Exercise for healthy weight loss in a gym

The gym offers you every facility to create the environment within your body to lose weight. To prepare the body for losing weight you need to combine all four areas of exercise into a routine

The idea of the exercise programme is to build the health of the body and NOT burn x amount of calories. Sadly the calorie in versus out approach does not work and fat loss is related to your internal health. To lose weight you need to eat the specific foods for your body chemistry and perform exercise to build your health.

Cardiovascular (aerobic) training.

This refers to running, walking, rowing, cycling etc. Such exercises cause an increase in heart and lung activity. The result is improvements in the whole cardiovascular system which expresses itself as increases in fitness, energy levels and the overall health of the body.

The key is getting the intensity right so you are getting out of breath and finding the right amount of aerobic training for what the body needs.

I have seen so many people aiming to do 40 minutes cardio per session or burn 400 calories. This is missing the point. You should aim to hit just the right amount which I would say is a maximum of twenty minutes for most average exercisers and endeavor to do this at a high intensity. This maximum time limit will prove far more effective mentally and physically when it comes to losing weight

Resistance training.

The time you have saved by doing a maximum of twenty minutes cardio can be used for resistance training. Lifting weights produces hormonal changes within the body that makes losing weight easy, manageable and a natural part of getting fitter. The resistance training builds your muscle tissue upwards and counters the stresses of daily life.

The key to resistance training is ensuring you are using a weight that takes you to the point of fatigue (can't lift anymore) before 15 reps. This is where most women go wrong and also many men.

The exercises really should be performed with free weights as this trains many more muscles at the same time which then produces a greater hormonal shift which is the key to losing weight. Please try and forget the calories in versus calories out game as this is fairly irrelevant and instead focus on what your body needs. Which is a solid resistance training routine at the right intensity.

Flexibility training.

Stretching plays an important role in creating good health by removing toxins from the body and restoring ideal posture. When your posture is perfect blood and nerve flow is at its most efficient which will help the health of the organs and thus improve your overall health and therefore allow you to lose weight more easily.

The key to stretching is to discover which muscles are tight and loosen these rather than stretching any old muscle. Stretching is comprised of the traditional type stretching e.g. touching toes and active stretching

Core training.

This is the strengthening of the muscles that support the spine. A type of resistance training it is classified on it's own due to its importance to your overall health.

A strong core is the basis of strength within the body. It allows you to use heavier weights which ultimately improves your ability to lose fat.

The training also allows you to adopt a perfect posture naturally and thus prevents injury and improves the health of the body through increased nerve and blood flow.

Structure of your training

The training programme within the four areas must be adjusted progressively to ensure you are receiving the right stimulus for the body to change. Turning up to just do the exercise does not work. Instead you must challenge the body so that it is increasing in 'fitness' after each session. This produces the effect of what you want ultimately - fat loss. To ensure the body is increasing fitness after each session you must use the principles of periodization.

Finally different people need different amounts of the exercise types depending on their particular body type. So some need to do a lot more weights than cardio exercise. While some not as much weights but a little more cardio. Please note that even if you need more cardio you still don't need 40 minutes worth and you must do weights also.

Exercise is part of the weight loss equation

To lose weight without the other aspects of nutrition and lifestyle may prove to be impossible. It is essential you use metabolic typing to combine the specific foods your body needs to the right exercise to lose weight.

Ben WIlson BSc (Hons) CSCS NSCA-CPT CMTA Dip
One2one nutrition
Rugby fitness training.com