Weight Loss – Exercise

First and foremost, always check with your doctor before you begin any exercise routine, so that you can avoid any injuries while exercising.

One thing many people do when starting an exercise routine, is they try to do too much too soon. Don’t do this. This is a sure fire way to burn yourself out and hurt yourself. In order to lose weight, you don’t have to go to the gym everyday. Going just three days a week will work just fine, but if you’re just starting, try two days a week, then go to three as you get comfortable.

When starting your workout, don’t try to run a marathon on the treadmill, or try to lift the weight of a sumo wrestler on your first day. Start where you are comfortable, but make sure the workload is actually making you sweat.

In addition to doing cardio, you should do weight training. Cardio will help your body to keep burning calories for maybe up to an hour afterwards. Weight training will make your body burn more calories for hours afterwards. Muscle basically eats up calories all the time, so the more you train your muscles, the more fat and calories you will burn. Women, do not worry about bulking up if you want to weight train. Testosterone is what causes bulkiness, and quite frankly, you don’t have enough of it to even begin to worry about bulking up. Women mainly want to tone up and look lean. To do this, use a lighter weight, but it has to have some resistance, and do more repetitions. Most guys want to bulk up, so to do this, use a heavier but safe weight and do fewer repetitions. With each day of working out, increase the weight maybe five pounds to make sure your muscles are actually being worked properly and getting stronger.

If you want to go to the gym more than three times a week, it is important that you work a different muscle group each day. For example, say you go to the gym on Monday and you do your cardio and then your weight training. You can work your chest and triceps. Remember to take a thirty second break between sets. Then on Wednesday, you can work you back and shoulders, then on Friday work your biceps and legs. One muscle group you can work everyday that you go to the gym is the abdominals. You can do simple sit-ups, an ab machine, it doesn’t matter. You may want to mix up how you work your abs everyday.

You will probably see people in the gym wearing weight belts. These are not necessary unless you are lifting heavy weight, and wearing this belt will actually cause your core to become lazy, and it won’t become as strong as you would like it.

Before beginning your workout, remember to stretch and drink plenty of water before, during and after your workouts.

Also, if the gym you are using has two weight sections, one being machines and the other free weights, start out with using the machines and as you get more experienced and stronger, you can move to the free weights. Free weights require more muscle control, and can be very dangerous if you do not know what you are doing.

Have fun and be safe sculpting the body you desire!