The key to sustainable weight loss(as opposed to the “yoyo” weight loss and weight gain of trendy weight loss fads) is a high resting metabolic rate and balanced nutrition.
“The calories you burn during workouts are inconsequential to your overall body weight or body fat content! Instead, it is how well you use your exercise time to reprogram your daily physiology that matters.” Robert Fortser
Why Strength training?
- Increases your lean muscle mass, and raises your metabolic rate to assist with weight management.
- Helps improve body composition, i.e. more muscle and less fat at the same body weight.
- Increases bone density to prevent and reverse the onset of osteoporosis.
- Improves body strength and joint function, allows for ease of movement so that exercise, work, and daily activities becomes much less burdensome.
- Improves circulation, coordination, balance, and overall health
- Improves energy levels and mental focus
- Helps avoid injury: a stronger body is less likely to become injured.
- Helps develop a balanced, well-proportioned physique.
- Helps you look better and improve your self-esteem, with a sense of personal empowerment.
- Makes life fun! Improved conditioning will increase enjoyment of your favourite activities and sports.
Over 35s?
Most people still look young, but are already experiencing the BIG Three of aging: deteriorating lean muscle mass, worsening posture and crumbling joints” say Robert Forster, Physical Therapist and PT.
Options for Strength Training?
Everyone, no matter how young or old, should be doing some kind of regular strength training. This could be at the gym with equipment, at fit camp with own body weight or at home using resistance bands and small hand weights with the 24 Fit DVDs. Which will become habit-forming for you? Which will you still be doing not in 4 weeks’ time but 4 months’ time?!
Periodisation Training Principles
The basic premise of all well designed exercise programs is the progressive overload principle. Fitness must be “pushed” from below, i.e. starting slow and progressing to harder workouts slowly. The 24Fit DVD Workout builds your fitness up with a stair step series of methodical, progressive challenges and recoveries that strengthen your body and keep brain and brawn fresh. Teach your body through phases to burn body fat, in the same that endurance athletes need to learn how to use fat as a fuel supply.
One of the basic tenants of Periodisation is that all exercise is futile if rest and recovery periods are not provided. Hard work is always followed by time for recovery. Recovery is when your physiology evolves and where the benefits of your hard work is realized. No one ever became stronger during a workout, it is in the recovery period when we become fitter.
This approach solves the training puzzle of balancing hard work and smart recovery, allowing fitness adaptations and a “hardened” body able to sustain all the hard work and recovery, peaking your metabolic fitness.
Three Phases of the 24 Fit DVDs
Phase 1 – STABILITY, Weeks 1–8
Prepares your body with low-intensity, light-impact training specifically designed to strengthen the muscles that keep joints in their correct, natural positions.
Spine and Pelvis Stabilization
Shoulder Stabilization
Total Body Integration
Metabolic 1
Phase 2 – STRENGTH, Weeks 9–16
Takes your now properly aligned body and focuses on building muscle with variable low- to high-intensity exercises.
Spine and Pelvis Strength
Upper Body Strength
Total Body Strength
Metabolic 2
Phase 3 – POWER, Weeks 17-24
Introduces high-intensity exercises to refine your new strength and increase your stamina, speed and efficiency.
Core Power
Upper Body Power
Total Body Power
Metabolic 3
More details on the 24 Fit DVDs and https://www.facebook.com/24fitworkout/videos/723932674366640/
Why Balanced Nutrition?
To lose weight you need to create a deficit in calories from your active metabolic rate. However, that is reducing calories BUT WITHOUT LOSING LEAN MUSCLE; otherwise you will be in worse situation than when you started.
To help preserve muscle mass, aim for at least 15 grams of protein at every meal, the amount of protein is personalised to the individual. And a Herbalife Formula 1 protein shake after training accelerates lean muscle growth, which in turn revs your metabolism and burns more fat, and speeds up recovery. Eating soon after your workout not only speeds the recovery process, it also can prevent you from feeling deeply ravenous and overeating later on.
If you don’t maintain good levels of macro and micro nutrients, you may find you are never satisfied after eating, or still lack energy, making you reach for products such as sugary drinks, biscuits or other unhealthy snacks. These foods can cause an energy spike (rise in blood sugar) followed by an energy crash (fall in blood sugar), which leads to further fatigue and hunger. Skipping meals, especially breakfast may seem like a good way to cut calories, but it can leave you feeling tired and hungry long before your next meal. Hence taking a Herbalife Formula 1 Shake for breakfast…is a great place to start
Keep Cardio in Check
“Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, which means the more you have, the faster your metabolism is and the more calories you burn all day long—all key for a whittled middle. Resistance training builds this quality lean muscle, so do two to three total-body strength sessions a week“, says Tom Holland, exercise physiologist. “For fat-melting cardio, all you need to do is your weight, he adds: If you’re 145 pounds, do 145 minutes a week, broken up however fits into your schedule—say, 60 minutes Saturday, 45 Tuesday, and 40 Thursday”
Contact your Wellness Coach to find out your resting metabolic rate. Your calorie intake should be linked to your resting and active metabolic rates.
Note – resistance bands and dumbbells are not included with the DVDs. These should be selected based on whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced.