actually be decreasing my overall health since training at these levels might increase my risk of injury.

Deciding where to stop improving is harder then deciding when to stop losing weight.  There is less science around the “optimal” performance level.  So I’m going to use a few factors to decide this.

  • Personal comfort – I want to run at a good pace but I don’t need kill myself.  So speeds that are too high for me to enjoy my run are out.
  • Injury Risk – I have no desire to go through the repeated and frequent injuries that high end athletes go through.  With running, I want to minimize the impact damage to my legs.
  • Cardio Performance – I do want to keep my heart rate and blood pressure in a good and healthy range.  That means working out hard but it also means not working out too hard.  A heart rate above 85% to 90% of max is not good.

With all this in mind, I’ve decided that my current running speed is fine but I would like to go for a slight improvement.  I have no desire or need to go faster or longer but I think moving up to 7.0mph would give me a better health benefit without any downsides.  So I’ll keep working on some improvement in my running speed.

Weights

For weights I am making a similar decision with similar considerations.

  • I like the feeling of lifting more weight.  There’s something very primal about it.  Yes, it might be shallow and vain, but that’s ok :)
  • I am getting to the point with several exercises where increasing weight might increase the risk of injury.  For example, I can already feel the strain on my joints when I do something like overhead triceps extensions.
  • In terms of health benefits, there’s very little else that I can gain from more weight.  I already do enough weight, enough reps and enough times a week.

So I’m going to try and improve in a few specific exercises where I think I can still benefit from improvement, but for the most part, I’ll keep my weight levels as is.  I might sub in some new exercises just to keep things interesting and to keep my body challenged, but I’m not going for as much raw improvement as I was before.

You!

Are you trying to improve?  If so, why?  That’s not a joke.  I honestly want you to know WHY you should be improving.  What are your goals?  Do you need to improve in order to achieve them?  In what ways?  Make sure your goals are aligned with your plan or else you’ll find yourself lost along the path.

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Remember, a bit of time spent upfront thinking about goals will save you a lot of bad decisions down the road.

Filed Under: Injuries, Motivation, Work Out Tagged With: ,

Trying Out Bikram Yoga

March 18, 2009 By 4 Comments

I’ve been wanting to try out yoga for a while now. I’ve always heard that it’s a great combination of workout and stretching with some meditation elements thrown in. So when a friend invited me to try Bikram yoga, I jumped at the opportunity. Of course, I did run away from the first class I was supposed to attend with her, but that’s another story. This morning, at 5:30am, I showed up for my lesson of Bikram Yoga.

For those who are not aware of it, Bikram Yoga is similar to other yoga in that practicioners go through a variety of poses.  Some of these poses resemble stretching while others are pretty intense resistence bearing exercises that come very close to being a weight workout.  The only differences with Bikram style yoga is that it’s done in a room heated to 105f degrees.  That’s slightly lower than sauna temperature if you’re trying to do the math.  According to the originator of this style, the heat is conducive to both the physical and mental aspects of the exercise.  I’m not so sure about the mental part but the heat definitely had me straining physically.

The Poses

I’m not going to go through a description of all the poses but I will give a few examples.  About half the poses fell into a category I would define as intense stretching.  Things like standing straight up with your hands reaching above your head and then bending to the right at the hips.  Many of these poses were quite difficult and required much more flexibility than I have.  However, I can see how, with time, I could achieve the same level of flexibility a few of the other students had and that’s encouraging.  The second category of poses were what I would define as load bearing exercises.  For example.  Stand up straight, reach your hand forward and then slowly bend at the knees.  When you are in a position resembling a seated one only with no chair beneath you, hold that position for ten second.  Essentially this is a slow motion squat with the hardest part held for a lengthy period of time.  Doesn’t sound like much compared to my usual dumbbell squats but believe me, it’s challenging.  Especially when you have to do these things on one leg.  Post workout, my body felt like I had just gone through a moderate weights workout.

