Interestingly, the worst thing you can do when you develop osteoarthritis or osteoporosis is to become less active. An abundance of research has demonstrated that resistance training is effective for both delaying the effects of osteoporosis and osteoporosis, as well as alleviating and reducing the effects of current bone conditions.

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the best way to exercise for bone health is to perform persistent resistance training exercises. Here are a few tips on how to keep your bones healthier later into your life:

1. Weight-Bearing Exercises Reign Supreme

Like muscles, bones adapt to increases in load and intensity of exercise. When an increased load is placed on the bone, it adapts by becoming stronger and denser so that it can handle future loads of that degree. To force the bone to adapt in the most efficient manner, exercises that bear the entire weight of the body are best. Choose to job instead of cycle, or to do pushups versus using the incline press.

2. Free Weights are Better Than Machines

As a rule, free weights are superior to exercise machines because they force the bones to bear more body weight. You can imagine that performing an overhead press with a bar places a much greater load on the axial skeleton than performing the same exercise on a machine. Free weights have the added effect of targeting the smaller, stabilizer muscles within a given exercise, which can prevent stress on the joints and osteoarthritic conditions later on. Of course, if you suffer from severe osteoarthritis, machines may help you perform certain exercises through controlled ranges of motions without stressing the joints too much. Talk with your physical therapist about what exercises you are capable of performing.

3. Progressively Overload Your Bones

Also similar to muscles, they become stagnant when they are not sufficiently stimulated. Your bones will stop adapting if you stop exercising. Progressively increase the load of your exercises by about 10 percent each week to keep your bones healthy and strong. You will also need to allow for sufficient rest between exercise sessions, and to take a week of exercise off from time to time to allow your body to recover.

4. Calcium and Vitamin D

You’ve probably heard that calcium and vitamin D are crucial for maintaining bone health. It remains true that these micronutrients play the most direct role in preventing bone pores later in life. Calcium helps form the structure of bones and the body uses vitamin D to metabolize and absorb calcium. The best sources of calcium are milk and dairy products, as well as green leafy vegetables. You can get nearly all the vitamin D you need from sun exposure, but vitamin D also exists in fish and eggs.

1. Keep it Simple

When if comes to lifting weights, you don’t need to overcomplicate matters — at least, not at first. Once you become an advanced lifter, you can focus on more difficult lifts and rep/set schemes, but for now, simplicity is your goal. Focus on lifts that target your major muscle groups first, such as your chest, back, and legs. You can then narrow your program down to smaller, stabilizer muscles. Here are some easy lifts for each major area of the body:

Chest: Bench press, incline press, decline press, pushups

Back: Seated row, bench pull, cable row, lat pulldowns

Legs: Leg press, squats, knee extensions, hamstring curls, calf raises

Arms: Biceps curls, triceps pushdowns, shoulder raises, dips

Abs/Core: situps, weighted crunches, Russian twists, back extensions

2. Aim for Balance

Hit each of these areas of the body every time you go to the gym to promote balance. When you get some experience, you’ll want to focus on one are of the body during one session and then allow one to two days of rest while your focus on other areas. But for now, pick one or two exercises for each major area each session. If you focus only on your chest muscles, for example, it’s easy to develop a hunched posture that places excessive pressure on the thoracic spine.

3. Warm Up and Cool Down

Always start your workout with at least 10 minutes of cardio before you lift to get your heart rate and body temperature up. Mix up the cardio as well. Jog one day, bike another, and row on the third. I can’t tell you how many people I see in the gym who don’t warm up before working out, only to complain of nagging tweaks and aches in their bodies later on. You know you’re sufficiently warmed up if there is sweat dripping down your forehead.

Also, cool down following a lifting session by stretching. This helps initiate the recovery process and can improve the elasticity of your muscles. Perform about two to three separate static (holding the position in one place) stretches for each major body area. Hold stretches for a minimum of 10 seconds and repeat.

4. Use Machines

I never recommend machines to anyone except absolute beginners, but for safety and learning purposes, start out only using these helpful pieces of equipment. Machines typically have pictures of the muscle groups they target, making exercise selection fairly simple, and they come with a significantly lower risk of injury. If you want serious results, you’ll have to forget about machines later on, however.

5. Progress Slowly

There’s no need to rush it. Focus on the quality of your lifts versus how much you are lifting or how fast you are progressing. Start out by performing two, nonconsecutive weightlifting sessions each week. For the first month, focus on very light weights and don’t worry about increasing the load. Just perform each lift slowly and with an even tempo, making sure to use a full range of motion.

