Biggest Loser Families by Clare Collins

Author:Clare Collins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
ISBN: 9781742735979
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books
Published: 2011-03-09T05:00:00+00:00

5-WEEK RESISTANCE TRAINING KICKSTART

While cardiovascular exercise is essential to burn fat and increase your fitness, it is also very important to include resistance training to strengthen and tone your muscles. The benefits of resistance training include increased strength, increased lean muscle mass, reduced body fat percentage and decreased glucose intolerance as well as preventing and reducing arthritis and other musculoskeletal problems.

During resistance training, your body has to push against a load, forcing your muscles to work harder and therefore become stronger. The load can be weights or your own body weight. The increased activity of your muscles rebuilding after resistance training will keep your body‘s fat-burning rate up all day.

Your goal is to regularly perform 30 minutes of strengthening exercises two times per week (or 60 minutes once per week). You should continue with your aerobic exercise routine at the same time.

For many people, starting resistance training can be daunting. It is vital that resistance exercises are performed using the correct technique to avoid injury and maximise results, so you will need to find someone to supervise you when learning a new exercise. The first 2 weeks try at least two different types of resistance exercise under supervision. This could be with a personal trainer, in a gym class, a pilates studio or with an exercise physiologist or physiotherapist.

Use the second 2 weeks to figure out times, days, locations and companions that will work with your lifestyle. By the fifth week you should have a routine that you can continue on with. See the facing page for some ideas to get you started. There are options to be done at home, at the gym, or on the go, with or without equipment and with friends and family or on your own.

Weights training includes free weights such as handweights or dumbbells and weights machines. The level of intensity can vary enormously. It is best to start with lighter weights and slowly build up as your strength increases. If you are a beginner, or want to specifically increase muscle bulk, it is best to start with a trainer who can show you how to use the equipment safely and guide you through the exercises.

Gym classes that involve resistance training include body pump, body firm and circuit training. Some aerobic classes also include 10 minutes of resistance training. Another class that includes resistance training is pilates. Pilates can be done on mats at the gym or on specialised equipment using springs as resistance at Pilates studios. Many physiotherapists now also offer Pilates classes which are a great option if you are recovering from an injury.

Body weight exercises are exercises you can do on your own without any need for equipment. These exercises use your own body weight as the resistance and include squats, lunges, push-ups, sit-ups, dips, chin-ups, calf raises, step-ups and many more.

Before you begin, read the description of each exercise and look at the photographs (onwards), so you fully understnad what each exercise is and how it should be performed correctly.

WARM

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