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100 Push Up Challenge

September 19, 2008 By 3 Comments


Family pushup

Originally uploaded by salomon888

I read about this on Get Fit Slowly and liked the idea as a way of introducing people to working out. You can find out more about the program here:

Hundred Pushup Challenge

The Basics

Essentially, it’s a 6 week program that challenges you to do 100 pushups. It includes gradual training routines that increase in difficulty every week and are tailored to different fitness levels.

Does It Work?

Sure. It seems pretty straightforward. However, keep in mind that it’s not a complete workout. This site really focuses on just pushups, and while pushups are a great exercise, they leave out quite a few muscle groups. So this is a neat way to change up your workout for a few weeks, but it’s not really what I would recommend for a normal routine.

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No, that guy in the picture has nothing to do with the 100 push up challenge.  I just saw the pic on flickr and really liked it.  Talk about getting your family involved with your workout…. :)

Filed Under: Alternative Workouts, Exercise, Work Out

Working Out Hard Enough?

September 17, 2008 By 2 Comments

One of the most frequent questions is a variation of “am I working out hard enough?” It’s usually something along the lines of “am I doing enough reps?”, “am I lifting enough weight?” or “am I running fast enough?” Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this. Everyone is different and what’s “hard enough” for me may be easy or impossible for someone else. Fortunately, there are a few guidelines.

Weight / Reps

Everyone has a different idea on what is a good weight and number of reps. Some people will do five reps with a lot of weight and others will prefer twenty reps with a light amount of weight. I have heard people claim that lower numbers of reps are good for building bigger muscles while higher number of reps are good for building tone, but I’ve seen ZERO evidence of this and no reliable research. If you know of any, feel free to send it in or add it to the comments. In the meantime, I’m going to assume that five reps are just as good as twenty assuming you lift sufficient weight.

Actually, I’m going to go one step further. I think you should vary the number of reps you do from day to day. Go light weight, high reps one day and high weight, low reps the next. I do this all the time, starting my week with a workout that uses ten rep sets and average weight on Monday. On Wednesday I do a workout with a low number of reps (around 7) and a high weight and I finish it off on Friday with a high rep (around 15), low weight workout. It keeps things interesting and challenging.

Still, what is the right amount of weight? Well, that’s something you’ll need to workout for yourself, but here’s a good rule. If you can consistently do two more reps that you intended to, then it’s time to increase the weight. For example, on Mondays I use ten rep sets. If I can lift my target weight 12 times, that means I should increase the weight. So if I intended to do 170lbs dumbbell presses and I managed to do 12 of those then I should probably increase the weight because my body is telling me “hey, this is easy! I can do extra reps here. Better crank up the weight and keep me challenged!”

By the way, the opposite is also true. If you find yourself consistently falling short at least two or three reps before your target number, you may wish to consider lowering the weight. Also, notice that I say consistently. Everyone can have an especially good or especially bad day once in a while. That’s not a reason to change your workout plan. However, if you do find yourself over or undershooting your rep goal multiple weeks in a row, it may be time for a change.

Cardio

I think I’ve spoken about this in the past, but I can’t find the old article to link to, so if this is a repeat for some of you, my apologies. Cardio is supposed to elevate your heart rate. So the best way to see if you’re working out hard enough is by measuring your heart rate. Your heart rate should be at around 60 to 80% of your max heart rate.  Max heart rate is calculated as 220 minute your age.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit hard to measure heart rate while you’re running so here’s a quick short cut. Elevated heart rate means faster breathing, so we can do a rough estimate of our heart rate by seeing how hard we’re breathing. Try the following, sing out “Mary had a little lamb, his fleece as white as snow”. If you can get through that whole line without taking a breath, then you’re not working out hard enough. Alternatively, if you have to take a breath in between each word then you’re probably working out too hard. You can also try the conversation trick. That is, if you can easily hold a conversation while working out, then you’re not working out hard enough. If you can barely say a word, you’re working out too hard. You should be able to talk, but only in short sentences and with breathing in between sentences.