First Week Program

Here’s a sample program to get you started for your first week:

Session 1

10 minute jog on treadmill

5 minutes of dynamic stretching (arm circles, leg swings, windmills, toe touches, torso rotations)

3 sets of 10 reps of: bench press, lat pulldowns, leg press, dips

10 minutes of static stretching

Notes: allow 2 minutes of rest between sets, 3-5 minutes between exercises. Use about 50-60 percent of your maximal load for each lift.

Session 2

15 minute elliptical

5 minutes of dynamic stretching

3 X 10: Incline press, seated row, squats, decline press, calf raises, weighted crunches

10 minutes of static stretching

Notes: allow 2 minutes of rest between sets, 3-5 minutes between exercises. Use about 50-60 percent of your maximal load for each lift.

I think I'll stay at home, thank you.

Gyms are great. I love putting on gym clothes, walking to my car, driving 20 minutes, finding a parking sport, doing 30 minutes of cardio, performing a weightlifting circuit, and then heading back out in the cold to drive home again (it’s really cold where I live right now). Since I have so much time to kill in my life, I try to take a one hour workout and turn it into two.

Okay, I’m being a bit tongue-and-cheek. Gyms offer a lot that you can’t find other places. However, if you don’t have time to kill, can’t make it to the gym, or want to avoid paying membership fees, you can get the same — or better — workout by replicating some common exercises at home. Read below to find out how you can substitute some simple body weight exercises for many of the lifts and routines you perform in the gym.

Cardio

This is an easy one. Instead of the exercise bike, you can ride a real bike (gasp!). Or you can go for a jog instead of using a treadmill. The one thing you’ll likely want is some biofeedback, however. I find it motivating to be able to see the distance I’ve covered, my heart rate, and even my power output when working out. You can find a variety of toys that provide this data, but I’ve always really liked Garmin’s products. They’re a bit pricey, but there’s no substitute for a really good GPS system. If you have a smartphone, you can also find a number of apps that will provide this data for you as well.

Resistance Training Exercises

Bench Press

Pushups. These are almost identical to the bench press in both muscles used and plane of motion. When you perform a pushup, you’re supporting about 50 to 70 percent of your body weight. If you weigh 200 lbs., a pushup is the equivalent of benching about 100 to 140 lbs. You can increase the weight of this exercise by wearing a backpack loaded with books. You’ll probably never be able to perfectly replicate the bench if you can lift more than 300 lbs. or so, but you can come close.

Rows

Body pulls. Just like the bench, body pulls are almost identical to rows in the muscles they recruit. However, body pulls work muscles in a different plane of motion. Unless you’re a rower, you probably won’t care much, so go ahead and substitute these exercises for traditional seated and one-arm rows.

You’ll need to find a table or bench about three feet off the ground. Lie on your back and grab the edge of the table or bench. Keeping your body erect, pull yourself up to the top until your arms are completely flexed, then return to the starting position. Similar to the bench, you’re supporting about half your body weight with this exercise, and you can increase the load by wearing a weighted backpack.

Leg Press

Body weight squats. Most people can lift a lot more with their legs than they can with their upper body, so it will be somewhat difficult to load this exercise to replicate what you can do in a gym. To get an effect from this exercise, you’ll want to find a way to squat at least your own body weight (and preferably 1.5 times your body weight). A squat supports about half your body weight, and you can wear a weighted backpack to increase the load. If you weigh 200 lbs., however, you’ll need the pack to weigh at least 100 lbs. to get the same effect as you would with a leg press machine.

Perform a body weight squat by starting with your feet just wider than shoulder width apart. Keeping your back straight, bend at the hips and waist until your thighs are about parallel to the ground. Extend your hips and knees to return to the starting position.

Plyometrics

This is another easy one. Plyometrics are the classic body weight exercise and you can do them just about anywhere. This exercise modality, which capitalizes on the body’s natural stretch-shortening cycle, is highly effective for increasing explosive power. Research is continuing to reveal the effects of these exercises in a variety of sports, and this form of exercise is also a really fun way to burn calories and lose weight.

Plyometrics include workouts such as repeated jumps in one place, multiple forward leaps in straight or diagonal patterns, clap pushups, box jumps and depth jumps. You don’t need any fancy equipment to perform these, and if you’re looking for a fun way to mix up your workout program, I highly recommend them. Aim to perform four to six of these exercises per workout, with about 100 contacts (repetitions) per session.

Olympic Lifts

If you’re an athlete, or are just really into performing more hardcore lifts, Olympic lifts (i.e., snatches and cleans) are for you. These highly complex maneuvers help increase power, and require a great deal of flexibility and coordination. To move the weight you need to compete in major sports, you simply cannot replicate these without being in a gym. But if you’re looking for a fun way to increase power, as well as muscle coordination and speed, consider trying them.

Deadlifts

Though not an actual Olympic lift itself, the deadlift provides the foundation for all Olympic lifts. Start with these, and instead of using a weighted bar, you can easily perform dumbbell deadlifts using paint cans or buckets. Place them on the ground in front of you, with each handle about four to six inches wider than your shoulders. Perform the deadlift as normal, bending at the waist and squatting with the lower body to grasp the handles. Extend your knees and hips fully and then extend your back until it is erect to complete the lift.

Snatches

Because you don’t need much weight to achieve maximum power outputs in Olympic lifts, replicating these maneuvers is simply a matter of finding a convenient weight to grab. Again, paint cans or buckets will do the trick. Perform a snatch in the same manner you’d start a deadlift. Because of the complexity of the movement, only use one arm at a time. Grasp the handle, and as you lift, explosively drive with the legs, hips, and gluteals until the weight is off the ground. Extend your body once the weight reaches the pelvis area. This extension will create enough force that the weight should continue to propel upwards overhead. Your arm should be an extended position overhead when the lift is completed, and your knees should flex to absorb the weight as it returns downwards.

Cleans

Just like snatches, perform these with just one arm using paint cans or a bucket. Begin in the same position you would a deadlift or snatch. Drive the legs, hips, and gluteals to get the weight off the ground. Once the weight reaches the mid-thigh, extend the body, which will propel the weight upwards. As the weight is moving upwards, lower yourself underneath the weight and flip your wrists so your arms are about parallel to the ground. The weight should be resting against the clavicle when the lift is completed, and your knees should be slightly flexed to absorb the weight as it returns to the ground.

1. Save up your Calories for later

Photo © Edsel LIttle

The day before:

Eat 20%-40% less than what you normally eat (depending on what you’re comfortable with_. I know this sounds hard at first, but if you eat the right things, your body will be able to handle it fine. To control hunger pangs, try eat foods high in proteins and fibrous vegetables.

The Day Of the Feast:

If you have experience practicing Intermittent Fasting (IF) it would be wise for you to skip breakfast and lunch and break your fast at dinner time. This might sound hard, but if you’ve done IF for a while, it’s a piece of cake. Contrary to popular myths, fasting for a short period (< 60 hours) of time does not destroy your metabolism, but instead increases your metabolism.

If you have never fasted, you can continue to eat like the previous day (high protein/fiber, low everything else).

2. Workout HARD 1-2 Hours before the meal

Studies show that nutrition partitioning favors muscle rebuilding (instead of fat storage) within the post workout window (1-2 hours after workout is completed). Here’s a great write-up going into the science of why this is the case.

If you are working out fasted, take 10g of BCAAs or a scoop of whey protein powder to prevent you from passing out.

So DO IT, 1-2 hours before your meal, go lift heavy things.

3. Pig Out and Don’t Stress

Photo © Allie

Scientifically, what will help you post-workout is to eat high protein, high carbs, and low fats until you hit your glycogen store limit for carbs.

But seriously, during the big meal, eat whatever the heck you want. I know this isn’t the best holiday healthy eating tip, but realize that this only happens a few times out of the year and you deserve it for watching what you eat on the other days.

If you REALLY want to prioritize what to eat for the “pig out” protocol, eat your proteins first and use fats and carbs for flavoring. Liquid calories (e.g. soda, alcohol) and desserts come last (after you ate your main meal).

Enjoy your holiday!

Weight loss does not have to be complicated.

While women and men tend to differ in body size and composition, as well as hormonal characteristics, they do not differ in measures of relative strength, nor do they differ in their responses to exercise. The same weight loss principles, therefore, apply to both sexes.

Is There a “Best Weight Loss Program?”

Much debate exists regarding the best weight loss programs. Advocates of Atkins, Paleo, Ideal Protein, and other low-carb diets attest that carbohydrates are the main dietary culprits in weight-gain, and you need to keep these nutrients to a minimum if you want to reduce body fat and total weight. More traditional dietary programs advocate reducing fat, particularly saturated and trans fat, to cut total body fat and weight.