The Heat

This aspect is unique to Bikram Yoga and is not shared by other yoga styles as far as I know.  For me, it was a bit difficult to stay focused on the poses because of the heat.  I sweat a lot and the heat combined with the exercising had me dripping sweat by the 10 minute mark.  The last 30 minutes were uncomfortable for me as I stood there dripping sweat but trying to focus on my breathing.  However, the first 60 minutes did feel good, possibly due to the intensity of the heat.   I’m not sure to be honest, but it was a very different feeling to work out in this intense dry heat and, until I got to the point where I was totally soaked, I was enjoying it.

Is It Worth It?

For me, the answer is no.  The cost of a yoga class is around $10 to $20 and I can get the same benefits at the gym or on the track.  Still, I’m glad I tried this class.  It was an interesting experience and taught me some good lessons about my body and stretching.  For someone with less inhibitions about spending money or for someone looking to work on flexibility, this class would be very valuable.  Also, if money is an issue, you can find a variety of yoga instructions online or in book format.  All you need to practice them at home is a mat and some patience.

If you’re in the South Bay, this is the yoga studio that I took the class at:  Bikram Yoga San Jose

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Next up on my list of workouts to try?  Spinning!


Filed Under: Alternative Workouts, Work Out Tagged With: , , ,

A Good Shoulder Workout

February 27, 2009 By 10 Comments

Do me a favor, stand up, arms at your side.  Now lift your arms forward until they point straight out in front of you.  Got it?  Good, now put your arms back at your side.  Again, lift your arms but this time straight out to the sides, not to the front.  Hold for a second and put them down.  Finally, lift your arms straight up above your head, hold for a few seconds and then put them back down at your side.  So why the heck did I have you do this?  Because it’s a good illustration of what’s good and bad with many workouts.

Why Direction Matters

It’s funny, but when I say the shoulder muscle group most people hear only the first two words.  They hear shoulders and muscle and that’s all.  So they go ahead and incorporate one or two shoulder exercises into their routine and call it a day.  Unfortunately, the shoulder group is just that, a GROUP of muscles, all working together to move your arms around.  Depending on the direction of the movement, some of these muscles work more, work less or don’t work at all.  Some do a lot of the pushing and pulling and others will just do stabilization so your arms go in the direction you intend.  The important lesson is that they all need to be exercised.  That means a good shoulder workout is one which incorporates a variety of movements, each working out different muscles in the shoulders in different ways.  Let’s take a look at a workout like that.

Front Raises

Lateral Raise

This guy has amazing form by the way!  Look at how steady he is as he raises the weights.

Shoulder Press

Pushups

Pull Ups

Compound Exercises

By the way, if you look at all of these exercises, you’ll see that none of them are machine ones.  I’m not a big fan of various exercise machines because I feel that they isolate muscles too much.  That is, you only work one muscle at a time.  I’m a much bigger fan of these free and body weight exercises which workout multiple muscle groups at a time.  For example, push ups workout the shoulder, the chest and even the abs and back.  Pulls ups work the shoulders and the upper arms and so on.  Plus when you do free and body weight exercises, you recruit a lot of other muscles to stabalize you even if they’re not doing the actual lifting work.

Still, even if you’re a big fan of machine exercises, make sure to workout your muscles in a variety of different ways.  Take a look at these exercises that I listed here.  Each is different even though they all work out the shoulder.  If you only did one of them you’d be doing yourself a disservice.  Now granted, a lot of you are like me and don’t have an unlimited time in the gym to do a dozen different types of exercises, but you do have enough time to do 5 or 6 different ones for each muscle group.  If you manage your time well, you shouldn’t be spending more than 10 minutes on each muscle group.

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Think about your day to day use of your shoulder.  Are you only using your shoulders to move your arms one way?  Are you always moving your arms forward?  Of course not.  So make sure your workout accounts for all the ways in which you use your shoulder!

And remember, this doesn’t just apply to shoulders.  The only reason I picked shoulders is that, due to their flexibility of motion, shoulders are the best example for this.  The same lesson applies to all your muscle groups.

