You Must Lift Weights For Firm And Sexy Muscles

Image via WikipediaI get asked my age a lot, and when I tell people that I'm 52, the next question is always, how do you stay so fit and toned?  My answer is, by weight lifting 4 times each week.  By weight lifting, I mean lifting at a resistance and intensity that I can barely complete my last repetition on each exercise.  Exercising at that intensity is really the key to getting firm and staying that way, especially as you get older.

I see far too many people wear themselves out by doing hours of cardio each week, and very little weight lifting.  And, when they do lift weights, they exercise with a resistance that's too small to produce results.  You've seen them, they are doing their weight lifting routine while carrying on a conversation with their friends (and they wonder why they see very little results).

When you lift weights, you must have enough resistance to overload your muscles to the point of exhaustion, that place where you find it difficult to do one more repetition.  When you exercise like that, your muscles are worn to the point where they must be repaired  by your body and consequently, they are made stronger.  Then your body starts to firm-up and look sexy, no matter what age.

Fitness and Health: An Inspirational Video 1 - The Law Of Attraction

Fitness and Health: An Inspirational Video 1 - The Law Of Attraction

In the Beginning, Hire A Personal Trainer

Image via WikipediaI recently read an article that offered inexpensive alternatives to hiring a personal trainer.  The article mentioned places where you can get "how to" fitness information online.  While, you can find a lot good fitness information and excellent exercise routines on the web, you will also find some information that's not worth following.  Therefore, you need to have enough knowledge about health and fitness to distinguish the good information from the bad.  So, if you are new to exercise and thinking of beginning a fitness program, I suggest you hire a good nationally certified personal trainer.  A personal trainer can assess your physical characteristics and lifestyle and custom design a program just for you.

I also think you should at least have a trainer custom design a program for you even if are going to workout on your own.  They can teach you the proper form and technique to use for each exercise, so when you are working out you can be confident you are doing the routine properly.  I can't count the number of times I've seen people following some exercise routine they've downloaded and doing most of the exercises incorrectly and  consequently injure themselves.

In addition, a personal trainer can also educate you about health and fitness, so when you do search for new exercise routines on the web you can distinguish the good ones from the not so good.  This alone is a good reason to invest in hiring a personal trainer.

My Three Staple Exercises

Image by United States Marine Corps Official Page via FlickrRecently,  a client asked me if I could only do three exercises, what would they be?  After some consideration, I said I would do pullups, pushup, and barbell squats.  I told the client that he could target all the major muscle groups with these three exercises.

Let's look at these three exercises and see if they would be a complete whole body workout.

Pullups target the major muscles of the upper back, the biceps,  and the forearms.  The core muscles are also worked as long as pullups are done in a smooth and controlled manor.

Pushups target the major muscles of the chest, the shoulders, and the triceps.  The core muscles are also strongly used when pushups are done with strict form.

Barbell Squats target the quads, hamstrings, and the glutes.  Squats are also one of the best exercises there is for developing core strength when done properly.

There you have it.  These are the three exercises I would do if I was limited to doing only three.  What three exercises would you do?

Try Giant Sets When You Are Stressed For Time

Image via WikipediaEver have one of those days or weeks when it seems like you just don't have an extra minute to spare?  You've been doing so well with your fitness program and you want to workout, but you don't have an hour to spend at the gym.  So, what do you do, skip your workout and feel guilty, or skip some other thing you had planned  and feel bad about that also?

Giant sets is the answer to your problem.  Giant sets is a training method in which you do three or more exercises, one after the other, with no rest in between.  The idea is to do a series of exercises in a row, take a brief rest period and then repeat the sequence for your desired number of sets.  This is a good way to get an excellent workout done in a short amount of time (usually under 30 minutes).

I like to design my giant sets to hit the following major muscle groups; back, chest, and legs.  I typically do 10 to 15 repetitions of each exercise for 3 complete sets with no more than 60 seconds rest between sets.  Here's what one of my giant sets looks like:

• Back, lat pulldowns or seated low rows
• Chest, flat dumbbell presses or pushups
• Legs, barbell squats or walking lunges

3 sets of the above workout only takes about 20 minutes to complete, but I assure you it is effective.  If the workout seems too easy, increase your resistance, and if it's too hard, decrease your resistance.  Try it out and let me know what you think.

Is More Intensity Always Better?

Image via WikipediaAs a personal trainer in my 50s I realize the value of a good fitness program in helping me to stay healthy, strong, and active.  However, I'm bothered by some of the fitness routines I see trainers having people do who are over the age of 40.

It seems the more intense the program the better people think they are.  I see trainers having people who are over 40 jumping on and off plyometric boxes, (risking injury to their knees, ankles, and lower back) until they are drowning in their own sweat. I see people who are de-conditioned being pushed by trainers to do giant sets of push-ups, squats, lunges, and you name it until they literally can't move another muscle fiber.

It leads me to question whether doing more intensity is always better (especially for the 40 plus crowd)?  In my 17 years of experience as a personal trainer and a person over the age of 40, I have to say no.  You can have anyone do jump squats until they are standing in a pool of their own sweat, but is that necessary what they need?

When working with clients over the age of 40, you have to take the following things into consideration when designing a fitness program for them.

• How long it's been since they've done any exercise regularly?
• What kind of regular exercise are they use to doing?
• Do they have any condition that requires a doctor's approval before beginning a physical fitness program?
• Any prior injuries that would prohibit certain exercises?
• The condition of their ankle, knee, and shoulder joints.
• Their core strength.
• Do they have any muscular skelotor imbalances?
• Are their fitness goals realistic?
• Are they former athletes?  Sometimes they think they can still do what they did 20 years ago.

I know as a trainer you want your clients to see results quickly.  However, sometimes the best workout you can do with your client is one where they don't even break a sweat. 

Exercise And Fitness Book Giveaway Contest

As promised, I'm starting a contest to giveaway a copy of my book Forever Fit and Firm.  All of the exercises that I have posted about over the last few weeks have come from my book.  There's only two requirements to enter the contest. 1. Become a follower of my blog and send me a comment stating your favorite exercise from one of my previous posts.  2. Become a Facebook Fan of mine and send me a comment telling me your favorite food.

The contest starts March 1st and ends March 31st.  Good luck!