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Also, if you’re able to casually read a book, peruse a magazine or do your homework, you’re NOT working out hard enough. Yes, I’m talking to you on the stationary bike!

Filed Under: Work Out

Workout At The Beach

September 15, 2008 By 2 Comments


Workout at the Beach

Originally uploaded by shyb

One of the misconceptions about workouts is that they have to happen at the gym or at home. I sometimes wonder why that is. I’ve often blogged about workouts at other places such as a hotel room. So why not extend that a bit further? If I can workout in a hotel room, can’t I also work out at the park? How about at the beach?

It’s All The Same

All of these places are excellent for working out. They keep us interested and motivated. Even better, many of them come equipped with exercise machines. For example, the local park around my work has an exercise track with 12 exercise stations set up along it. You can run or walk from station to station and simply follow the directions at each station that will explain what you need to do.

Bring Equipment

How often have you seen people go to the beach and bring a whole car load of “stuff”? It can be anything from towels to beach balls. Well, why not include a few small weights, a resistance band and maybe a jump rope. It’s not that much compared to that hibachi grill you’re lugging around.

Change It Up

Change is one of the key ingredients for a healthy life. You don’t want your body to get used to a routine, even if that routine does have some exercise in it. That’s why it’s great to change things up every once in a while. Do a calisthenics workout at the beach, do the track workout at the park. Whatever it is, take a break from your normal routine and challenge your body in a different way.

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This weekend I’m planning to go hiking. If you happen to be in the same park and see me doing some pushups in the middle of the trail, now you know why. :)

Filed Under: Alternative Workouts, Work Out

How To Get A Good Workout At The Hotel

September 12, 2008 By 3 Comments

I’ve been staying at a hotel the past couple of days and their fitness center is not quite up to par.  Actually, let me be clearer on this, their fitness center is awful!  Everything is either broken or about to break, which makes working out there a bit difficult.  So I’ve had to improvise a few things in order to get a good workout.

First, The Basics

Never ignore the basics.  Crunches, lunges, push ups, squats, calf lifts and so on.  These are your bread and butter.  They require no weights and can be done anywhere.  So yes, you’re lifting less weight because you’re doing body weight excercises, so what?  Do more reps and do them slower.  You’ll get a great workout.

Second, Improvise

That chair they gave you?  That would make a great weight!  Just hold it in your hands as your do your squats.  Or how about lying on your back and using your suit case as a weight for bench presses?  My suit case currently weighs about 80lbs due to some school books I brought with me.  That’s perfect for some nice slow sets of 20 bench presses.  Remember, a weight is just that, a weight.  Anything that you can hold and that has weight can be used as a weight.  It doesn’t have to look like a barbell and have a convenient shape in order to qualify as a weight.

Third, Always Be Prepared

There is plenty of workout gear which is portable and light.  Resistance bands are one example, a jump rope is another.  These are things that fit into any suit case and can be used in a variety of ways.  Resistance bands are especially useful.

Fourth, Find The Time

Yes I know, you’re busy on the road.  You had a full day of meetings and now you need to answer some email.  That’s fine, but you can still find the time to workout.  How about a set of exercises between each email?  How about a quick workout in the morning and another quick one in the evening?  I usually workout late in the evening when I’m traveling, between getting back to the hotel and going out to dinner.

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Last night I did 30 minutes of exercises, most of them with just body weight.  Was it a perfect workout?  No, but it was good and challenging and that’s all it needed to be.

Filed Under: Work Out Tagged With:

How Often Should You Exercise?

August 8, 2008 By 3 Comments

This is one of the more common questions I get from people, and one of the more important items I had to resolve when setting my own routine. I think it comes from fear. We’re afraid that we’ll have to spend out entire life in the gym and we’re worried that we might be committing ourselves to something we can’t sustain. So most of us, myself included, are scared that the answer might be “every single day”. We don’t want to exercise every day. We want time to go on with our lives.  Well, the truth is both better and worse than we imagine.

