Take It Easy While Coming Back to the Gym After the Quarantine

The year 2020 has not been kind to all of us and if you did not have the luxury of having your own home gym, you probably lost your gains of muscle and gained fat instead. I have seen posts of people talking about that they have gained 25 lbs in 2 months of being quarantined. I have to break the BAD NEWS for all of you, it might take LONGER than 2 months to lose that weight all over again. Unfortunately, it is very easy for our bodies to gain fat, but it takes 10 times as much effort to lose the weight. One of the things you have to remember is you have to make a deficit in your caloric intake plus burn calories in order to burn fat. You also have to burn at least 3500 calories in order to lose one pound of fat. Your intake is 80% of the equation and you have to get back on track while you have access to a gym now. No telling if it will be shut down again in the near future. 

Take it easy when getting back to the weight and cardiovascular training. If you have not lifted since they shut the gyms down, do not expect to lift the same amount of weight you were used to before. You will not be able to push the weight and can easily injure yourself. Why do that and then end up not working out for a longer period of time. Start out with light weight and do enough repetitions were you feel a burn sensation in your muscles. Your gonna get sore all over again like it was the first time training. It will not be a pleasant feeling, but you did it one time before you can do it again. As you get used to the light weight training and you do not feeling a burning sensation while training, then it is time to move up in weight. Moving up slowly will ensure that you do not get injured. Train smart and with your brain, not your EGO!

The same for the weights is the same for the cardiovascular training. Long time ago, I had to take some time off of running because I was not gaining the weight I need for off season. I was used to running 7 miles or more. I took off 9 weeks from running and other types of cardio. When it was time to start with my competition prep, I decided to go for a run and told myself that I would only do 3 miles. Well once I got to 3 miles, I felt like I could go to 5 miles. I ended up running 7 miles, went home took a hot shower and made sure I stretched real good. Well, once I settled in that is when the soreness started to kick in. It went from SORENESS and STIFFNESS to PAIN. I could not stand it after 3 days and had to go get Cryo Therapy. After being flash freezed alive, I came out 70% better than I did walking in. I looked like the Tim Man from Alice in Wonderland! I also had to have several sessions with my massage therapist to help with the stiffness. I learned my lesson and will never do that again!

So if you are getting ready to get back into your old gym routine, just remember to take it easy! You will get back to your old PRs and distance in no time as long as you do it the smart way! 

Beginners: Beware of Fast Paced 30 Minute or Less Workout Programs

Are You Ready 30 Minute or Less; Fast-Paced Workout Programs?

I'm sure there are plenty people out there that FINALLY started their NEW YEAR NEW ME for 2020, barely got themselves used to doing some fitness activity and NOW quarantined at home for an undisclosed amount of time. Now what do you do? There are a lot of advertisements for at home workouts that require time and some equipment and then there are other programs that are fast paced and only take 30 minutes or less to do. Before you jump on the band wagon to these types of quick workouts, ask yourself, are you ready for high impact workouts?

A lot of these exercises do not seem like much, do not use much equipment and being done fast with a workout sounds very appealing, but how long has it been since you were active like the instructors are the program? If it has been more than 6 months since you were training consistently, you need to start from the beginning with regular slow paced workouts with adequate amounts of rest. This might sound boring and asking for too much time, but this will greatly reduce you chances of getting injured which will lead you to stopping your fitness goals for an undetermined amount of time. 

If you lack flexibility, core strength, joint stability and muscular development then you are deconditioned and need to start with a low intensity exercise program. A type of program that starts the focus on core strengthening, joint stability, flexibility and muscular endurance. Starting off with exercises that use a Swiss ball, Bosu ball and one legged exercise are key in strengthening stability and muscle coordination. In addition, the increased difficulty of using unstable exericses helps burn more calories which burns more fat. These types of exercises are done with moderate amounts of weight with high repetitions. Once you have mastered exercising with untable enviroments then you are ready to move on to more strenous type of training

In order to see results, I would recommend engaging in this type of training for at least 4 - 6 weeks. Log your workouts in a journal along with sets, reps and weight amounts. When an exercise becomes too easy is when you move up in weight. On this blog you can find many examples of exercises that include a Swiss ball (stability ball), a Bosu ball and are one legged. You can also find other examples on my Youtube Channel