Training Routines

Training Routines

Intensity
Monitoring your rating of perceived exertion (RPE) by the Borg Scale. The RPE is a means of determining how hard you are exerting yourself, including physiological (how hard you are breathing, how fast your heart is beating) and muscular strain (how much you feel the exertion in your muscles). The scale measures your answer to the question: "How hard do you feel the exercise is?" The scale goes from 1 to 10.
Rating of Perceived Exertion

Rating of Perceived Exertion
Grade	Perceived Exertion
0	Nothing
0.5	Very, very weak
1	Very weak
2	Weak
3	Moderate
4	Somewhat hard
5	Hard
6
7	Very Hard
8
9
10	Very, very Hard
	Maximal

Aerobic Training

Remember to warm up, stretch, do your aerobics, and then cool down.
The scale above is a reference as to how hard you are working out, if you are unfit then to reach level 10 would be a lot easier to reach than if you were fit, for example, level 1 on the scale would be sitting on the settee watching TV. Level 3 might be carrying shopping bags to the car; level 5 might be carrying the shopping up a few flights of stairs. The scale continues right up to level 10 this is all out “balls to the wall” maximum effort, at this level you just cant do any more or go any faster. And this is the way we are going to do our Aerobic training and weight training, People say that the best way to lose body fat is low intensity – long duration aerobic exercise, but using this method is not the best for getting rid of body fat. Research indicates that not only does high-intensity training burn fat more effectively than low-intensity exercise (up to 50% more efficiently) it also speeds up your metabolism and keeps it raised for quite a while after your workout, provided that you don’t eat after your workout for one hour. The best time to do your aerobic training is first thing in the morning, this can be done at home on an exercise bike, or on the streets running, etc. Scientific studies have found that by exercising first thing in the morning burns fat much faster (up to 300% percent faster) than doing the same exercise in the afternoon. The workout we are going to do is only 20 minutes of aerobic exercise three times per week, no more, and definitely no less. You have to make each and every workout the most effective fat burning, health enhancing 20 minutes you can. And to do that we use the Borg Scale.
We select an exercise, like rowing, cycling, jogging, treadmill, etc. You can vary your sessions on different pieces of equipment if you want every session, or every week, your choice; it is you that’s doing the work. We start with 2 minutes at about level five intensity on the scale, after two minutes we up the intensity to level 6 for one minute, then up to level 7 for one minute, then up to level 8 for one minute, then up to level 9 for one minute, after the minute we then go back down to level 6 (a moderate intensity level) We repeat the this pattern 3 times but on the last cycle after we have gone from level six up to level nine we continue up to level 10 this is where you are going faster than you thought you could ever do, it is maximal effort, you cant do it any faster, then after one minute at level 10, we drop back down to level 5 for one minute, this training method is called Interval training is an excellent way of dropping body fat. But not easy!!

Minute	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
Level	4	4	6	6	7	8	9	6	7	8	9	6	7	8	9	6	7	8	9	10	4

Stick to the intensity for the given minute of exercise. Do not try and burn yourself out, that would be counter productive, when you first start you may find that level 10 might just be walking at a fast pace, that is ok as that is your pace, but you have to aim for improvement, you must try to achieve a higher and higher level of improvement.
When you apply the same intensity principles to both your aerobic and weight training you will constantly be moving to higher and higher levels and you’ll continually be stimulating your muscles while losing fat. You will become more metabolically efficient. Your body will burn fat at an elevated rate throughout the day, during your daily activities, and even whilst sleeping.

Weight Training

The weight training element of this fat loss programme upper/lower body based type of training in which we divide the body up into sessions where we do 1st day is upper body, 2nd day is aerobics, 3rd day is lower body, 4th day is aerobics, 5th day is upper body, 6th day is aerobics, 7th day is a day off!!. Then the second week we start with 1st day lower body etc. The routine continues for at least 12 weeks.

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
Week 1	Upper Body	Aerobic Day	Lower Body	Aerobic Day	Upper Body	Aerobic Day	OFF
Week 2	Lower Body	Aerobic Day	Upper Body	Aerobic Day	Lower Body	Aerobic Day	OFF
Week 3	Upper Body	Aerobic Day	Lower Body	Aerobic Day	Upper Body	Aerobic Day	OFF

The above routine continues for as many weeks as is necessary for you to achieve your goal of body fat percentage.

