913 lines
42 KiB
Markdown
913 lines
42 KiB
Markdown
This blog post is part 3 of a series on nutrition and exercise. If you
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haven't seen them already, I recommend
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[reading part 1 now](/blog/2017/06/naive-overview-nutrition-exercise),
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which provides a general overview, and
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[part 2 detailing nutrition](/blog/2017/06/naive-overview-nutrition). This
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blog post will go into more details on exercise.
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I'm going to break down exercise into three broad categories:
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* Resistance training
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* Cardio
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* Mobility/flexibility
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These categories can overlap. For example, a weighted squat could be
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seen as both resistance training and mobility work. Circuit training
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could be seen as cardio and resistance. But typically there are
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distinct benefits for each categories, and fairly distinct activities
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that achieve those goals.
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__For the completely impatient__, here are my recommendations on where
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you should get started. I strongly encourage reading the rest of the
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post so that these recommendations make sense and you can tweak them
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for your own personal needs:
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1. __Perform bodyweight exercises three days a week.__ A simple
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routine will include exercises from the
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[squat](http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/squat-progression.html),
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[pushup](http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/push-up-progression.html),
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[pullup](http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/pull-up-progression.html),
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and
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[leg raise](http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/leg-raises-progression.html)
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progressions.
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2. __Run at least twice a week.__ I would focus on high-intensity
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sprinting, such as running as fast as you can for 20 seconds,
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resting for 40 seconds, and repeating for 5 sprints.
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3. __Stay active regularly.__ Try to find excuses to get out and walk,
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take a bike ride, go for a swim, or just play with your kids.
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## Health vs fitness
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Before diving into the details, I want to talk about two related but
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distinct terms. Definitions on these two terms vary quite a bit, but
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I'd like to give my own simplified definitions based on the input of
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many other sources:
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* __Health__ is a measure of your ability to live life without
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sickness, crippling weakness, premature death, or other debilitating
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conditions.
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* __Fitness__ is a measure of your ability to perform tasks. In our
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context, we're talking about the ability to perform specific
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physical feats, such as running a mile in a certain amount of time,
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bench press a certain amount of weight, etc.
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What I'm trying to get across in these definitions is that health is about reaching a baseline where your body is not working against you. By contrast, fitness lets you push the boundaries of what you're capable of.
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Often times, these go hand in hand. Being able to run a mile in 15
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minutes, for instance, is a good indication that you are not suffering
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from any respiratory conditions, your bones are strong enough to
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withstand the impact of running, you have decent lower body muscle
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mass, and so on.
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However, these two concepts can and do diverge. The ability to
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deadlift 300kg (660lbs) is not by any reasonable standard a
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prerequisite for a healthy body, but certainly measures
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fitness. Running a 4 minute mile is an amazing feat of prowess in
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fitness, but doesn't really tell me you're healthier than the person
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running an 8 minute mile.
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I point this distinction out here because this series of posts is
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intended to cover *health*, and using nutrition and exercise to
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achieve it. It is very tempting to get caught up in numbers and goals
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that measure fitness, while throwing health to the wind. For the most
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trivial example of this: taking steroids to improve your powerlifting
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numbers will certainly improve your fitness. However, I'd argue pretty
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strongly against it, since it's bad for your health.
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All that said, there's nothing wrong with pursuing fitness goals, and
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as I mentioned in [why I lift](/blog/2017/06/why-i-lift), doing so can
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be a lot of fun. Having something to compete against—even
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yourself—is a huge motivator. Just make sure you're not
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sacrificing your health in the process.
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## Resistance training
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This is also known as *strength training*. Let's rip off the
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definition
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[straight from Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strength_training):
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> Strength training is a type of physical exercise specializing in the
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> use of resistance to induce muscular contraction which builds the
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> strength, anaerobic endurance, and size of skeletal muscles.
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The term strength training tells us the *why*, whereas resistance
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training hints more at how we achieve these goals. Resistance training
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involves exerting your muscles against some external
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resistance. Probably the most emblematic version of this is resisting
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against gravity in the form of lifting weights, but we'll see that
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there are many other approaches available.
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### Why?
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This could be my own personal experience that others have not felt,
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but growing up I always had the impression that training for strength
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was somehow *bad*. Lifting weights was a vain pursuit of bigger
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muscles, and real health benefits only came from cardio like jogging.
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If you never had these misconceptions, congratulations. I certainly
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did. And in case others do as well, let me dispel them:
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* Muscle mass has a __protective effect on your body__. For example,
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if you have more muscle, you can withstand a larger impact.
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* If you're capable of moving larger weights, then __day to day
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activities are easier__. For example, if you can deadlift 100kg,
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then picking up your 30kg child is a much easier activity, and won't
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exhaust you as quickly.
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* Strength training doesn't just increase muscle mass; it also
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__increases your bone density and strengthens your tendons__. This
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makes strength training a great way to __fight off osteoporosis__,
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making it a vital activity for older people, and especially older
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women. (Unfortunately, this is the group most likely to not bother
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strength training.)
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* While strength training doesn't burn as many calories as cardio, it
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does encourage your body to use calories consumed to __build and
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maintain muscle mass instead of fat mass__. This means you can get
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away with eating some level of extra calories without gaining fat.
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* Because strength training uses up muscle glycogen, it can be a great
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way to help __control blood glucose levels__. After a heavy training
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session, your muscles will be primed to absorb glucose to rebuild
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glycogen, instead of leaving the glucose in your blood to convert
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into fat or (in the case of diabetics) simply harm your body with
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toxic glucose levels.
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* Increased strength can __help avoid injuries__. Prior to 2016,
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despite no longer being overweight and having a decent strength
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base, I was constantly throwing out my back from normal day-to-day
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activities (like sitting at a computer for too long). This was my
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biggest motivation for getting into weight lifting that year, and my
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back has been much happier since.
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* Strength training helps improve many __health markers__, like blood
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lipid profiles (cholesterol) and hormone levels.
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That's a lot of benefits, and it's far from a complete list. You may
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not relate to all of the points above, but hopefully it makes the
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point that strength training is not just for young guys wanting to
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impress people with their biceps. Strength training is a vital
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component of good health for everyone, regardless of age or gender.
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### Mechanism
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All strength/resistance training fits into the same basic idea. You
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want to move some part of your body by contracting a muscle. You want
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to use some technique to make that contraction difficult so that your
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muscle has to struggle. By challenging the muscle, you
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trigger—through various pathways—your body to:
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* Make the muscle stronger
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* Increase toughness of the tendons
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* Increase bone density
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These benefits occur during _recovery_, or the time after you stop
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exercising. This is important: if you keep exercising non-stop for
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days on end, you will get _weaker_, not stronger. The formula then is:
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* Perform exercise against resistance
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* Rest/recover
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* Repeat
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This kind of exercise is *anaerobic*, meaning "without air." Because
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resistance training is short bursts of heavy intensity, it mostly
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relies upon glycogen for energy, which can be burned without
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oxygen. This may seem to imply that resistance training has no
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benefits on the cardiovascular (heart and lung) system, and doesn't
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help burn fat (which requires oxygen to break down). Neither of these
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is true, however. During the recovery phase, your body will need to
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rely on your fat stores to provide energy to rebuild muscles, which
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will put demands on the cardiovascular system to provide additional
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oxygen.
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### Stress
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Last bit of theory here before we dive into how to do all of
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this. Another way of looking at exercise is a _stress_ we are applying
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to our body. Stress has a bad rap, and for good reason: chronic
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stress, such as we experience in our daily life from work and
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continual electronic stimulation, is damaging. However, in small
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doses, stress is wonderful for our body.
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When we temporarily stress our body, it provides a stimulus for our
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body to get better, so it is able to more easily handle the stress in
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the future. Stressing our muscles causes them to get
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stronger. Stressing our bones makes them more dense. And stressing our
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cardiovascular system with extra oxygen demands makes our heart and
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lungs more efficient.
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Temporary stress with proper recovery is the very heart of exercise,
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and will carry through to everything in this post.
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### Bodyweights
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OK, let's actually talk about some exercises! The most easily
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accessible form of resistance training is *body weight exercises*, or
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*bodyweights*. The concept here is simple: use your own body and
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gravity to provide a resistance for your muscles to exert against.
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Probably the most famous example of this is the pushup. You are
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pushing against the ground with your arm, shoulder, and chest muscles
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to create enough force to move your body against gravity. Your own
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body weight is working against your muscles.
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If you read the word "pushup" and thought "I can't do that," no need
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to worry. Bodyweight exercises usually follow some form of
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_progression_, where you can start with easier forms of the exercise
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and gradually move to more difficult versions. Taking a pushup as an
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example, a progression may look something like:
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1. Stand in front of a wall and push your body away from it
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2. Put your hands on a table and push up from that position
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3. Do pushups with your knees on the ground
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4. A standard pushup, with only your feet and hands touching the
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ground
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5. Put your feet on a stool and push up
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6. Put your feet high on a wall and perform a vertical pushup
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There are other variations you can perform: changing the width of your
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grip by putting your hands closer or farther apart to focus on
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different muscles. You can also follow a one-arm pushup progression
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instead of a vertical pushup progression. Vertical pushups put more
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stress on your shoulder muscles, while one-arm pushups put more focus
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on your chest muscles.
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If all of this sounds confusing and a bit daunting, don't worry. Some
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very helpful people online have already created programs around
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bodyweights. Some references:
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* [StartBodyWeight.com](http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html). I
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did this program for about a year, and highly recommend it as a
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starting point.
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* The
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[r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine](https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine)
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* [Mark Lauren's You Are Your Own Gym](https://www.marklauren.com/),
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which I also followed for a while
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All of these routines follow the same basic principles: use compound
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movements to target all of your major muscle groups, progressively
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overload those muscles, and provide ample time for recovery. If those
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terms are confusing, don't worry, there are sections below dedicated
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to explaining them.
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If you're feeling overwhelmed or confused, let me remind of something
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from the first post in this series: don't let confusion get in your
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way! These are all great routines, and doing something is better than
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doing nothing. Pick something and do it for a few weeks, and after you
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get comfortable, you'll be ready to make a more informed decision
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about how you want to proceed.
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Let's see how bodyweight exercises stack up against alternatives:
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__Advantages__
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* Requires little to no equipment, making it an easy method to start
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with or use on the road
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* Less risk of injury vs free weights, since there's no barbell trying
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to crush you. (Notice I said _less_, not _none_. Be careful.)
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* Because you are working against your own body weight, reducing your
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body fat makes your bodyweight exercises more successful. Typically,
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practicioners of bodyweight routines will be leaner than weight
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lifters.
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__Disadvantages__
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* Increasing intensity is more complicated than simply adding more
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weight to a bar
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* Some muscles groups are difficult to properly stress. While you can
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get a pretty good shoulder workout with vertical pushups, it's
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difficult to develop your posterior chain (hamstrings, glutes, and
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lower back) with bodyweights. This was the reason I started weight
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lifting in the first place.
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### Weight lifting
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Weight lifting is the act of moving some external weight against
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gravity (or sometimes against friction and inertia). The category
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breaks down broadly into machines and free weights. Free weights are
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things like barbells, dumbells, and kettlebells. For those unfamiliar
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with these terms:
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* A barbell is a long metal bar (about 2 meters or 6 feet) that you
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usually hold with both
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hands.<br><img src="/static/exercise/barbell.jpg" width="300">
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* A dumbbell is a shorter metal bar usually held in one hand<br><img src="/static/exercise/dumbbell.png" width="300">
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* A kettlebell is a weight with a handle on the top<br><img src="/static/exercise/kettlebell.png" width="300">
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* A machine is some kind of, well, machine<br><img src="/static/exercise/machine.jpg" width="300">
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Free weights have an advantage over machines in that they are
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_unstable_. This means you need to use more muscle groups to keep
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control of the weight. By contrast, a machine keeps the weight in more
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a less a straight line, which takes some of the stress off of your
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body. Additionally, machines are usually easier to learn to use and
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less dangerous.
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If you're too intimidated by free weights, by all means start right
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away with machines. But if you avoid free weights indefinitely, you're
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limiting yourself significantly. I strongly recommend you get
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comfortable with using a barbell. Start with low weights and build up
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slowly. Focus on getting the movements correct (aka good form), and
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slowly build up to heavy weights (where *heavy* is a personal
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assessment of what is difficult for you).
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If you're going to pursue a machine-based routine, I'd recommend
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speaking with one of the trainers at the gym you're attending. I'm not
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familiar with good machine-based routines available online, and it
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will depend a lot on what equipment you have available.
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If you want to get started with free weights, there are two very
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popular routines to consider:
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* [StrongLifts 5x5](https://stronglifts.com/)
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* [Starting Strength](http://startingstrength.com/)
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If you go to popular weight lifting forums, you'll see a lot of
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flamewars between these two routines. To cut through some of this:
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Starting Strength was the original program, is designed by a coach
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(Mark Rippetoe) with a huge amount of experience training individuals,
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and was groundbreaking when first released. StrongLifts is basically a
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variation of Starting Strength and doesn't have as much experience to
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back it up.
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Based on that, it would seem that Starting Strength is the way to
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go. I personally decided to go with StrongLifts, and my reasons were:
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* It has a really nice smartphone app. Yes, I'm that shallow, but it
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makes it dead simple to get started
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* StrongLifts uses a barbell row in place of a power clean. I agree
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with the StrongLifts creator (Mehdi) that the latter is more
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complicated to learn, and that the former is a great upper back
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exercise missing from Starting Strength.
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I'm sure these reasons sound shallow, and some people will be upset
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with this. But the reality is: do whichever routine you want (or a
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completely different one). As long as you're lifting, you're better
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off.
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And one word of warning from my own experience: don't become so
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obsessed with progressing through the program that you ignore your
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body's complaints. I trained to injury a few times because I ignored
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pain and put on extra weight when I shouldn't have. Don't be stupid!
