Posted September 6, 2011 by
Samer H.
This may be a bit obvious, but I think its important to mention that if youre striving for certain results you have to actually go through the necessary steps to get there. Of course you need to set reachable goals and you should have fun when exercising, but if you want to get results you also need to know what needs to be done.
Im going to give one example here, something that a huge number of people say they want, but few ever acheive. Say you set youre goal at having a visible six-pack within 3 months. Thats an achievable fitness goal for many people. You start by doing 100 sit-ups a day and running a mile. Every few days you add a few more reps and run a little further. After a month and a half your doing more sit-ups than you can count and your running 5 miles. Youve gotten stronger no doubt, and your endurance has increased tremendously but you still dont have that six pack. What happened?
Youve taking an important first step, you are staying active and growing muscles. On the other hand perhaps you didnt do enough research when you set that goal. No matter how strong your abdominal muscles are if you have a layer of fat on top of them youre never going to see a six pack. In fact, if you have that layer of fat your workout will be building the muscles underneath and it may look like you are gaining weight.
If you want those new muscles to be visible you need to start cutting your body fat. Second, spot training doesn't work. You would be much better off doing a high intensity full body circuit in the gym, which activates all your large muscles, and kicks your metabolism into high gear, than doing endless sit-ups. Third, you need to watch your nutrition carefully. In order to have a six-pack men need to keep their body fat level down to about 10%, and although its a bit higher for women at 18-20% either way you must have muscles and low body fat to be able to show off the results of your hard work.
There it is, a simple yet important part of getting the results you deserve. Your goals may be very different: gaining 10lbs of lean muscle mass, getting toned, being able to run a marathon, or being more flexible. Spend a few minutes understanding what needs to be done for you to get to that finish line before you start running. Whether its understanding what exercises you need to do, what a good training routine is, or the optimal healthy diet, a few minutes of research will pay off in the long run.
Im going to give one example here, something that a huge number of people say they want, but few ever acheive. Say you set youre goal at having a visible six-pack within 3 months. Thats an achievable fitness goal for many people. You start by doing 100 sit-ups a day and running a mile. Every few days you add a few more reps and run a little further. After a month and a half your doing more sit-ups than you can count and your running 5 miles. Youve gotten stronger no doubt, and your endurance has increased tremendously but you still dont have that six pack. What happened?
Youve taking an important first step, you are staying active and growing muscles. On the other hand perhaps you didnt do enough research when you set that goal. No matter how strong your abdominal muscles are if you have a layer of fat on top of them youre never going to see a six pack. In fact, if you have that layer of fat your workout will be building the muscles underneath and it may look like you are gaining weight.
If you want those new muscles to be visible you need to start cutting your body fat. Second, spot training doesn't work. You would be much better off doing a high intensity full body circuit in the gym, which activates all your large muscles, and kicks your metabolism into high gear, than doing endless sit-ups. Third, you need to watch your nutrition carefully. In order to have a six-pack men need to keep their body fat level down to about 10%, and although its a bit higher for women at 18-20% either way you must have muscles and low body fat to be able to show off the results of your hard work.
There it is, a simple yet important part of getting the results you deserve. Your goals may be very different: gaining 10lbs of lean muscle mass, getting toned, being able to run a marathon, or being more flexible. Spend a few minutes understanding what needs to be done for you to get to that finish line before you start running. Whether its understanding what exercises you need to do, what a good training routine is, or the optimal healthy diet, a few minutes of research will pay off in the long run.
Posted in: Workouts
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