Filed Under: Building Muscles, Exercise, Work Out Tagged With: , , ,

Boxing Workout

February 18, 2009 By 6 Comments

As owner and author of 60 in 3, I tend to get various offers for free stuff.  Most of the time they’re for things I’m not interested in.  Things like diet pills, weird workout gadgets, energy bars and so on.  On rare occasions though, someone comes through with an offer that’s interesting enough for me to look at.  That’s what happened to me last week with LA Boxing.

hanging up the gloves.JPG

LA Boxing is a string of gyms spread all around the US which specialize in boxing and boxing related workouts.  Their PR rep made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse.  “Come down to one of our gyms and try out a boxing workout.  Then tell us what you think.”  This came at a perfect time for me since I’ve been thinking about buying a punching bag for my house and I’ve been wanting to try out boxing for a while.  So last Saturday morning I went the local LA Boxing gym in San Jose and spent an hour training.  Note that this was not some special class that they set up for me.  This was their normal Saturday morning class with their regular customers.

First Impressions

My first thoughts as I entered the gym were “huh, this is not what I was expecting.”  Maybe I’ve seen too many boxing movies, but I was expecting a run down gym filled with men hitting one another.  Instead, LA boxing has just one ring, a few exercise machines and class workout area filled with punching bags.  Everything was clean and well maintained.  Also, the customer base included a lot of women and children.  The ratio of women to men was actually a lot higher than any other gym I’ve been to.

Equipment

Each participant picked a punching bag and had boxing gloves.  That was all the equipment necessary.  Gloves were provided by the gym if you didn’t have any.  I would also recommend hand wraps since without them, you’re going to scrape some skin off your knuckles.

The Workout

I’m not sure what I expected from a boxing workout.  A lot of punching a bag I suppose.  What I got was very different.  We started out with the gloves off doing a bit of calisthenics to warm up.  Jumping jacks, push ups, crunches, lunges, jumping squats and so on.  Fast sets with the instructor urging us on.  After 5 or so minutes, we stretched for 5 more minutes and then the workout began in earnest.

The workout alternated boxing combos with calisthenics.  For example, the instructor would show us a 6 or 8 move combo and have us repeat it multiple times using either speed or power.  Speed means you punch fast, power means you punch hard.  Either way, the workout was very fast paced and much more demanding than I expected.  After each 5 minute punching set, Tony (the instructor) had us do 5 minutes of other exercises like crunches, leg lifts and lunges.  These sets worked out muscles that the boxing parts of the workout did not.

The combination of boxing and calisthenics had me sweating in no time.  Now I’m in pretty good shape but I have to say that I found the workout very challenging.  I got caught up in the boxing parts and was enjoying them so much that I didn’t notice how much energy I was pouring out into that bag.  By the end, I was sore and covered in sweat.  Still, it was a good kind of sore, that kind you get from a great workout.

Notes

Dexterity - This is one of the few workouts that I felt worked on dexterity as well as physical conditioning.  The various combos and moves you work on will improve your hand eye coordination as well as your overall agility.  That’s a benefit I have not seen in any other workout.

Full Body – I expected a boxing workout to only work out my upper body, but the combination of boxing and other exercises made sure that my whole body participated.

Boxing High – A few weeks ago I spoke about a runner’s high and mentioned that it’s something you can only get when running.  Well, now I’ve experienced something new, a boxing high.  It’s not the same as a runner’s high but there’s just something about punching that bag.  Maybe it’s a guy thing, I have no clue, but wow.  I wasn’t just physically tired at the end of that workout, I was emotionally spent as well.  Any aggression, hostility or other kind of negative emotion, it all went into that bag.  It felt good.

Recommendation

Would I go back?  Definitely!  LA Boxing is a bit far away from my house but still.  I enjoyed that workout so much that the trip back would be worth it.  In the meantime, I’m definitely thinking of installing a punching bag in my garage and doing some boxing workouts of my own.  If you have a boxing gym anywhere near you, sign up for a class and see if you like it.  I think you will.

Thank You

Thank you to Monica and LA boxing for giving me the chance to attend a class.  Thank you to LA Boxing San Jose for being my hosts.  And thank you to Tony Johnson, my instructor, for an incredible workout.  If you’re in the San Jose area, you can contact Tony and LA Boxing at (408)729-5269.

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And thank you to Me-Ander for including a 60 in 3 article in their debut weight loss carnival.