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### Resistance bands
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I'm not going to say much about these, since I haven't really used
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them. But I wanted to make it clear that there are drastically
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different approaches to resistance training. Resistance bands are
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pieces of rubber which you can stretch, and which become harder to
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stretch the further you've pulled them. You can use them in place of
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weights for many kinds of workouts. Your body doesn't care what's
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causing the resistance. It just wants something to be resisting it.
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There's a YouTube channel which I find very beginner-friendly, called
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"Picture Fit." Here are two videos I recommend watching that summarize
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the three categories mentioned:
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* [Free Weights vs Body Weight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJBqbv8GRZ4)
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* [Can You Gain Muscle Mass with Resistance Bands?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msEl6RO7OT8)
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### Combine them!
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I've presented the information so far as a choice among
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competitors. This is far from the case. Many of these techniques can
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be combined to gain the advantages of each. For example, consider a
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workout routine consisting of:
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* Bench press (free weight)
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* Pushups (body weight)
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* Seated press machine (machine, duh)
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* Overhead band (resistance bands)
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There's no reason to avoid mixing and matching. However, building your
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own routine is a more advanced activity. When you're getting started,
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I recommend choosing one of the routines I linked to above and
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sticking to it until you get comfortable with the exercises.
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### Sets and reps
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Let's talk nomenclature. A rep is short for a repetition, and it
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describes performing one complete exercise. For example, with a
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pushup, a repetition consists of lowering your body to the ground and
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raising yourself back up to the starting position.
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A set is a collection repetitions performed without rest. For example,
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a set may consist of 8 reps.
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Often times, workout programs will be given in terms of sets and reps like so:
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* Pushups 3x8
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* Bench press 3x5
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* Overhead press 1xF
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This means:
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* Perform three sets of eight repetitions of pushups
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* Perform three sets of five repetitions of bench press
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* Perform one set of overhead press to failure (as many reps as you
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can do)
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You'll also need to consider how long to rest between sets. Usually
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your program will tell you this. Valid answers here can be as little
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as 30 seconds and as much as 5 minutes. Typically different rest
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periods will work your body in different ways: shorter rest gives more
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endurance training, whereas longer rest gives more strength gains.
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### Compound vs isolation
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Think of a bench press: you're lying on your back with a barbell over
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you. You bend your elbows, your wrist bends, and your shoulder joint
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activates. You push back up using your chest muscles, your shoulder
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muscles, and your arm muscles (tricpes in particular).
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Now think of a bicep curl: you hold a dumbbell in your hand and you
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bend your elbow.
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The former is called a _compound movement_: it involves multiple
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muscle groups moving mutiple joints in your body. The latter is an
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_isolation exercise_: it targets just one muscle group via one joint.
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Generally speaking, you'll get better results by focusing on compound
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movements. They stress the body more, and in more natural ways. They
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lead to more balanced development of muscles. And they are more time
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efficient: you work more muslces in less time.
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That's not to say you should never use isolation exercises, but in my
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opinion they should be considered _accessories_ to main, compound
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movement. Use them to help develop weak spots in your strength.
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You'll notice that the routines I listed above all focus on compound
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movements. That's not by chance.
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### Progressive overload
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If you do 10 pushups a day for the rest of your life, after a certain
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point you aren't going to get stronger. In order to reap the full
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benefits of strength training, you need to progressively overload your
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muscles by increasing the stress/stimulus. You can do this in multiple
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ways:
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* Adding more weight to the bar/machine
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* Doing more reps
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* Doing more sets
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* Changing the tempo (slower exercises are harder)
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* Changing the exercise you're doing (full pushups vs knee pushups)
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A good program will build in this kind of progressive overload, as do
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the programs I linked to above. The basic idea is to avoid stagnating
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by constantly challenging yourself to improve.
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### Plate math
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In order to modify the weight of a barbell, we can add extra weight to
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it. These weights come in the form of _plates_, circular pieces of
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metal—sometimes rubberized—that are put on the sides of
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the bar.
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If you're going to be doing barbell exercises, it's important to get
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comfortable with adding up weights, also known as _plate math_. I'll
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start with the metric system, since it's easier to handle, and what I
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|
use.
|
|
|
|
A standard barbell weighs 20kg. The plates you'll put on the barbell must be balanced: you put the same amount on the left and right side. If you put a 10kg and 5kg weight on each side, you'll end up with:
|
|
|
|
* 20kg bar
|
|
* 10kg times 2 (one per side) = 20kg
|
|
* 5kg times 2 (one per side) = 10kg
|
|
* __Total__ 20+20+10=50kg
|
|
|
|
I find it easiest in most cases to add up the weight per side of the
|
|
bar, double it, and add 20. So in the above example, I'd do "10 + 5 =
|
|
15, 15 * 2 = 30, 30 + 20 = 50." This is just arithmetic, so don't get
|
|
too hung up on it, and do what's comfortable.
|
|
|
|
Now let's do this in reverse. Suppose you're planning on benching
|
|
70kg. In order to figure out what to put on the bar, you would do
|
|
this:
|
|
|
|
* 70kg - 20kg for the bar = 50kg in plates
|
|
* 50kg total plates / 2 = 25kg in plates per side
|
|
* Start finding the largest plates that will add up to your number. In
|
|
this case, you're probably looking at a 20kg and 5kg.
|
|
|
|
Try not to just match the total weight, but also the plate
|
|
distribution. In other words, don't put a 20kg on one side of the bar
|
|
and 4 5kg plates on the other. That will feel unbalanced. Most gyms
|
|
will have plates of size 20kg, 10kg, 5kg, 2.5kg, and 1.25kg. Some may
|
|
also have 25kg and 15kg.
|
|
|
|
You may also hear people say things like "squatting 2 plate," or on
|
|
stranger parts of the internet, "2pl8." This means you have 2 20kg
|
|
plates per side of the barbell. Why 20kg? Convention. Do the math,
|
|
I'll give you the total weight for this at the end of this section.
|
|
|
|
__For you Americans__, the numbers are slightly different. Instead of
|
|
a barbell weighing 20kg, it weights 45lbs, which is just slightly more
|
|
than 20kg (20.4kg). And the plates come in sizes of 45lbs, 35lbs,
|
|
25lbs, 10lbs, 5lbs, and 2.5lbs. As a developer, I love the power-of-2
|
|
system employed by the metric plates, but if you have to use imperial
|
|
measurements, just get used to doing the math.
|
|
|
|
This has the funny side-effect that if you say "I squatted 2 plate,"
|
|
it means something different between America and the rest of the
|
|
world. (Go ahead and figure out what that total pound value is.) The
|
|
numbers are close, but not exactly the same.
|
|
|
|
*Answer: 2 plate is 100kg, or 225lbs.*
|
|
|
|
### Importance of proper form
|
|
|
|
You'll read this just about everywhere that discusses weight lifting,
|
|
but I'll say it here too: using proper form on your lifts is
|
|
_absolutely crucial_. Using proper form will:
|
|
|
|
* Ensure you are getting the full value from your workout
|
|
* Help you avoid injuries
|
|
* Make sure you don't end up in an embarassing video on YouTube
|
|
|
|
There are two particular points of proper form that I want to point
|
|
out:
|
|
|
|
* The act of lowering the weight is known as the *eccentric portion*
|
|
of the exercise. It is common to see people lose control of the
|
|
weight during this portion. If you do this, you are hindering your
|
|
progress dramatically! Most of the muscle tearing that leads to
|
|
muscle regrowth occurs during the eccentric portion. Lowering the
|
|
weight in a controlled, steady pace is difficult, but well worth it.
|
|
* Be sure to follow full range of motion. You'll often hear people say
|
|
they don't want to squat to parallel because it will injure their
|
|
knees. This is in fact a myth: squatting with insufficient depth
|
|
leads to muscular imbalances and injuries.
|
|
* I'm well aware of the fact that I haven't actually described how
|
|
to do a squat in this post; please see the linked routines above
|
|
that describe how to do a squat properly.
|
|
|
|
### Full body vs splits
|
|
|
|
A full body workout is a routine that exercises all (or most) muscle
|
|
groups each day you train. A split routine somehow splits up days of
|
|
the week to specific muscle groups. There are many tradeoffs between
|
|
these two approaches, and I won't be able to cover them all here. But
|
|
here's a basic idea: you should always have a day of rest between
|
|
training a specific muscle group. But having too many rest days in
|
|
between is limiting your growth potential.
|
|
|
|
If you're going to work out three days a week, you can do a full body
|
|
routine each of those days and have 1 or 2 days of rest in between. By
|
|
contrast, if you're going to work out 6 days a week, doing a full body
|
|
routine each day won't give you any time to rest and recover.
|
|
|
|
The routines above are all full body routines. That's probably the
|
|
right place to start; I would highly advise _against_ strength
|
|
training for more than three days a week as a beginner. If you later
|
|
want to progress to more days of working out a week, you can consider
|
|
some kind of split. There are many preexisting routines based on
|
|
splits, and you can of course make your own.
|
|
|
|
Personally, I've found the PPL (Push/Pull/Leg) split approach to be
|
|
pretty good. The idea is to first separate out all lower-body/leg
|
|
exercises to their own day. Then, of upper body exercises, break them
|
|
up by whether they push the weight away from your body (like a bench
|
|
press) or are pulling the weight toward your body (like a curl or
|
|
barbell row). This ends up pretty cleanly dividing up the upper body
|
|
muscle groups.
|
|
|
|
### How to eat
|
|
|
|
If you're just getting started with strength training, you don't need
|
|
to worry too much about eating. Follow nutrition advice from the
|
|
previous post. If you're trying to lose fat, eat at a caloric
|
|
deficit. When you're initially going from untrained to trained, you
|
|
get to experience what are known as "noob gains," which lifters treat
|
|
as the magical ability for your body to get stronger and leaner at the
|
|
same time.
|
|
|
|
Once you're past that initial beginner phase, it gets harder to pull
|
|
this off. You'll hear people talk about bulking and cutting, on the
|
|
premise that you need to eat extra food to fuel muscle growth (bulk),
|
|
and then go for a period of caloric deficit to burn off the extra fat
|
|
you gained (cut). Other approaches believe in trying for a recomp, or
|
|
body recomposition, consisting of careful balancing of calories to get
|
|
_just enough_ to gain muscle and burn fat. Other approaches like Lean
|
|
Gains believe in *carb and calorie cycling*: eating more carbs and
|
|
calories on training days, and less carbs and calories on rest days.
|
|
|
|
This is all rocket science versus what we're discussing here. I'm
|
|
mentioning it all so that you know you don't need to freak out about
|
|
it. Remember, your goal is to get used to training, enjoy it, nail
|
|
down form, and get basic strength gains. If you decide to pursue
|
|
strength training more aggressively (like I have), there will be
|
|
plenty of time in the gym to read hundreds of articles on the right
|
|
way to eat. For now: eat healthy and lift heavy things.
|
|
|
|
Final note: be sure to get __plenty of protein__ while strength
|
|
training. You'll be using protein to rebuild your muscles after
|
|
working them in the gym. If you don't have enough protein in your
|
|
diet, your body will be unable to recover.
|
|
|
|
### Muscle groups
|
|
|
|
There are many different muscles in your body. However, when talking
|
|
about weight lifting, we usually break the body down into major muscle
|
|
groups. The basic breakdown often discussed is:
|
|
|
|
* __Trapezius__, or __traps__: muscles between shoulders and neck
|
|
* __Deltoids__, or __delts__: shoulder muscles
|
|
* __Triceps__: back of the arm muscles (used to extend your elbow)
|
|
* __Biceps__: front of the arm muscles (used to bend/flex your elbow)
|
|
* __Pectoralis__, or __pecs__: chest muscles
|
|
* __Latissimus__, or __lats__: upper back
|
|
* __Core__: stomach and lower back stabilizing muscles. This includes
|
|
your __abs__
|
|
* __Gluteus__, or __glutes__: your butt muscles
|
|
* __Quadriceps__, or __quads__: front of the leg muscles (used to
|
|
extend your knee)
|
|
* __Hamstrings__: back of the leg muscles (used to bend/flex your
|
|
knee)
|
|
|
|
You should get comfortable with identifying these muscle groups, and
|
|
at flexing the different muscle groups. Some exercises will say things
|
|
like "activate your glutes" or "stabilize with your lats." Don't worry
|
|
if you're having trouble feeling your pecs or lats, working them out
|
|
will help.
|
|
|
|
Make sure that, with whatever exercise routine you're following,
|
|
you're hitting all of this muscle groups at least once per week (and
|
|
ideally 2-3 times).
|
|
|
|
### Summary of resistance training
|
|
|
|
Wow, that was a lot! I honestly didn't realize I had that much to say
|
|
on the subject of resistance training, and there's still a lot more
|
|
worth saying. But hopefully this gives you a good place to start. In
|
|
sum:
|
|
|
|
* Strength training is for everyone
|
|
* Don't forget to focus on health, not just pushing some numbers
|
|
* Body weights are an easy way to get started and require little
|
|
equipment
|
|
* [StartBodyweight.com](http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html)
|
|
* If you have access to a gym and/or weights, a weight lifting routine
|
|
can be a great approach
|
|
* [StrongLifts](https://stronglifts.com/)
|
|
* Start light, get your form down, and progressively increase the load
|
|
* Focus on compound movements, adding in isolation movements as
|
|
desired
|
|
* Eat healthy, and be sure to get plenty of protein
|
|
|
|
## Cardio
|
|
|
|
I'll say right now that I know more about resistance training than
|
|
cardio and mobility, so these two sections will not be as detailed as
|
|
resistance training. (And after everything you just read through, you
|
|
may be relieved to hear that).
|
|
|
|
Cardio is also known as aerobic exercise. Aerobic means "with oxygen,"
|
|
and describes the energy system used during typical cardio
|
|
workouts. When you go for a 30 minutes jog, you'll end up using fat as
|
|
a major energy source, which requires oxygen to break down. This
|
|
energy production is not as fast as glycogen, but we don't need to
|
|
have the same level of explosive energy as we do with weight lifting.
