Three Essential Elements to Your Exercise Program

There are three essential elements to a balanced exercise program – aerobic exercise (cardio), elevating your heart rate; anaerobic exercise (resistance training), breaking down muscle tissue; and nutrition, the food you consume. Many people design exercise programs that do not contain all three of these elements. This is a basic but major mistake. There is synergy between these three elements that propel you toward your goal. Synergy is best defined as two or more components working together in a way that creates a result that is not independently obtainable. In this case 1+1=2, but when you add all three essential elements together 1+1+1=10. I encourage everyone to have concern for muscle, moderate aerobic exercise, and right nutrition!

By Ken Knapp, Personal Training Manager at Canton

Keep it Fresh!

Your body adapts to movement – same movements, same results. Try to keep your workouts challenging by incorporating different movements to your workout. How do you do that? Simple things like adding a back extension to your bicep curl or a lateral step to your triceps extension. You can also try increasing your weight or repetitions. Ideally, you should change your workouts every 3-4 weeks – some longer and some shorter depending on how your body adapts to exercise. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you play it safe!

By Dante High, Personal Training Manager at Cranbrook

Quick Fixes

There is no such thing as a quick fix or a pill that would accomplish your fitness goals. Most people don’t change their habits. Not eating enough foods, not eating the right kind of foods and alcohol consumption are but a few bad habits that cause people to gain weight.

In order to accomplish your fitness goals, you need to change bad habits. A person has to eat better and get off of their butts and exercise. Most of the quick fixes only work in conjunction with what a person needs.

For example, fat burners (thermogenics) are designed to increase metabolism, which increases heat production leading to more calories burned. But, it’s not going to work if you don’t change eating habits. Fat burners do elevate your heart rate so it can be potentially dangerous and even cause death. Lipo suction is another quick fix that is very expensive. After a while if you don’t change some of your bad habits, most people tend to gain the weight back. The bottom line is that there is a lot of truth to the phrase “no pains no gain.” If a person wants to keep the weight off, then there is a correct way of doing it. This way you have a better chance of keeping the weight off for a longer period of time even if you fall off the wagon for a while.

By Sail Abdullah, Personal Training Manager at Owings Mills