Hey there HIVE! I wanted to provide some guidance on the basics of exercise programming so that you can feel more confident in reaching your fitness goals! It is important to start off understanding what your goal or wanted outcome is! For example:
Weight loss
Fat loss (also referred to as "toning")
Hypertrophy (muscle gain)
Strength gain
To compete in a marathon
To run faster
etc, etc, etc
Each of these goals have different requirements from your program! If you're trying to lose fat for example, lots of cardio is not the best answer!!! I need to stress this because this is a common misconception in society!
Wanting specific body type requires specific exercises, for example :
Notice a difference between these two runners? One is built for power (sprinter) and the other for endurance (marathoner). The sprinter has more muscle mass and the marathoner is much thinner. This is due to how the body uses energy! Muscle mass is extremely energy inefficient.
Another example:
Even in bodybuilding competitions there are different categories based on the type of body you build!
With that out of the way lets talk about some basic principles.
First, determine the outcome you're trying to achieve. Once you understand that you can decide what type of exercise you will be wanting to engage in.
Resistance Training (weightlifting): great for hypertrophy and strength gain. But guess what many people don't understand? Its key to a great fat loss diet too!
Running:
Plyometrics - these are used to build explosiveness. For example: Jumping
HIIT - This is an effective way to burn calories without putting yourself into steady state cardio. Also good for fat loss when used to supplement a good resistance training program and proper diet! Another note on HIIT is that it is used to increase max VO2 which is your maximum aerobic capacity. What this means is the better this is, the more endurance you have. So this is also a great for cardiorespiratory goals!
Once you know what mode of exercise suits your goals, you need to incorporate a few concepts into your training.
One concept is called "Progressive Overload". This principle is important to make adaptations for your training. For instance, if you're training to run a 5k and you want to get faster at it, then you will need to progressively push yourself past some barriers. So an example of what this looks like is that instead of running the full 3.1 miles, you instead run at a slightly increased pace for as long as you can. Each training session you increase the distance until you reach the 3.1 miles. If you want to get even faster, you repeat this process.
Another example would be with weightlifting. If you want to get stronger, you would need to lift heavier weights over time. Either by increasing volume (the overall amount lifted in a session) or intensity (the weight lifted).
Another important aspect of any training (if not the most important) is your diet! If you're running a marathon, then you will need a large amount of calories in the form of carbohydrates!
If you're trying to lose fat, then you would want to manage your intake lower than your expenditure and you would want the proper amount of carbs, fats, and protein in your diet. Protein is especially important for combating lean tissue loss.
Those are some very basic concepts of exercise programming that you will want to incorporate soon. There is a lot of false information and misunderstand in society around fitness. If you can select the proper mode of exercise for your goals, progressively overload, and eat a proper diet, you are heading in the right direction to accomplish your goals!
The science behind the body is amazing and interesting! Make sure you follow me for future information related to fitness and health!
Thank you for reading!