Weight Training Exercises

Chest	Dumbbell Bench press Dumbbell flys Incline dumbbell press Flat barbell bench press
Shoulders	Seated dumbbell press Side raises Standing barbell press Bent over raises
Back	Wide grip pulldowns Reverse grip pulldowns One-arm dumbbell rows Dumbbell pullovers
Triceps	Barbell extensions Bench dips Close grip pushdowns Lying dumbell extensions
Biceps	Incline dumbbell curls Standing barbell curls Seated dumbell curls Hammer curls
Quadriceps	Leg extensions Barbell squats Leg press Dumbell squats
Hamstrings	Dumbbell lunges Lying leg curls Stiff leg deadlifts Standing leg curls
Calves	Seated calf raises One-leg raises Standing calf raises Angled calf raises
Abdominals	Floor crunches Decline sit-ups Twisting crunches Leg raises

For guides on how to do these exercises, visit the exercise videos section.

Weight training routine

Remember to warm up all body parts being worked, then stretches, exercises, stretch, and finally complete a cool down.
Pick two exercises per body part. You will perform 4 sets on one of the exercises, with reps and intensity of 12 reps (intensity level 5), 10 reps (intensity level 6), 8 reps (intensity level 7), 6 reps (with intensity level 8) with one minute rest between sets; speed of reps is 2 – 1 – 2 seconds (example, bench press. Lower weight for 2 sec, 1 sec hold at bottom, 2 sec press). Then the last set is a superset where we do two exercises together with no rest, first exercise is the one that you started with, a rep range of 12, (Intensity level 9), then immediately with no rest do the second exercise in the superset for 12 reps (at an intensity level of 10).
Example of one body part and the superset, (we do the same on every body part).

Upper Body Day	Exercise	Reps	Weight (lbs)	Minutes between sets	Intensity Level
CHEST	Dumbbell bench press	12		1	5
	Dumbbell bench press	10		1	6
	Dumbbell bench press	8		1	7
	Dumbbell bench press	6		1	8
* Super Set	Dumbbell bench press Dumbbell Flys	12 12		0 2	9 10

* Superset means both exercises are done back to back with no rest in between exercises
The rest of the exercises of upper body is continued after chest and is completed in the same way, two minutes rest between body parts then the next body part exercises are completed.
Upper body exercises: Chest, Shoulders, Back, Triceps, Biceps.
Lower body exercises: Quads, Hamstrings, Calves, Abs.

Monitoring lean body mass and body fat

 In order to make sure that our calorie intake is adequate we need to monitor our lean body mass, this is done by having our body fat percentage done on a weekly basis, body fat percentage can be done by two means, (1) By callipers, any gym should have callipers and someone experienced enough to use them and monitor the results, with this type of testing it is important to have the same person doing the testing, that way the results would be more accurate. The principle behind this method is that the amount of subcutaneous fat is proportional to the total amount of body fat. However, the exact proportion of subcutaneous to total fat varies with gender, age, (2) By Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis, (BIA) this method is easy to administer, non-invasive and a safe method. BIA involves passing a small electric current through the body and measuring the impedance or opposition to the current flow. Fat free tissue and water is a good conductor of electrical current, whereas fat is not. The resistance to the current flow is related to fat free mass and total body water, both can be predicated by this analysis. This type of testing is either done by a hand held device or a four lead test, in which four leads are attached to the client whilst they are lying on an examination table.
If using the BIA method you should remember the following points:

• Abstain from eating and drinking within 3 hours of the assessment.
• Avoid moderate or vigorous physical exercise within 12 hours of the test.
• Do not drink alcohol within 48hrs of the test ?
• Do not use any diuretic agents (including caffeine) prior to the test

Once you know your body fat percentage, you can calculate your lean body mass by multiplying body weight by the percentage of body fat, this will give you total fat mass, then to work out the fat free mass all we do is subtract the total fat mass from the body weight and you have your total fat free mass.
IF YOU FIND THAT THE FAT FREE MASS (MUSCLE) IS GOING DOWN, THEN YOU WILL NEED TO INCREASE THE INTAKE OF CALORIES. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT; It is muscle that burns calories; if calorie intake is to low then the body will release an enzyme that will make you store fat as an emergency store for energy.
Other easier methods of monitoring fat % are:

• Changes in body composition viewed in the mirror
• Waist measurements
• Waist to Hip measurements
• Weight
• BMI, although people who weight train would have a higher level of muscle and this would make the results inaccurate.