Travel Blog

A previous post talked about joining Goodlife Gyms and how important it was to go with a partner and just get out their and do it.  Well I wanted to spend a bit more time on my chosen exercise training program to give people a feel for what is possible for pretty much everyone.

Exercise Training Program – My Goals

Your trainer will start off by trying to ascertain your goals or reasons for joining the gym. You may want to build muscle, improve your cardio, or strengthen your respiratory systems. In my case my goals or preferences were ; 1) improve my respiratory system ; 2  Improve my endurance and cardio and 3) lose 20 pounds.

Now if I do not lose the weight, but have a lot more stamina and respiratory functions in 3 months time, I will feel that I have succeeded. You always must have goals so that you can focus your training program accordingly. This is a starting place and it is expected that you will improve over time. Do more rep’s, go faster, lift heavier weights and in general improve.

Broad Exercise Training Program

In my case, I am doing a 40 minute cardio exercise training program to start with. My warm up is part of this 40 minute cardio program. Basically my plan is to do 20 minutes on the treadmill while keeping my heart rate in the 70% zone for my age and then do another 20 minutes on the stair master machine.  Then I am focusing on some muscle toning and development which involves the arms and shoulders as one group , the torso as another area and finally the legs as another basic group to focus on.

Let’s get Down to the Details of My Training Program

• Each day do 40 minutes of warmup and cardio
• Day 1 should include chin ups and push ups along with sit ups to work the arms and the torso along with the circuit of 9 machines that focus on the upper body.
• Day 2 should include squats, lunges and more chin ups or sit ups along with the circuit of 9 machines that focus on the lower body.
• In addition, the number of reps should be in groups of 3, with 8 reps each time. By number eight you should be just able to complete the last rep before your muscles give out. Take a rest and then repeat the 8 reps 2 more times.
• Allow your muscles to recover from the strain by alternating between upper body and lower body.
• Lastly only add weights when you find yourself doing 10 or more reps easily.

This is a pretty good program if I can keep it up. It should take about an hour each time, not including travel time. Also in my case I should only be exercising no more than 4 or 5 times a week so that my body has time to recover.

As I get stronger, I will do one or more of the following:

• Increase the speed of the treadmill
• Increase the speed of the stair master
• Add more weight and continue with the same number of reps

For exercises such as push ups, sit ups, etc, doing more reps is the only answer in this case. Hope this helps our readers. Don’t forget to tailor your program to you body conditioning level and follow your trainers suggestions.

Can I stay With the Program

This is really the tough part. I have outlined a pretty good program for me personally. But the real test is whether I can stay with this program. I was pretty good up until the end of June of this year and then fell off the wagon so to speak. I caught a bit of a cold which developed into a bad asthma attack and pretty soon I had broken the habit of going every 2nd day to the gym. After two months I am not going at all which is not a good thing. As i sit here and write this post, my wife and I have decided that as of Sept 1st, we are going to restart our exercise program and go every 2nd day.

It has not been a total loss however. I recovered from the asthma attack in mid July. Then I began a lot of the outside work around the home that I do every year. I do not believe in hiring someone to do the work. I can do all of the landscaping myself just as well as the experts and I get some great exercise as well from doing it. Cutting the lawn, trimming trees, planting shrubs and the big project building a fence.

But as of Sept 1st, all of the major work will be done and it is time to go back to the gym and renew my exercise training program. I will let you know how it goes on a future post. For more information about exercise and how good it is for you, click here.

 

 

 

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