From beginner to winner
Intelligent and efficient exercising for body fat reduction.
Let’s keep it simple fitness fanatics to be. If your ultimate goal is to lose body fat, you need to know how to train and when to train. In Part one of my blog I will focus on the timing, intensity and type of training fitness newbies should be undertaking.
So when is the best time of day to train??? I have found that my weight loss clients get the most out of training early in the morning. Why you ask?? In a nutshell, when we consume carbohydrates in the form starchy carbs, fruits and vegetables (yes fruits and vegetables are categorised as carbohydrates!!), it’s broken down into glycogen and stored predominately in our liver and to some extent, our muscles. Let’s say you eat dinner at 8pm, go to sleep and wake up at 6am. You have fasted for 10 hours and your glycogen stores are at their lowest. It is at this time you should undertake some form of training. Here is the reason why. Let’s say you eat a burger at 3pm and you then decide to train at 5pm. There is a gap of only 2 hours and your glycogen stores are at their highest. In order to burn body fat (which is the ultimate goal) you must first burn through the energy provided by that burger… which might take 30 minutes of light exercise, after which you will then tap into your body fat stores for energy. Now, if your last meal was 10 hours ago your glycogen stores are at their lowest, so the time it takes to burn through those remaining stores will be considerably reduced and will put you in fat burning mode much quicker. Which means less training!!!
What intensity should I be training at? HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and weight training both play major roles when it comes to losing weight and metamorphosing your body; However we are starting with the absolute basics and will touch on these topics further down the track.
For now, the best form of exercise is light cardio. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, as a newbie your body needs to adapt to the stimulus you are exposing it to. It is not safe to throw yourself in the deep end just yet. Secondly, when you wake up your mind and body are still trying to catch up and some light mindless cardio is the perfect way to kick off the day. All you need to do is whack on those headphones and off you go. Finally, light cardio is an excellent way to wake up, focus you for the day ahead and get those happy little endorphins pumping!!
So when I say light cardio, you should be training at about 65% of your body’s maximum ability (or maximum heart rate). Heart rate training is another topic I will cover in follow up articles and is a superior way to train efficiently. In order to determine an approximate of your 65% look for these signs and you should be pretty close to your training zone. You should be perspiring within 5-10 minutes and somewhat short of breath but still be able to keep a conversation going.
Now in order to make the session worthwhile you should be training in this zone for approximately 45 minutes… this means 5-10 minutes warming up to reach this point, 45 minutes of training and 5-10 minutes cooling down. In total 1 hour of training.
What type of training should I be doing? Well there are a number of options here and it all depends on what floats your boat. If running isn’t your thing then why run? and if you’re restricted to certain activities due to injury then you must adjust.
That said, my personal favourite is running as I feel like I’m getting more out of it. Whilst I’m working at 65% my lungs are working harder and therefore I feel like I’m working harder. For pure simplicity you can’t go past the good old cross trainer. Whilst the pace is easy, I can guarantee the calorie burn surpasses that of running. Cross trainers are extremely low impact and perfect for any fitness level. Obviously any sort of cardio equipment that is at your disposal will do just fine, whether it’s a bike, rower, kayak and so on.
So there you have it. Simple, yes?? Now get some rest, rise early and exercise. The new you is on the horizon!!!
Happy exercising!
Jack Seymour