First, Exercise Is Not The Same As Physical Activity

Being physically active just means moving around instead of sitting on your butt all day long.  It means walking to the store, biking to the office or doing a bit of gardening.  It is not the same as exercise.  When you work out, you’re challenging your body.  You’re doing things that you don’t normally do in order to improve your physical ability.  Being physically active is not necessarily challenging.  For example, I just took a 30 minute walk.  Was it physically active?  Of course.  Was it exercise?  Not at all.  The walk didn’t challenge me, nor will it really improve my physical ability.  However, all that said, you should be physically active EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Yes, you heard me right, you should be doing something physical every single day and hopefully multiple times a day.  That could be walking, gardening or a slow bike ride.  What ever it is, you should strive to be physically active at all times.  However, this doesn’t answer the basic question of how often should you exercise.  After all, we just said that exercising is not the same as being physically active.

So How Often Should You Exercise?

The best answer I found to that question is around 5 times a week.  Any less and I feel like I’m not challenging myself enough.  Any more and I risk over exercise and injury.  That said, exercise doesn’t have to be at the gym nor does it have to be a structured workout.  For example, a hike that involves a lot of up hills can be exercise.  Fast paced dancing can be exercise.  A jog outdoors can be exercise.  Even playing soccer with friends can be exercise.

My personal rule of thumb is to get at least 3 resistance training sessions every week.  That means weights and a structured workout to make sure I am working out all areas of my body.  During those days, I’ll also do a light cardio session, usually 30 minutes in the elliptical.  The other 2 or 3 days I keep pretty flexible.  Maybe I’ll go biking with friends or maybe I’ll go hiking.  Maybe I’ll feel like doing sprints at the local track or maybe I want to hit the pool for some laps.  I might go dancing with my wife or I may go running with the dog.  Whatever it is, it needs to be physically challenging or else it’s not exercise.

Remember

Be Physically Active Every Single Day – Walking, gardening, slow paced biking, what you do it, make sure you do it all day as much as possible.

Workout Every Part Of Your Body At Least Once Per Week – That means weight or resistance training and it means a structured workout.  However, this can be done in 2 to 4 sessions which means you don’t need to “workout” every single day.

Exercise, or Challenge Yourself Physically, At Least Two or Three Times A Week – Fast paced dancing, hiking, team sports (baseball and golf don’t count!), jogging, sprinting, what ever it is, it should be challenging.

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Working out is something you do 2 or 3 times a week, usually at the gym.  Exercising is an almost daily activity.  Being physically active is a lifestyle.

Filed Under: Exercise, Work Out

Increasing Difficulty By Decreasing Speed

July 30, 2008 By 2 Comments

I’m always looking for ways in which I can improve.  That could mean running faster, lifting more weight or doing more reps.  However, I’m sometimes limited by my own body or the equipment around me.  For example, I’m love doing dumbbell presses but there’s only a certain amount of weight I can do before I start running into problems.  I can press more than I currently am but I don’t because it’s hard for me to walk to the bench holding those weights and then lie down with them.  So here’s a little trick I’ve been using for the past few years.

Drum Roll Please!

Rather than increase the weight or the number of reps, decrease the speed at which you’re working out.

If you’re currently doing 1 press every 3 seconds, try doing 1 press every 5 seconds.  Don’t use those extra two seconds to rest.  Instead, just move slower throughout the exercise.  If you’re doing one push up every 2 seconds, try doing a push up every 6 seconds by using slow, controlled motion.  The end result is a great workout with increased difficulty and better form.

Actually…

I think everyone should try a “slow” workout every once in a while.  First of all, they’re a nice change of pace (sorry for the horrible pun) but they’re also a wonderful way of working on proper form.  It’s much more difficult to have bad form when you’re doing a single exercise over 10 seconds rather than a single exercise over 2 seconds.

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You don’t need to pile on the weight to get a good workout.  Sometimes, all you need is to slow down a bit.

Filed Under: Work Out

Are Personal Trainers Worthwhile?

July 21, 2008 By 3 Comments

One of the most common questions I get on 60 in 3 is a variation on “Are personal trainers worth while?” Now, I think I’ve discussed this topic in the past, but only in passing, so it’s worthwhile to spend a bit more time on it.

