Bodybuilding

Cardiovascular (CV) means heart and lungs. CV exercise is anything that makes the heart and lungs work harder. You can choose the intensity and you can choose the timing based on what you want to achieve, but step one is to get started. Walking, running, skipping, swimming, cycling, rowing, stepping and dancing are all CV exercises and there are many more. You get your body moving beyond the everyday requirements, your heart and lungs work harder, your metabolic rate rises, your muscles use extra energy and you burn fat.

Fitness Myth 1

Low intensity CV exercise is best as it keeps me in the ‘fat-burning zone’. The ‘fat-burning zone’ as described on many pieces of fitness equipment usually suggests working at 55-65 per cent of your maximum heart rate (the highest number of heart beats per minute that you can achieve when you are working to your full effort level). The reasoning is that when working between 55-65 per cent of your maximum heart rate the body is working with a balance of energy between fat and muscle energy that is optimum for burning fat. This is good, however, the fat-burning zone is not the only zone where you will burn fat, you simply burn it in different proportions as you exercise to different intensity. If you work harder than 65 per cent of your maximum heart rate, you will burn more fat calories overall. In short, for maximum fat loss, work harder.

Let’s face it, it makes sense doesn’t it? Can you really expect to lose more weight by working less hard and keeping your effort level below 65 per cent of what it could be? If you have any doubts at all in this area, use your diary and conduct a controlled experiment. Try exercising in the fat-burning zone for six-to-eight weeks and monitor the results. Then exercise for six-to-eight weeks working as hard as you can during every CV workout and monitor the results of this activity. By comparing the two ways of working, you will be able to see which works best and how you wish to proceed from here.

Strength Training

Strength training means putting your muscles under an extra load beyond that which they are used to in order to tone you up and make you stronger. Strength training does not mean lifting huge weights and bulking up. The weights that you train with and the pattern of sets and repetitions that you do can be adjusted to bring you the specific results you are looking for when shaping your body, so do not be afraid of strength training. Once again your diary can be invaluable as it will show you the results of the changes you make. If you are not achieving your desired results, modify your pattern of exercise and monitor it until you get precisely what you want.

Fitness Myth 2

Training with weights will make me bulky. To achieve muscle bulk you need very heavy weights and a training regime of short sets where you can only perform a few repetitions of each exercise before having to rest and recover. If you work with moderate weights that allow you to perform between 15 and 20 repetitions with good technique before you have to rest, you will strengthen, shape and tone your muscles without becoming bulky.