Filed Under: Alternative Workouts, Cardio, Exercise, Gyms, Review, Work Out

What’s A Good Workout?

February 11, 2009 By 4 Comments

I get this kind of question a lot “here’s my routine, is it good?”  The routine in question can vary.  Some people tell me about their cardio routine, others tell me about their weight lifting days.  I even get questions about things like Wii Fitness workouts and the SEAL training regimen.  The answer to all of these is “well, it depends.”  There’s no specific set of exercises or routines that is good or bad.  Yes, there are a few exercises that are more injury prone and a few that are less effective than others, but almost any workout can be good if done correctly.  So rather than go into specifics, I’d like to present to you a few general rules on what makes a good workout routine.

Cardio

Yes, cardio is a must for any workout routine.  Three to four times a week, you should be engaging in high level exercise that elevates your heart beat to around 70% of max, give or take a little.  You should maintain this for at least 15 to 20 minutes AFTER you reach this heart rate, which could mean an additional 15 to 20 minutes of warm up.

Running, biking, playing basketball, swimming, aerobics, jazzercise, spinning, whatever you pick, it’s all good as long as you follow the above rule.  Each of these activities has its advantages or disadvantages and you’re going to have to try them and decide for yourself which one you like best.  You can even mix and match like I do, doing running a couple of days and elliptical the other days.  As long as you’re doing something that gets your heart rate up, you’re good.

Weight Training

Yes, you do need weight training and yes, even if you’re a woman.  At least two times a week would be my recommendation and three or four if possible.  Now weight training does not necessarily mean training with weights, so I suppose I should call this resistance training if I want to be more accurate.  For example, doing push ups is great resistance training even though it involves no weights.  Some forms of Yoga are good resistance training, as are some forms of pilates.  Whatever you pick, it needs to challenge your muscles.  You’re basically trying to work your muscles to the point of failure.

You know that point where your arms are quivering and you’re not sure you can lift anything else?  Yes, that’s the point of failure.  You want to do that with all the major muscle groups in your body and you want to do it multiple times a week.  By the way, guys should know that there are muscle groups other than chest and biceps and girls should know that there are muscle groups other than ass and legs.  :)

Seriously though, you should be challenging every muscle group in your body to the point of failure multiple times a week.  Preferably in a variety of ways.  So for example, a good chest workout means three or four different types of exercises each done to the point of failure.  The reason for this is because a muscle group is just that, a group.  It’s not just one muscle.  Each exercise trains and challenges different muscles in different ways, even within the same muscle group.  Lifting weights straight forward trains muscles differently than lifting them out to the side, which means different muscles in the same muscle group are being used.  So doing multiple types of chest or leg exercises means all the muscles within those muscle groups are trained, not just one.

Also, if you’re curious, the main muscle groups most people train are upper arms (biceps and triceps), Shoulders, Chest, Abs, Back and upper legs (which includes your butt).  Sure, you can train the lesser muscle groups like calves and lower arms, and if you have time, I highly recommend that you do.  However, for those of us with limited time, focus on the major muscle groups.  Even better, do compound sorts of exercises that train multiple muscle groups at the same time.  For example, squat down with dumbbells in your hands.  Now slowly stand up.  As you stand up, extend your arms up, lifting those weights over head and keep straining up until you’re standing on your tip toes.  Guess what, you just training multiple muscle groups (upper legs, shoulders, triceps and calves) all at the same time.

Keep Active

Yes, a workout doesn’t just include your time at the gym.  You need to use those muscles you built.  That means that when you’re not in the gym you should still keep active with things like walking, yard work, dancing or really energetic sex with your partner!

Rest

Your body does need a break from time to time.  Pick one day a week and try to take it easy that day.  No hikes or dances and keep the sex to a slightly less than energetic level :)

Read more
How to design a workout
Four day workout

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If you’re curious, my current workout include resistance training three times a week for about 45 minutes each.  Jogging twice a week for about 45 minutes each and elliptical three times a week for about 40 minutes.  Plus I stay active on non workout days other than Sunday, that’s my rest day.

Filed Under: Building Muscles, Cardio, Work Out
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