Making Effective Workout Programs

[TinTin]

Making Effective Workout Programs

We all want, and even expect, our workout programs to deliver. The problem is most people do not take a close look what they really expect to gain and how much time and energy they can devote to towards workout programs achieving it.

Time

The first decision you will have to make is how much time you are willing or able to devote to your workout programs. The time factor involves two separate elements How many days a week you can train How much time you can devote to each workout.

Ideally,you will be able to alternate strength- and aerobic-training sessions, which might require four or five days a week workout programs.

If you can only squeeze in three days a week workout programs, you might opt for a workout programs that combines the two workouts. Be flexible and make your workout programs work for you.

Goals

You have also got to ask yourself certain questions about what you expect to get from your workout programs. Are you more interested in improving health or looking better? Do you want to trim down and lose fat, or bulk up and gain muscle? The answers to these questions will decide what type of training you will do most often and exactly how you will train within each session.

Certain Rules Apply

* Do more aerobic and less strength training for fat loss and cardio health.
* Use a light resistance and high repetitions (more than 15) to
increase endurance and muscle tone.
* Use a heavy resistance and low repetitions (less than eight) to increase strength and muscle mass.
* A moderate resistance that allows you to complete 8 to 15 reps ideal as it accomplishes a little of both endurance and strength gains.
* Determine how much weight you should lift in each set by setting the ideal number of repetitions to be completed that coincides with your individual goals.

Taking the time to structure your workout programs to meet your individual needs and time restraints will get results. Finding a way to squeeze in three to five 30-minute sessions a week, while adjusting the type of training you do to deliver the results you want, will keep you on the path to weight loss, muscle tone, or any other goals you might have set for yourself.

 

[Stiffy]

[MENTION=11869]tintin[/MENTION]; interesting post mate. But theres a lot more to it than just that!

 

[Shrek]

Gotta be one of the oldest posts here. 2006 considering admin started in Nov 2006

Digging deep now @El Stiffy ;

 

[Fadi]

Making Effective Workout Programs


Certain Rules Apply

* Do more aerobic and less strength training for fat loss and cardio health.

* Use a light resistance and high repetitions (more than 15) to
increase endurance and muscle tone.

* Use a heavy resistance and low repetitions (less than eight) to increase strength and muscle mass.

* A moderate resistance that allows you to complete 8 to 15 reps ideal as it accomplishes a little of both endurance and strength gains.

Granted many bodybuilders have tremendously increased the size of their muscles whilst following the above rules. However we now know that it's no longer accepted that a lighter load with higher repetitions is restricted to muscular endurance and muscle tone as has been stated in one of the above set of rules.

We were stuck on the size principle which stipulated that a heavy load with low to medium repetitions when applied, resulted in recruiting the large motor units, bringing into play the fast twitch muscle fibers, aka the higher threshold muscle fibers. That was then. Moving forward, we now know that this size principle is not the be all and end all, and that it can actually be broken if we were to lighten the load and increase the repetitions. It's like reaching the same destination with the only difference being the road we have chosen to travel. Great, what road is that? The road that involves the role metabolic stress through muscle fatigue plays. In plain English, as we take the set further and fatigue our muscles, our body has no other choice but to recruit more motor units, which would eventually target those fast twitch muscle fibers (which we thought only woke up when we called upon them to lift a heavy load).

In a nutshell, it's through the road of muscle exhaustion (rather than heavy load) that we bring in more muscle recruitment which allows us to complete the high rep set in question. Now you know why high rep squat works really well in increasing overall leg size.

I haven't set out to write a bodybuilding program here, but it goes without saying that there are exercises that favour the muscle fatigue type of training than others. Basically, compound exercises are great for repetitions on the lower end of the scale, whilst isolation exercises can really be exploited for their potential muscle growth with higher reps. Coming from an Olympic weightlifting background as you all now know, I would consider both a leg extension exercise and a leg press exercise as isolation exercises. I know, I'm not following the one or two joint principle here. So to me, there are only few real compound exercises, whilst the rest are all isolations that are great for some lighter load / higher rep usage.

 

[Goosey]

Nicely written fadi

 

[Fadi]

Nicely written fadi

Thank you Andy, much respect to you as always sir.