|
|
|
|
Advantages of cardio:
|
|
|
|
* It increases the efficiency of your respiratory system in order to
|
|
provide sufficient oxygen to your body
|
|
* It increases the efficiency of your circulatory system, also in
|
|
order to provide sufficient oxygen to your body
|
|
|
|
* It's good for burning fat
|
|
|
|
* Because you can sustain cardio exercise for a longing period of
|
|
time than intense weight lifting, you can cumulatively burn more
|
|
calories
|
|
* Since the primary energy source for cardio is fat, you'll burn
|
|
fat directly, which you won't do with weight lifting
|
|
* Both of these points are more nuanced than I've implied, keep
|
|
reading for more
|
|
|
|
* Improvements to blood lipids (cholesterol)
|
|
* Numerous other, less tangible benefits, like decreased chronic
|
|
stress
|
|
|
|
There are also some downsides:
|
|
|
|
* Many forms of cardio (like jogging) put strains on our bones and
|
|
joints, which can lead to injury over time
|
|
* You may have heard the meme "cardio kills your gains," implying that
|
|
cardio destroys muscle mass. While the meme is certainly overplayed,
|
|
there's no question that 30 minutes of cardio will not result in as
|
|
much muscle synthesis stimulation as 30 minutes of weight lifting.
|
|
* Subjectively: it's boring. Some people really love running or
|
|
biking. Others (like me) find it difficult to stay motivated for
|
|
longer cardio sessions. If you love cardio: great, keep doing it. If
|
|
this describes you, I'll present an alternative below.
|
|
|
|
There are many different ways you can perform cardio. Some of the most popular are:
|
|
|
|
* Running/jogging
|
|
* Cycling
|
|
* Swimming
|
|
* Eliptical (my personal favorite, due to signficantly lowered joint
|
|
impact)
|
|
* Jumping rope
|
|
* Stair climbing
|
|
|
|
Cardio can be performed on a daily basis. There is far less concern of
|
|
overtraining like with weight training, since the exercise will not
|
|
break down your muscles to the same extent. Common durations for a
|
|
session range from 15 minutes to an hour. My recommendation: start off
|
|
with something you can manage easily, get used to the activity, and
|
|
then ramp it up over time.
|
|
|
|
I haven't personally done this program, but I've heard good reviews of
|
|
the [Couch to 5k](http://www.c25k.com/) program, which trains you to
|
|
be able to run 5 kilometers (or just over 3 miles) in 9 weeks.
|
|
|
|
### High Intensity Interval Training
|
|
|
|
It may be slightly incorrect to include High Intensity Interval
|
|
Training, or HIIT, as a subheading within cardio, but I'll explain my
|
|
motivation shortly. Cardio as described above is also known as Low
|
|
Intensity Steady State (LISS), where you keep to a mostly-fixed level
|
|
of exertion which can be maintained for a significant period of
|
|
time. By contrast, HIIT uses short bursts of high intensity exertion
|
|
for a shorter period of time.
|
|
|
|
A typical HIIT protocol may look like: perform a cycle of 8
|
|
sprints. For each sprint, run as fast as you possibly can for 20
|
|
seconds, and then rest for 10 seconds. (This specific protocol is
|
|
known as tabatas.) This full workout will take only 4 minutes, but as
|
|
I saw someone once describe it, "it's 4 minutes of suck." Also, since
|
|
HIIT is more physically taxing than LISS, you should take at least one
|
|
rest day between sessions.
|
|
|
|
Before getting into the physical comparison, I want to point out that
|
|
both HIIT and LISS are appealing. HIIT is anything but boring, and
|
|
it's incredibly time efficient (imagine replacing a daily 30 minute
|
|
run with a 4 minute sprint 3 days a week). But it's a hard workout. In
|
|
fact, it's hard enough that I'd encourage people to _not_ try to start
|
|
exercising with regular HIIT sessions, as it may encourage you to give
|
|
up. Instead, try a HIIT session interspersed with other workouts, and
|
|
only consider making it part of your routine when you're confident
|
|
that you won't give up. Remember, _any_ exercise is better than _no_
|
|
exercise.
|
|
|
|
So, if HIIT is so very different than normal cardio, why did I include
|
|
it here? Because research is indicating that it can deliver on the
|
|
same benefits people try to get from LISS cardio:
|
|
|
|
* While you burn less energy _during workout_ than with LISS, HIIT
|
|
triggers something known as Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption
|
|
(EPOC), also known as the afterburn effect thanks to some spammy
|
|
infomercials. What this means is that you continue to burn energy at
|
|
a higher rate for about 48 hours after a HIIT session to recover.
|
|
* Since this EPOC involves increased oxygen usage, it puts a stress on
|
|
the respiratory and cardiovascular system, providing similar health
|
|
benefits to those systems as LISS. (I encourage you to do the
|
|
research yourself on which form actually causes better adaptations.)
