How To Plan Your Exercise Program

"He fails to plan, plan to fail" -Proverb-

Starting fitness program may be one of the best things you can do for your health. Physical activity can reduce your risk of chronic disease, improve your balance and coordination, help you lose weight and even help you to sleep better. It's easy to say that you will exercise every day, most worthwhile activity require planning..starting and maintaining a physical activity program does too. When you are designing exercise program keep these points in mind :

• What's is your fitness goals - Everyone has different goals when it comes to fitness, some just starting an exercise, you may want to lose weight. Others may have prepare for marathon, and for some people it's just maintaining their fitness goals. You and me have different fitness goals. So, choose which you want to achieve. 

•  Make excercise top priority - You know already the benefits of doing physical activity. If you want to look good, feel good, shed excess fat, increase your energy levels, and feel relaxed and happy, make commitment for healthier lifestyle. Put exercise as your top priority, make time for it and stop making excuses.

• Design a balanced routine - You don't want to go overboard with your exercise or get injured. For sure you don't want to lose muscles because you are doing too much of cardio exercise but neglecting weight training. Draw an activity plan when you can train your muscle groups as well your cardio. To shed some kilos you don't actually need to exercise for many hours. Aim for 60- 150 minutes of moderate activity. 

• Plan your recovery time - Many people start exercising by working out too intense or too long and give up when their muscles and joints become sore. Plan time between sessions to rest your body and muscle growth.

• Write down your plan - A written plan will help you to  stay on track. 

• Be creative with your plan - There are many things you can do to improve your health. Thousands of weight training you can do, also different activities for your cardio. You can mix it up to avoid plateau. You can join dance classes, you can run, or you can use the elliptical machine..sooo mannyy....to keep you off from boredom.

• Review your plans and goals - You may find that you can gradually increase some activities while others just too hard. You could find new activities, find more convenient times or trying new exercise.

• Track your progress - This will keep you motivated and strive more in the future. Reaching your goal will give you more confidence and self-esteem. 

Abs Are Made in The Kitchen Not in The Gym

The title above is inspired by one of Dave Zinczenko's tweets ( he's Men's and Women's Health Editor), and somewhat true. It's a wake up call for everyone who is doing hundreds of crunches for flatter abs, and yet still wondering why those fats still hanging happily in your belly. 

Doing too many crunches at the expense of other, more comprehensive movements can lead to the dreaded “aerobic abs.”  That’s the term celebrity trainer Steve Maresca coined to describe the distended stomachs of those who focus only on the rectus abdominus muscles targeted by sit-ups and crunches. 

Thousand times of crunches and longer core exercises won't make your abs flat if you don't eat the right food. Now, the right food sure comes from the kitchen right? So, what to eat ? 

Start cooking low carb food, embrace the good fat such as; olive oil, avocado, fish etc, avoid deep fried food as often as possible and try to reduce the sodium intake. 

The man made his points though, I don't do much sit-ups ( 20 reps maximum ) for the last 4 years, I'm more focus on the food intake, how my food is prepared. I need to know what ingredients are in my food. I spend a long time doing my grocery because reading all the nutrition facts. When the food contains a lot of carbohydrates, sugars and sodium, I skip them. 

The Flat abs starts in the kitchen!