printHow To Get The Perfect Gym Session
Try to use a good variety of cardiovascular machines.This will ensure your body doesn't suffer from repetitive stress which can be experienced if you only ever use the same 1or 2 machines.
While working out keep your heart rate at 55-75% of your maximum heart rate (maximum heart rate is calculated by 220 minus your age). This heart rate range provides optimum results for cardiovascular fitness and calorie burning.
If you can manage an hour per session that's fantastic! But consistency and quality are more important, so even 20 minutes is adequate. Aim for three sessions a week, and swimming is a suitable substitute if you can't get to the gym.
Try to have a day of rest between sessions for optimum recovery. However, this isn't essential and doing two consecutive days isn't necessarily too much.
Also try to incorporate resistance exercises. This will help protect your posture and joints, provide muscle toning, and prevent the weight loss plateau that can occur if your body is accustomed to one regime.
What determines how many calories I burn in one session?
- Your bodyweight - the more you weigh the more resistance you will be working against when doing cardiovascular exercise, and the higher the potential calorie expenditure.
- Personal level of fitness - if someone is a beginner to a specific workout, they could find the workout more demanding and use up more calories. As we adapt and become more efficient at exercising the calorie demand drops.
- The quality of techniques - if someone has good technique and can activate the right muscle groups they will be able to burn more calories than someone who is cheating themselves on certain movements.
- How hard you push yourself - with resistance exercise repetitions it's easy to fall into a comfort zone. Make sure when you get to the end of your rep range it is very difficult to do anymore. Try to reach failure and increase the weight as necessary to keep the intensity.
- Rests between sets - the less rest, the greater the cardiovascular overload and calorie burning potential.
And if you want to have a gym blitz....
Alternate the cardiovascular machines on different days to prevent overloading your joints or muscles with too much impact or repetitive movement. For example:
Monday: impact cardio (treadmill)
Tuesday: weights and bike
Wednesday: treadmill
Thursday: weights and x-trainer
Friday: treadmill/bike combination
Saturday: weights and x-trainer
Sunday: treadmill/bike
Try to get a rest day in your week, but if not then just ensure you stretch adequately after each session and get adequate sleep, supported with good nutrition.