Whatever the current dietary trend, in almost all cases you can find research that both supports its principles as well as research that contradicts them. For example, you’ve probably heard, and may even know, people who have lost weight as a result of engaging in one of these diets. However, the Mayo Clinic asserts that these diet fads are generally successful simply because they cause people to pay more attention to what they eat, they become more physically active, and they naturally reduce the amount of food they consume.

Any dietary program that places an unusual emphasis on any one particular nutrient, whether it be carbs, protein, fat or a vitamin or mineral, has the potential to harm your body. In reality, regardless of your current weight and health status, your body needs a balance of macronutrients and micronutrients to operate efficiently and to meet its variety of metabolic needs.

So what constitutes an effective diet? The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) explains that there are two tried-and-true principles for losing weight in the majority of individuals, and you’ve heard them before.

1. Be More Active

If you want to lose weight, stop focusing on what you eat so much and go get physical. My diet almost never changes. I eat a lot, all the time. Yet my weight consistently fluctuates throughout the year according to how much exercise I get. During the summer, when I’m kayaking a lot and leading several practice sessions throughout the day, I tend to lose a lot of weight. During the winter, when the season is over and I’m focused on writing and designing training programs, I naturally gain weight. I’m sure most people have similar reasons for gaining or losing weight at certain times.

Much of the reason adults put on weight as they grow older is not because of the natural process of aging, but because their metabolism slows down due to less and less physical activity over time. Adults lose muscle as they age, not because of time, but because they simply are not out running around all day jumping over things, playing sports, and swinging on monkey bars like they did when they were kids.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends achieving a minimum of 30 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity each day to maintain cardiovascular fitness and a healthy weight. Recent research actually suggests that people need closer to an hour of aerobic exercise each day. How many of us really achieve this much? Moderate exercise for 30 minutes can burn 250 to 500 calories, about as much as an entire meal.

2. Restrict Calories

While becoming more active will help you lose weight over time, you’ll lose weight more quickly if you cut calories. The caloric-deficit rule of cutting 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. of body fat, while perhaps overly-simplistic, is correct. Each 1 lb. of body fat contains 3,500 calories, and you need to ultimately need to achieve this negative energy balance to lose weight.

Cut about 500 calories from your diet each day, and you’ll lose 1 lb. each week through diet alone. But, you do not need to place particular emphasis on restricting any one nutrient. While a variety of factors influence your weight and metabolism, no rule is as important as obtaining this caloric deficit (NSCA, 2008). You need to obtain about 50 percent of your calories from carbohydrates, 30 percent from fat, and 20 percent from protein. You can calculate these percentages regardless of what your total caloric consumption is.

For example, if your body requires 2,000 calories to maintain its current weight, and you want to lose 1 lb. each week, you need to achieve a daily caloric deficit of 500 calories. You can do this by limiting your caloric intake to 1,500 calories a day, exercising more, or both. Pretend you get 30 minutes of exercise each day, which burns 250 calories. You need to cut 250 more calories from your diet each day to lose 1 lb. a week. If your diet now calls for 1,750 calories, you need to consume 875 from carbs, 525 from fat, and 350 from protein.

Final Words (of Wisdom)

The best weight loss program for men and women is a program that you can adapt permanently into your lifestyle. Don’t listen to all the marketing hype of a new revolutionary finding that will let you use 10 lbs of fat in a week. If it does work, it can’t be healthy. You didn’t gain all that weight in week so don’t expect to lose all that weight in a week either.

Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Running requires endurance and flexibility, but strength also plays a significant role in running performance — especially for women. Because women carry the majority of their weight in their hips and lower body, strength in these areas can enhance their running stride and efficiency, while minimizing fatigue and injury.

You can improve both muscular strength and endurance in the gym through resistance training. To improve endurance, however, you first need to increase the cross-sectional area of the muscular fibers — a goal referred to as hypertrophy. Also, running is primarily a lower body sport and much of your time in the gym should be spent strengthening the muscles in your legs, but a strong gluteus maximus, abdomen and back can also improve your running ability. A well-rounded strength training program for runners should include exercises that target these areas as well.

Here’s a sample 2-month strength training program for women that first emphasizes muscular strength and hypertrophy, and then focuses on increasing muscular endurance.

