Tuesday, January 3, 2012

New Years' Guide to the Gym



So it's the beginning of January and you along with 6 million other people have decided that losing weight is your New Year's Resolution.  Well, congratulations!  As an experienced gym goer myself, I* wanted to share some tips to gym newbies; a guide to lead you through your local gym.

Ellipticals, Bikes and Treadmills - The most important thing to remember on these machines is Intervals.  When you get started, set the machine to Interval so you will be varying your work out.  And make sure you do at least 30 minutes.


AbsThe key to flat abs isn't doing 1 million crunches a day.  The key is diet and cardio, like the elliptical.  Crunches and other ab exercises (like planks and leg lifts) will absolutely help strengthen your abdominal muscles, but to get rid of the layers of rolls on our stomach (which I affectionately refer to as my 'chocolate puddin'), you've got to diet.


Squats and Lunges - Ladies, put those booty pops away, these are two of the best, if not the best, butt and thigh exercises. Nobody wants a flabby butt and cottage cheese thighs but these 2 exercises will help firm up those areas.  What's more, you can do squats & lunges anywhere because they don't require equipment.  Break out a few squats at work in the middle of a meeting or a lunge while you wait for the train.  Add in some free weights and make this a compound exercise (See below).


Free weightsThe beauty of free weights is the freedom of movement. Machines lock your body into a fixed position determined by the machine. Face it, we are all different shapes and sizes and these machines are forcing your body to take on a path of motion that is probably not natural for you. Also, use the free weights and add on a shoulder press or bicep curl to your squats and lunges, and you have a full body compound exercise just like that. BOOM!  On top of everything else, they are convenient and inexpensive if you want to purchase a set for your home.


Push-ups - These work out so many muscles in the upper body.  They work your chest, back, triceps, shoulders and forearms. Don't worry if you can't do military-style push-ups.  Do a modified version: girl push-ups, on your knees, or an even more modified version, on the wall.  But still try to work your way up to real push-ups though. The only way to get better at them, is to DO IT!  


And finally, if your muscles ain't hurting, you're not working hard enough.  


*For all of yall looking at my pic thinking I know this chick isn't giving me gym advice, this was written in collaboration with my sis who is a certified personal trainer.  Nah-nah-nee-boo-boo.

2 comments:

  1. I like this...collaboration with your sis...awww

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lol! "She's my sister, I love my sister"

    ReplyDelete

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