Bonnie's Exercise Tips

Bonnie's Exercise Tips:

What do you do first? Cardio or Weights?

How do you know if your workouts are effective?

There is a fine line between exercise and increased activity. Someone can walk everyday and still not exercise enough to help them lose weight. Although increasing activity can improve your health, it is not as effective when it comes to weight loss.

What is the difference between exercise and activity? A good example for activity would be walking your dog or a taking a morning stroll. Exercise is typically more structured and purposeful. Good examples would be a power walk, jog or aerobics class.

For most people, your heart rate is probably the best indicator of aerobic exercise and caloric expenditure. In order to find out where you should exercise you need to figure out your maximum heart rate, which according to the American Heart Association is 220 minus your age. Then, multiply that number by 65% for a low intensity workout or 85% for a higher intensity workout.

Here is an example for a thirty year old:

220 – 30 = 190BPM (beats per minute)

Heart rate for a low intensity workout would be 123.5BPM (190 X .65)

Heart rate high intensity workout would be 161.5BPM (190 X .85)

Tracking your heart rate can be pretty easy when using a treadmill. Most treadmills have a chart on the machine to tell you where you need to be, but what if you are out walking in your neighborhood? You can either buy a heart rate monitor or you can get an estimate by counting your heart beat within a ten second span and multiplying it by six.

For example, the same thirty year old would need to maintain a heart rate of 21 beats over a ten second span for a low intensity workout. For a higher intensity workout the ideal heart rate would be 27 beats. Of course it is not as accurate as a heart rate monitor but it is much more convenient.

Although heart rate is normally the best indication of caloric expenditure, there are some exceptions. Some people’s resting heart rate is slower than normal, a condition called Bradycardia, or it can be faster than normal, called Tachycardia. However, for the general population the heart rate is the best way to monitor aerobic exercise and calories burned.

So, if you are not sure if you are exercising at the right pace, just ask your heart.

Fat vs Muscle

The picture (left) is a replica of 5lbs of Fat (the yellow mass) and 5lbs of Muscle (the red mass). Since fat takes up a lot more space than muscle, you can see how you could gain 5lbs of muscle and lose 5lbs of fat and actually be smaller even though the scale says you weigh the same.

It is important to understand what your body goes through when you begin an exercise program. This is also why we now have the InBody 320 (full body composition scale). A standard scale does not effectively measure FAT LOSS, only overall weight.

THE NEED FOR MORE MUSCLE

Most women will say they don't want to "BULK UP", but the truth is, most women couldn't even if they tried. Others say they will start lifting weights once they lose some weight first, but lifting weights speeds up the metabolism helping you to lose weight faster. This is why you need to increase your lean muscle mass.

Women lose about 10lbs of muscle every decade. One pound of muscle burns 6 calories a day where a pound of fat only burns 2 calories a day. This is why your metabolism slows down when you lose muscle and speeds up when you increase lean muscle tissue.

HOW TO GET RID OF CELLULITE

Cellulite is basically clumps of enlarged fat cells in supported loose skin. Like a deflated water balloon that becomes bumpy and unshapely, fat is more noticeable when more body fat is gained and muscle is lost. As you lose fat and gain muscle, the clumps will reduce in size and the skin will appear smoother and more firm.

The appearance of cellulite can actually APPEAR to increase in the beginning of a diet program just because as you lose fat, your skin is a little looser than it use to be when it was packed with fat. Eventually your body will catch back up, lose the excess skin and gain the muscle needed to make everything look great again. So, if you were getting worried because your skin was kind of soft and mushy, when it once was firm - even if it WAS from fat!...don't be scared. It's just a phase and your body will change.

HOW TO PRESERVE MUSCLE

It is important you not only weight train, but you eat to maintain lean muscle mass. Your body treats muscle as a luxury and fat as a necessity. If you don't eat enough, your body will use your muscle for energy. This means you will lose lean muscle mass and, in return, your metabolism will slow down making it even more difficult to lose weight.

