For those of you who are starting a fitness program you probably have a million fitness questions. You are not alone. There are so many different aspects to becoming more fit, stronger, building more muscle, losing fat, and having better health that you could spend thousands of hours learning and still not have an answer to everyone’s questions.
I have compiled 5 of the Most Frequently Asked Fitness Questions with the answers to those questions.
How often should I work out? The American Academy of Sports Medicine suggests that everyone should exercise at least 30 minutes for 5 days per week. This standard was created for those who are staring out and are just trying to remain healthy. However, as your body adapts to the stresses of an exercise program it will require a more intense approach to keep on improving. This standard also requires that during the 30 minute exercise program the person should be training within 55-85% of their Maximum Heart Rate.
Will abdominal exercises help me to lose belly fat? The answer to this fitness question is NO! Absolutely NOT! Your body is not programmed to lose body fat in a particular area alone. When you follow a moderate exercise program, coupled with a good diet, your body begins to lose body fat overall. You can do a thousand sit-ups per day and you will not see and change to your body composition in your abdominal area. The muscles will tighten and your waist may seem smaller but you are not losing fat in that area alone. Some of the top bodybuilders and fitness athletes will not see their abdominal muscles until the last few days before a competition. You must have an overall low level of body fat in order to see your abdominals.
How can I maximize my cardio routine? The best way to get the most out of your cardio sessions is to make sure to utilize all of your body parts. Cardio sessions should include movement of your arms and legs. If you are walking on a treadmill you should not hold onto the rails or prop your arms on top of the panel. Another great was to get the most out of your cardio session is to use the HIIT method. High Intensity Interval training is intense but gives you the most benefit. How it works is you go all out reaching 85% of you maximum heart rate for 30-45 seconds. Then you drop the intensity down to a slow walk for 60-90 seconds. You repeat this cycle several times. This is a great way to get in an intense cardio session in a short period of time.
What’s the difference between machines and free weights? Machines have been developed in order to help people stay within the correct range of motion and action for a particular body part. These became popular during the circuit training days as it allowed you to move from body part to body part without having to exert effort in changing the resistance. Machines are a great way to isolate muscle groups.
Free weights on the other hand allow you more freedom of movement and help to strengthen and stabilize the muscles around the joint. You will not be as strong using free weights as you will be on a machine because you will activate many different muscle fibers in order to move the weight. It is extremely important to use proper form while using free weights as it is easy to get injured.
How many calories does it take to burn 1 pound of fat? It takes 3500 calories to burn off 1 pound of fat. Most of you are probably shocked at that number. Most of you are not consuming 3500 calories per day. If you actually calculated how many calories you are taking in per day on your current eating plan I think you would be shocked.
So how then can you burn enough calories per day to lose 1 pound of fat? First you have to look at it as a 7 day cycle. If you consume 500 less calories per day then after 1 week you’ll have burned 3500 calories or 1 pound of fat. Eliminating just a few snacks or calorie loaded treats per day can have you eating more than 500 calories less per day. As you can see it really is not difficult to cut 500 calories per day.
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