Weeks 1-4: Strength and Hypertrophy (increase load by 5% and decrease repetitions by 2 each week)

Day 1

Squats, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Vertical chest press, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Lunge with dumbbells, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Abdominal crunch, 3 sets of 10 @ 70 % 1RM

Leg curls, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Machine back extension, 3 sets of 10 @ 70 % 1RM

Day 2

Leg press, 3 sets of 10 @ 70 % 1RM

Bench press, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Toe-raises, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Incline sit-ups with plate, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Hamstring curls, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

One-armed dumbbell row, 3 sets of 10 each arm @ 70 % 1RM

Day 3

Straight-leg deadlift, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Decline press, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Reverse walking lunges with dumbbells @ 70% 1RM

Oblique twists with dumbbell or plate, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Lat pulldowns, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Lateral shoulder raise, 3 sets of 10 @ 70% 1RM

Week 5

Rest

Weeks 6-9: Endurance (increase repetitions by 2 and decrease load by 5% each week)

Day 1

Walking lunge with dumbbells, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

Pushups, body weight, 1 set for max reps, 2 sets @ 80 % max reps

Abdominal crunches, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

One-legged squats, body weight, 3 sets of max reps (use a partner for assistance)

Leg press, 3 sets @ 65% 1RM

Machine back extensions, 3 sets @ 65% 1RM

Day 2

Overhead squat, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

Pullups, 3 sets of max reps

Incline sit-ups without plate, 1 set of max reps, 2 sets of 80% max reps

Toe raises, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

Lateral shoulder raises, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

Plank, 3 sets of 1 minute

Day 3

Straight-leg deadlift, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

Oblique twists, 3 sets of 1 minute as many reps as you can

Dumbbell chest flies, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

Seated row, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

Hamstring curls, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

Reverse walking lunge with dumbbells, 3 sets of 12 @ 65% 1RM

Additional Tips

• Women runners who are completely new to the gym should only perform two well-spaced resistance training sessions per week.
• Women runners with a lot of experience in the gym can perform four sessions per week.
• Warm up for 10 to 15 minutes before beginning lifting weights, and make sure to walk through a series of dynamic (moving) stretches that replicate movements you will be performing in the gym.
• Increase the amount of weight you lift when you can successfully perform two repetitions beyond your target number for two consecutive sets of an exercise.
• Once you gain sufficient strength, hypertrophy, and endurance you can focus on more advanced training goals in the gym such as power and speed, as well as more intense circuit training routines to improve endurance.
• The amount you rest between sets counts. Rest about 2-3 minutes between sets to promote strength and hypertrophy, and 30 seconds to 1 minute between sets to increase muscular endurance.
• There are many strength training programs out there. Pick one, complete it in its entirety, then decided if you want to switch programs. Contrary to the recently marketing hype. Your muscles do not need to be constantly “confused” to gain performance.

Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The goal of building muscle in weight lifting is known as hypertrophy. Different than simply increasing strength or power, hypertrophy is an increase in the size of the muscle’s contractile area as a result of greater contractile proteins and a greater number and size of myofibrils in each fiber. Unlike maximal strength training, hypertrophy is best-achieved with just moderate loads. Therefore, to build the most muscle, you don’t always need to lift more. Here are the basic components of a hypertrophy program for beginners:

Exercises

Because you are not taxing your muscles too much with each workout, you can perform a greater number of exercises than you would with a maximal strength or power training program. Choose about six exercises each weight lifting session, targeting all areas of the body. Because your goal is to increase size, focus on larger muscle groups such as the lats, pecs, gluts and quads.

Load

Research has demonstrated that maximal hypertrophy occurs with moderate loads, at about the 65 to 82% of 1RM range. If you don’t know your 1RM for a given exercise, use the NSCA’s calculator.

Sets and Reps

Once again, sets and reps don’t need to be high to achieve maximum hypertrophy. Perform two to three sets of six to 12 repetitions of each exercise.

Rest

The amount of time you rest in between sets plays an important role in the way your muscles will adapt. Minimal rest between sets will improve muscular endurance, while maximal rest will improve strength and power. With hypertrophy, think moderation. About two to three minutes between sets is sufficient.

Increasing Load

For continued muscle growth over time, you’ll need to increase the amount of weight you lift. You can increase the amount of weight you lift for each exercise by about 5 to 10 percent when you can perform two additional repetitions beyond your target number for two consecutive sets (known as the 2-for-2 rule). For example, if you are performing the bench press with 150 lbs., and your goal is three sets of 10 reps, you can increase the load by about 8 to 15 lbs. when you can perform 12 repetitions twice in a row.

