Cardio Training

Starting today and every Friday thereafter, I will answer the client fitness question of the week! I just thought that if one person is asking a question, then there must be many others with the same question. And, real questions lead to real answers and real results. Call me or email with your fitness question! People want to know the answer!

So, here we go! Question numero uno!

Client Q: "I am working out 5-6 days a week for 1-2 hours every workout. I'm not losing any weight and I'm starting to get frustrated and skip some workouts!"

Mark's A: There could be many factors including:

1) Your body might have reached a plateau. Weight often comes off easily at the beginning of a workout program. But then your body adapts to your workouts. When this happens, you need to vary your workout routines and intensity.

Do different lifts for the different body parts, such as substituting bench presses with stability ball dumbbell presses or doing step-ups and lunges instead of leg presses and squats. A shorter, more intense 30 minute full-body circuit weight workout will work better than a 1 hour weight workout when you are trying to lose body fat and weight.

A circuit workout is one in which you do one exercise after the other with little or no rest between exercises. Also, change up your cardio routines such as rotating treadmill, bike, elliptical, stair-stepper and swimming or do sprint cardio intervals.

2) It is more important to lose body fat and lose inches than it is to lose weight.

Have your body fat percentage checked and your circumference measurements done by a trainer to see how much fat and inches you have lost. Muscle weighs more than fat, so your body could be shrinking. Don't worry, the weight loss will take care of itself.

3) Longer workouts are not always better. You could be over-training. Shorter, more intense workouts burn more fat. An intense 20 minute interval cardio session at 75%-85% maximum heartrate will give you more health and cardio benefits than a 1 hour cardio session at 65% maximum heartrate.

4) You need to know your basal metabolic rate-BMR (how many calories your body would burn each day if you did nothing). Base your daily caloric intake on your BMR and activity level.

If you don't eat enough (severe calorie restriction), your body will store fat because it thinks you are starving. You will gain weight even on the days you work out really hard if you take in more calories than you burn.

Continue to eat right and exercise. When you do that, you will win the fitness war even if you lose a few battles along the way. You probably need to exercise smarter! Keep exercising and eating healthy and your heart, mind and body will thank you!

Call me or email with your fitness question! People want to know the answer!

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"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!