1. Eat 5-6 times a day in order to keep your metabolism up.

2. Make sure you are getting enough protein. Women who lift weights want to eat approximately .5 -.75gms of protein per pound of ideal body weight. If you want to be a 140lb lean woman, you would take in about 70-105 grams of protein in order to promote muscle growth and help healing from training. Women who train hard or are athletes may take up to one gram of protein per pound of body weight.

3. This is for all of you that are addicted to crash diets. Try slowly reducing your calories each week in order to maintain the lean mass and a high metabolism. In other words, don't go on a unrealistic starvation diet which will not only make you miserable, but you'll be more likely to burn valuable muscle. For example, a bodybuilder will cut his calories a little each week in order to be as lean as he or she can while maintaining the most muscle mass. If you cut calories too drastically, you may be shooting yourself in the foot.

4. Don't be afraid to lift HEAVY!! You must challenge your body to improve. Remember, women can't build muscle as easily as men so DON'T WORRY!

WEIGHT TRAINING

In our opinion, diet is by far the most important part of losing weight, then burning calories and then weight training. BUT, a combination of all is ultimately the best and the most effective for weight loss.

COMMON MYTHS ABOUT WEIGHT TRAINING:

Crunches will give me a six pack. They may, but if you aren't eating right and doing enough cardio to lose your body fat, you may never see them. Most of the time, the answer to the "pooch" is cardio and reducing your calories.

Weights will make me look like a man. Only if you take testosterone. Most women don't have enough testosterone to promote masculine muscles. Weight training will actually help you slim down when combining it with diet and aerobic activity.

Lifting weights makes you gain weight. Well, muscle does weigh more than fat, but it also burns more calories than fat. In the beginning, you may have a temporary weight gain, probably for the water we retain in the muscles (which actually makes our muscles feel firm). Don't stress about that. In the long run, it is SO much more beneficial to add weights to your program.

You should lift light and a lot of repetitions. You should exhaust the muscle no matter how many repetitions you do. It doesn't matter if you are lifting 10lbs and doing 100 repetitions, if you never reach exhaustion then you are not working the muscle effectively. Normally the standard is 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions for upper body and 15-18 for lower body. No matter how many repetitions you choose to do, the last 3-5 should be extremely difficult.

Just think of it like this: A pianist can't play the same piece over and over and get better. They must attempt harder pieces in order to improve. In the same way, you must challenge your body in order for it to improve and change.

Steve and Bonnie get personal and share their own exercise routine.

We jog or interval train (walk/run) first thing on an empty stomach 5-6 days a week. If we feel like we are slipping, we add a PM cardio to our program. PM/AM cardios can be really helpful to pulling through a plateau.

BONNIE'S WEIGHT ROUTINE: (Click here to view detailed routine)
MONDAY - Legs
TUESDAY - Shoulders
WEDNESDAY - Back, Chest, Triceps & Biceps
THURSDAY - Legs
FRIDAY - Shoulders

STEVE'S ROUTINE: (Click here to view detailed routine)

MONDAY - Chest

TUESDAY - Back

WEDNESDAY - Legs

THURSDAY - Shoulders

FRIDAY - Arms

SATURDAY - Traps, Abs & Calves

ABS: Of course non-weighted abs can be done daily. Weighted abdominal exercises however, like crunches with a medicine ball/dumbbell, crunches with the rope on the cable machine or abdominal machines require rest, like any other body part. Some of our favorites are crunches on the traditional slant board, hanging crunches and rope (ask a trainer to demonstrate crunches using the cable).

Non-weighted crunches flatten the abs and keep the tummy tight, but weighted abdominal exercises will help build the abdominal muscles in order to get the "six-pack" look with defined cube-like abs. No matter how hard you work your abs, you won't ever see them unless your diet is clean and you do the cardio necessary to shed body fat that maybe covering them.

FORMULA FOR GREAT ABS: Low Calorie Diet, Cardio & Abdominal exercises.