Volume

Absolute beginners should only perform two resistance training sessions per week to allow the muscles time to recover and grow. It’s during the rest periods that muscles grow, not while lifting. More advanced lifters can perform three sessions, and elite lifters can perform four or more.

Tempo

The tempo you perform each lift is also important. For example, to improve muscular power, you need to perform lifts fast and explosively because power is a result of force, distance and time. Maximal strength, however, is best achieved when performing lifts slowly. Hypertrophy is highest when lifts are performed at a moderate tempo. However, research has demonstrated that the eccentric phase (sometimes called negatives) promotes greater hypertrophy than the concentric. The eccentric phase of a lift is the one in which the muscle lengthens, while in the concentric phase the muscle shortens.

For most lifts, the concentric phase is considered the lifting phase, while the eccentric phase returns the weight to its starting position. With the bench press, for example, pressing the bar to the sky is the concentric phase and lowering it back to the chest is eccentric. Perform lifts at a time ratio of 1:2 for the concentric vs. eccentric phase to promote maximal hypertrophy (i.e., a count of 1 on the way up, a count of 2 on the way down).

Sample Beginner’s Program

It doesn’t have to be super complicated when you’re just starting out. Think simple, moderate weight, and hit the major muscle groups. Make sure to warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of cardio and dynamic stretching before lifting weights.

Day 1

Bench press 3 x 10 @ 65%

Back squats 3 x 10 @ 65%

Bench pull 3 x 10 @ 65%

Leg press 3 x 10 @ 65%

Incline press 3 x 10 @ 65%

Leg extensions 3 x 10 @65%

Day 2

Chest flies 3 x 10 @ 65%

Overhead squats 3 x 10 @ 65%

Seated row 3 x 10 @ 65%

Straight-leg deadlifts 3 x 10 @65%

Decline press 3 x 10 @ 65%

Lat pulldowns 3 x 10 @65%

Week 2 Days 1 and 2

Same routine, but change to 3 sets of 8 at 70%

savit keawtavee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We’ve all likely heard of the concept of periodization with respect to planning our exercise programs. For those who haven’t, periodization is the systematic variation in volume and intensity of exercise in order to reach a high level of performance at the right time of the year. Originally developed by Dr. Tudor Bompa to allow rowers to “peak” during the most important competition of the year, the common exerciser can utilize the tenets of periodization to reach better gains in muscle size, endurance and weight-loss.

Periodization can apply not just to physical training, but nutrition as well, according to Bob Seebohar, a registered dietitian and certified strength and conditioning specialist with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. As training should vary throughout the year, so should your eating habits, asserts Seebohar. Here’s how it works:

Pre-Season

Pre-season training is generally characterized by high volume and low intensity. Athletes tend to use the pre-season to develop foundational skills, such as maximal strength, muscular and cardiovascular endurance and technique. The common exerciser can view the pre-season as the first few weeks or months of beginning a new exercise program.

Carbohydrate intake should be high during this phase to meet the high energy demands of exercise. Common exercisers should consume about 3 g of carbohydrates per 1 kg of body weight, while athletes should aim to consume closer to 7 g per 1 kg of body weight.

Protein is also crucial to restore damaged muscular tissue and build new tissue. Athletes should aim to consume about 2.5 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight, while common exercisers should opt for about 1.2 g per 1 kg. A higher intake of protein can assist with weight-loss because of its ability to promote a feeling of fullness, as well as its higher thermic effect on the body, there boosting metabolism.

piyato / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Fat is an important component of the diet, but should always be fairly low. Athletes should aim for 1.3 g of fat per 1 kg of body weight, while the common exerciser should consume about 0.8 g per 1 kg. Always consume the majority of your fat from unsaturated sources, such as fish, nuts and legumes, rather than the saturated fats found in red meat and dairy products.

In-Season

During the season, intensity is high while volume takes a back seat. Training is designed to replicate competition, with plenty of rest in between sessions. For common exercisers, you can view in-season training as any period in which you are significantly attempting to increase the amount you lift, distance you run or any other attempt to raise the intensity of your program.

Carbohydrate intake should increase even beyond that of the pre-season. Athletes should consume about 10 to 12 g of carbohydrates per 1 kg of body weight, while common exercisers should consume about 5 to 7 g per 1 kg.