What Is A Personal Trainer?

A personal trainer helps you with your work outs by telling you what to do and providing encouragement and support as you work out.  A good trainer will work with you by asking about your goals and then designing a workout meant to achieve those goals.

A personal trainer will not help you with your eating.  They might provide some nutriutional advice, but that’s not really their job.  If you need help with eating then you should be talking to a nutritionist or dietician.  By virtue of their long association with the health and fitness industry, a trainer may have some of their own ideas about what constitutes healthy eating, but they’re not really professionals in this area.

A personal trainer is also not a medical professional.  They should not diagnose medical conditions nor can they tell you what to do about medical conditions.  There are some personal trainers that work at hospitals helping patients recover, but even they are not usually medical professionals.  If you need someone to help you with a medical problem, you should go see a doctor.

Do Personal Trainers Really Help?

That depends on what you’re looking for.  A personal trainer provides you with the following:

  • Work out plan
  • Support and motivation

Do these things help?  Well of course they do, but are they worth the money you’re going to spend on the trainer?

Workout Plan

This is worth it but only if you’re new to working out and only if the trainer is a good one.  A good trainer will spend some time with you discussing your goals, your past workout experience and your likes and dislikes.   Based on this, they will come up with a detailed workout plan that’s very tailored to you.  A bad trainer will ignore your specific needs and see you as just another hour long appointment to get through.  They will have you do some general exercises and then completely forget about you.

If you’re new and if you can find a good personal trainer then this workout plan can be incredibly worthwhile.  The exercises will be ones that are specifically meant for you and for your goals.  The trainer will take the time to show you how to properly do them and should explain what the goal of each exercise can do.  They can also educate you about exercise in general, enabling you to modify and develop your workout on your own in the future.

For people with more experience, this workout plan isn’t really worth it.  I know what I like and dislike, I try out new things all the time and I understand how exercise relates to my goals.  Therefore, I don’t really need a personal trainer to design a workout plan for me.  It’s nice to talk to trainers occasionally and get their opinions on various things, but it’s not worth my money to actually train with them if all I get is a workout plan.

Support and Motivation

Luckily for trainers, a detailed workout plan isn’t the only thing they offer.  A less obvious but more important benefit of training with a trainer is the support and motivation you get from them.  Again, this varies from trainer to trainer, but the good ones will support you through the rough times and motivate you to keep going.  They’ll provide an incentive for you to go to the gym, they’ll keep you interested, entertained and focused as you workout and they’ll keep you motivated through all those times when you just want to quit and go home.  That right there is a priceless benefit.

Most people aren’t unhealthy because of a lack of education.  We all know that we need to eat healthier and be more active and, with a little bit of research, it’s not hard to educate yourself about what that means.  So if we all know how to be healthy, why are so many of us unhealthy?  Well, it’s mostly about motivation.  Yes, we all know what we need to do, but it’s really hard to actually go ahead and do it.  It’s hard to avoid that last piece of cake and it’s hard to motivate ourselves to go to the gym when our favorite show is on and it’s cold outside and why the heck to I need to do cardio anyway!???!

That’s the real benefit of trainers.  The workout plan is a nice bonus, but a good trainer, one who can keep you motivated, is worth his or her weight in gold.

So How Do I Find A Good One?

Talk to people.  Ask your family, friends and coworkers if they know a good trainer.  Ask them if the trainer they worked with really paid attention to them or if trainer saw them as just another job.  Ask them if the trainer kept them interested in working out and motivated them to keep exercising.  Check to see if the people you’re talking to are still keeping healthy and fit since healthy long term customers are the hallmark of a good trainer.  Once you find a trainer, see how they treat you during the first few sessions.  Do they seem interested in what your goals are?  Are they listening to you?  Are they explaining what various exercises are and why they’re having you do them?  Or are they just standing there with a bored expression telling you to do another set of lunges?

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If you need motivation and have a bit of money to spare, a good trainer can be a priceless asset.  Just make sure you get a good one since a bad trainer can sap your will to exercise.

Filed Under: Exercise, Motivation, Work Out
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