Not Your Average Fitness Tips

Archive for the ‘Beginners Workouts’ Category

With the weather improving this time of year, a lot of people consider running for weight loss.  However, the question comes up about how to start running for beginners.  I’ve done my fair share of running on and off throughout the years and am considering once again adding it to my cardio repertoire.  What I’ve compiled below is an overview of a running program for beginners including the health benefits of running, common running injuries, running techniques, and how to use running for weight loss. Continue Reading…

If you’re new to exercising, you might be looking for a good beginner workout routine.  However, you’re probably not sure whether you should be doing strength training exercises such as weightlifting routines or bodyweight routines, or whether you should just be doing cardio.  The truth of the matter is that workout routines for beginners are going to vary based on your starting level of physical fitness.

How Fit Are You?

Prior to undertaking any exercise program, you have to determine what type of shape you are in (and seek your doctor’s advice if needed).  Are you significantly overweight or just looking to lose fat on the margins?  If you’re significantly overweight, then I would recommend simply performing cardio until you can shed some pounds.  Excess cardio can lead to muscle loss, but at this point, I think developing a healthy cardiovascular base and losing some extra weight is more important.  If you’re really out of shape, something as simple as a regular walking routine can provide a good starting point.  You can elevate to a steady state cardio routine before getting to the best cardio for weight loss: a HIIT workout routine. Continue Reading…

Some recent studies have suggested that it is possible for people to be both fat and fit.  The research equated the definition of fit with being healthy.  In other words, it found that people could be obese but still have healthy cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure levels.  I personally think there’s more to being fit than just health measures.  Here are the 5 components of fitness. Continue Reading…

Aerobic exercise seems to be a core component of many fitness programs, especially beginners workout routines.  However, should they incorporate anaerobic exercise as well?  A fundamental question centers around aerobic vs anaerobic exercise and the benefits that each offer.  It’s really a difference of low intensity vs high intensity.  Generally people think of aerobic training as low intensity cardio performed in the “fat burning zone.”  There is less familiarity with anaerobic exercise.  Anaerobic exercise encompasses high intensity training such as a strength training routine or HIIT routine.  This chart breaks down different exercise zones by heart rate (aerobic is light orange, anaerobic is dark orange).

Read on to find out how and why both aerobic and anaerobic exercise should be incorporated into a fitness routine. Continue Reading…

Just a quick post about an interesting article I read a few days ago.  The article highlights how 10 minutes of high intensity exercise lead to metabolic changes that last an hour.  An emerging field called metabolomics performed metabolic profiling of people and hopes to determine what exactly causes health improvements from exercising or eating less saturated fat.  Metabolomics even hopes to determine if some people are biologically predisposed to get more benefit as well.

The first part of the study found that just 10 minutes of exercise led to metabolic changes that were still measurable 60 minutes later.  Quite obviously these benefits included fat burning and blood-sugar control.  More interesting is that the effects were exaggerated in particular groups.  Skinnier people received more benefit for blood-sugar control and people who were deemed more fit based on oxygen intake actually burned more fat than those who were less fit.

This is counter to my belief that less fit people would receive more benefit from starting an exercise program.  That being said, this study did just focus on differences in metabolites, not necessarily quantify fat loss over the long term.  From a biochemical standpoint though, it does provide hope that those of you who are already fit can receive increased fat loss benefits from exercise.  Up next for this research group is evaluating the effects of diet on metabolic changes by comparing the Mediterranean diet to a higher fat diet.