Because of the higher carbohydrate intake, a balanced diet necessitates a lower need for protein. However, protein stabilizes blood sugar levels, promotes satiety, and still plays an essential role in building and restoring tissue. Athletes should consume about 2 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight, while common exercisers should aim for about 1.4 g per 1 kg.

Fat intake should remain fairly constant during this phase, amounting to about the same as that of the pre-season.

Off-Season

During the off-season, the nutrition plan should more closely resemble a traditional balanced diet. The emphasis of the off-season is rest and recovery. For common exercisers, view the off-season as any period in which you plan at least two weeks or more off from your exercise program.

Carbohydrate intake doesn’t need to be as high during this phase because of the significantly lower volume of training. Athletes should consume about 4 g of carbohydrates per 1 kg of body weight, while common exercisers should aim for 3 g per 1 kg.

Protein intake should be higher to promote recovery, amounting to 2.3 g per 1 kg of body weight for athletes and 1.5 g per 1 kg for common exercisers.

Fat intake may decrease slightly to account for the increased need for protein. Athletes should aim for 1.2 g of fat per 1 kg of body weight, while common exercisers can shoot for about 1 g per 1 kg.

Paul Martin Eldridge / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In his book, “The Essence of Bodyweight Training,” Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Juan Carlos Santana regales of the time he and his fellow coaches designed and implemented one of the most successful conditioning programs ever for a large high school in Florida. Several of the athletic teams at this high school went on to win championships that year, and Santana was lauded for his fitness contributions. There was just one caveat. The school had no weight room. No benches, no barbells, no dumbbells, and certainly no squat racks, Smith machines or elaborate cardiovascular equipment.

Basically, all Santana and his staff had to work with were the athletes’ bodies. And that’s what they did. Using just the individual athletes’ bodyweight as resistance, Santana ingeniously replicated or replaced nearly all of the common weightlifting maneuvers performed by a typical athletic program in a gym. Santana now swears by bodyweight training and, unless absolutely necessary, advocates just the use of bodyweight for most athletes.

Weightlifting, Santana says, makes you a better and stronger weightlifter, but bodyweight training makes you a better athlete. When you’re performing the bench press, you’re practically isolating the pectoral muscles. When you’re performing a pushup, however, you’re forcing the small stabilizer muscles in the shoulders and arms to maintain postural support and balance, while also improving strength in the pectorals. The latter has far better transference to real life athletic movements and can also help you build lean muscle.

The pushup is easily the best and most effective bodyweight exercise for targeting the chest and shoulder muscles. Here is a progression of pushup exercises, with increasing difficulty, that will teach you how to build muscles fast (leans ones in fact), without ever needing to go to a gym.

Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1. Pushups

Yep, we’ve all done them. Some of us would rather do a bench press or incline press than this dreaded exercise, but pushups are a tried and true method of building strong arms and chest muscles. Do pushups every day and do a lot of them. Also, make sure you perform them correctly. Your chest should almost reach the floor, your back and buttocks should be in a straight line and you should not dip or raise your lower back. If you want to build lean chest and arm muscles without weights, start here.

Perform 3 sets of as many pushups as you can daily, until you can do about 40 to 50 repetitions in a row.

2. Weighted Pushups

When you’ve mastered the pushup and can easily perform 40 to 50 repetitions, you’ll want to consider increasing the load of this exercise. Add a backpack, or have a partner apply pressure to your back as you perform pushups to increase the resistance and reap further muscular adaptations. You can even have a partner sit on your back.

Begin by adding just 10 lbs. of resistance of some form. Perform 3 sets of 6 to 12 repetitions to increase the size of your chest and shoulder muscles. Add 10 more lbs. of resistance when you can perform two repetitions beyond your target number for two consecutive sets. Over the course of several weeks, work your way up until you can perform a pushup with additional resistance equivalent to your body weight.

3. Clap Pushups

When you have reached a sufficient level of strength, you can being to attempt this difficult plyometric maneuver. Begin a clap pushup as you would a normal pushup, but at the bottom of the exercise, explosively drive your body off the ground with your arms and attempt to clap at the top of the exercise.

Warning: You need to be strong and quick to try this, as it can be hard on the shoulders. Only attempt this plyometric exercise when you can perform a pushup using 1.5 times your body weight. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs., you need to be able to perform a pushup with the equivalent of 225 lbs. of resistance. Because when you perform a pushup, you’re lifting about half your body weight, you’d need to be able to do a pushup with 150 additional lbs. of resistance.

