Hi, I wanted to start this thread because I see many of you have started exercising. I just want to drop a note on how important doing the exercise properly is. I see many people at the gym that I could just cringe when I see them at a machine or when they pick up a set of dumbells. I will break it into two groups, weight training and cardio. Some of this is adopted from Body for Life and some of it is my own years of experience talking.


Weight training - The most important for losing weight.

For the large muscle groups such as calves, quads and back, go hard and go long. Exhaust them. Start off with a heavy weight, do reps (Watch your form) until you cant anymore. Rest for a minute and move that pin to a lighter weight. Rep until your muscles are telling you no more. Rest, move pin. Repeat until you can't even think about using that muscle again. Believe me, you will see results, you will be sore for the first couple of times, but you will get results. 3 sets of ten reps for big muscles dont do squat.

For the smaller groups, biceps, abs, shoulders, pecs etc.... These groups of muscles dont get used as much as the ones above. So a Body for Life type of regime is appropiate. Do 3 or 4 sets of 10. Steadily increasing the weight. Again, please watch your form. So many people hurt themselves by doing it the wrong way. If you aren't sure, ASK. Watch exercise videos, read books, pick up a copy of musclemag. There are people who have been lifting for a long time and they are relativley weak. That is because they are 'cheating' or just doing it wrong altogether. And it isn't a race. Do it slow and methodically. If you are on a machine and do 3 sets of 10 and off the machine in 3 minuets or less, you are wasting you time!


Cardio - used to get your heart in shape, not for big weight loss.

20 min MAX on a machine. I know it doesn't sound like much but if you do it properly, 20 min should be all you can handle. I see people on a treadmill for an hour or two. But most of the time, they are hardly sweating. To achieve this leg quivering status in 20 min, you should train interval style. Basically you keep pushing harder every minute or so until you are at a place where you are almost unsure if you can go on. If you can, pick up a copy of Body for Life and read how he explains interval training. Much better than I can. Again, 20 minutes doesn't sound like much, but if you try it this way, you will never go back to the other.


Sorry for the length of the post but I really want everyone to get the results we all deserve. And I think all results start off with one thing, information. I know that if you look at my profile, some of you might think that if I know so much, how come he isn't skinny? Well lets just say I might have a big gut but I bet I can keep up with most people in the gym.