4. One-Armed Pushups

They’re performed just like they sound and they can significantly increase the load you place on the pectoral and deltoid muscles on each respective side of the body. Like clap pushups, they’re also extremely difficult. You’ll need to center your arm between your pectoral muscles and rotate your body slightly on the way up to promote balance. Otherwise, a one-armed pushup is performed just like a classic pushup.

Begin by performing 3 sets of as many one-armed pushups as you can on each side. Work your way up until you can perform 3 sets of 6 to 12 repetitions on each side.

5. One-Armed Weighted Pushups

Just like two-armed weighted pushups, add resistance to this exercise to increase the difficulty. Start by adding just 5 lbs. of resistance to each side, and work your way up until you can perform 3 sets of 6 to 12 repetitions. Add 5 additional lbs. when you can perform two repetitions beyond your target number for two consecutive sets.

worradmu / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As I write this, the rain is coming down so hard on my Pacific Northwest home that I fear it will collapse. The atmosphere’s just abysmal and the sky’s so dark, in fact, that I flipped on the news to make sure my clocks weren’t wrong. Yes, it’s actually 7:30 AM and not the 4:30 AM it appears to be. Weather like this really gets me down, and whenever the comforting warmth of summer begins to fade away in this region of the world, I can become a little depressed. I know it will be nine more months until I get to break out the flip flops and shades again, with a few sporadic exceptions. I’ve also had to deal with a few “life issues” in recent months that continue to linger. I barely want to get out of bed when it’s like this, let alone work, exercise, socialize, and run errands. Am I going to do those things anyways? Of course. Just like you, I have to if I want to live some resemblance of a normal life.

The point of all this is not to depress you, and I completely respect that many (if not most) people have much more serious problems than myself. But it did get me thinking about the issue of motivation — both in life and with exercise. What motivates us? Why do we exercise? Why do we stick to an exercise program versus give up? I strongly believe that our true motivation for exercising is what will determine whether or not we stick with a program several weeks, months and years later.

Self-Determination Theory

photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This model describes why an exerciser who runs everyday to lose a certain number of pounds has a very good chance of dropping his program once he reaches his goal, while an exerciser who runs for the intrinsic pleasure of gliding through the air and moving her body is likely to run for the rest of her life. Decades of research has validated and expanded on Deci and Ryan’s theory, and this model of motivation continues to be one of the most widely-used in sport psychology.

Improving Motivation

If you’re the exerciser aiming to lose weight or receive praise from others, don’t worry. You’re in the same boat as most people. You can significantly enhance your motivation for exercising, however, by incorporating more internal reasons. You’ll experience your highest level of motivation when your goals and ambitions for getting off your couch on a rainy day are not to experience some reward, but because you like to exercise. Think you’ll never learn to like running? Well you can. You can improve your joy of exercising with three important concepts, according to Deci and Ryan: competence, autonomy and relatedness.

Competence

You’ll experience more joy when you exercise if you feel competent. Who wants to perform an activity they feel they’re bad at, and not making any progress? Make sure you set realistic, moderately challenging goals and take time to note your accomplishments. For some, just getting off the couch is an accomplishment, and that’s great! Go to spin class because you’re awesome at it and getting better and better all the time, not just because that’s what you have to do to lose weight. For information on how to set more internally-motivated goals, see: http://tweakfit.com/the-basics-of-goal-setting

Autonomy

Your motivation will be higher when you experience a sense of autonomy. You have to be in control of your exercise program. Not your personal trainer. Not your coach. Not your spouse, significant other, or the blonde at the coffee shop. These people can help, but you need to exercise for you. Ultimately, your motivation will fade away if you are exercising for someone other than yourself. Ask yourself who is really in control of your desire to exercise. Would you exercise if not for these people?

Relatedness

Of course, exercising with those people can help you feel connected and provides a sense of support that can push you through when times get tough. Relatedness is the precise reason why exercise classes are so popular. They’re fun and they make you feel like you’re part of a group. As social creatures, we all crave some sense of belonging. If we can achieve this feeling of belonging when we exercise, we’re much more likely to keep at it. If your motivation to exercise is wavering, get a workout buddy or join a class.

nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Final Notes

Self-Determination Theory is not the only model that predicts and explains human motivation. Some researchers feel people are equally motivated by the fear of punishment, to outdo our peers, achieve social status and any number of other factors. However, Deci and Ryan’s ideas have stood the test of time and I’m confident that applying these concepts will not only help you stick with your goals, but will make exercising a lot more enjoyable.