|
|
* While you will use glycogen more than fat during a HIIT session, the
|
|
recover period will use more fat burning, resulting in plenty of fat
|
|
loss. (Again, please check out the research yourself.)
|
|
|
|
In addition, HIIT claims some advantages over LISS, like more
|
|
favorable hormonal responses and possibly better blood glucose
|
|
control.
|
|
|
|
__Short story__: there is a lot of positive to be said about HIIT, but
|
|
the science is not conclusive yet. If you want to try HIIT, and you
|
|
don't believe you'll be discouraged by the intensity, go for it.
|
|
|
|
To make my biases clear in this: I almost never do dedicated LISS
|
|
cardio sessions, but instead rely on HIIT for cardiovascular
|
|
health. It's worked well for me, with improvements in my blood
|
|
pressure, pulse, and respiratory system (far less symptoms of
|
|
asthma). But given that HIIT is still considered somewhat less
|
|
established than LISS, I want it to be clear that I am _not_
|
|
advocating for anyone to stop standard cardio workouts.
|
|
|
|
You can do HIIT with lots of different exercises:
|
|
|
|
* Running (sprinting)
|
|
* Cycling
|
|
* Eliptical (again, my favorite)
|
|
* Swimming
|
|
|
|
There are also similar programs, like circuit training, which involve
|
|
high intensity as well as weight lifting.
|
|
|
|
### Weight lifting for cardio health?
|
|
|
|
One other very interesting approach for overall strength and
|
|
cardiovascular health is presented in the book "Body by Science." I'm
|
|
throwing this in here just to give a taste of how varied theories of
|
|
good exercise are, and to encourage you to continue research beyond
|
|
this naive overview.
|
|
|
|
Body by Science makes the bold claim that you can get "strength
|
|
training, body building, and complete fitness in 12 minutes a week."
|
|
I'll present a massively simplified version of what they claim, and
|
|
encourage you to read the book itself if you're interested in more.
|
|
|
|
* We can use just 5 big, compound weight lifting movements to target
|
|
all of the major muscles groups in the body.
|
|
* It's possible to perform each of these 5 movements for 90 seconds
|
|
continuously to fully exhaust the muscles and deplete their glycogen
|
|
stores. (5 * 90 seconds plus rest time is where the 12 minute claim
|
|
comes from.)
|
|
* It takes approximately a week for your body to fully recover from
|
|
such an ordeal.
|
|
* By fully exhausting the muscles, you send a trigger to your body to
|
|
increase your muscle mass so you're more well prepared for the next
|
|
time this happens. This is because your body reads this event as a
|
|
fight-or-flight, life-or-death situation.
|
|
* In order to provide energy to replenish glycogen and rebuild the
|
|
muscles, your body will have significant respiratory and
|
|
cardiovascular demands, which will cause improvements in those
|
|
systems (like HIIT).
|
|
|
|
I've never done this program myself, but that's mostly because I
|
|
actually enjoy my time in the gym, and don't want to reduce it to just
|
|
15 minutes a week. At the very least, the book is a great read with
|
|
lots of valuable information.
|
|
|
|
### Undoing your workout with food
|
|
|
|
This is a very common problem with people doing cardio: get on the
|
|
treadmill for 45 minutes, walk at a decent (but not particular
|
|
strenuous pace), and then get some kind of recovery smoothie (or
|
|
insert other food item here). Take a guess: how many calories did the
|
|
treadmill burn, and how many are in the smoothie?
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately, for many people, the smoothie completely outweighs the
|
|
workout itself. Don't fall into this trap! Figure out your nutrition,
|
|
and stick to it. Don't convince yourself that you're free to eat
|
|
whatever you want because you went for a run today. You'll be undoing
|
|
all of your hard work.
|
|
|
|
### Move slowly, often
|
|
|
|
Another idea to throw in is, outside of "exercise," it's a good idea
|
|
to simply be more active. Taking a nightly walk, taking the stairs
|
|
instead of the elevator, playing some easy sports, taking a break at
|
|
the office to step outside, or a dozen other tweaks you can make
|
|
throughout your day, all make you less sedentary. Sure, these
|
|
activities help you burn a few more calories. But I would
|
|
argue—as would many better authorities—that simply being
|
|
more active is a reward in and of itself.
|
|
|
|
## Mobility/flexibility
|
|
|
|
Flexibility measures the range of movement of a joint. Flexibility can
|
|
be improved with stretching. Given the sedentary lifestyles most of us
|
|
live today, we end up having reduced flexibility. While flexibility
|
|
and stretching typically have to do with the static range of motion of
|
|
our joints, mobility refers to our ability to effectively move our
|
|
joints.
|
|
|
|
An important distinction to make in these kinds of routines is
|
|
_dynamic_ vs _static_. Dynamic movements will involve moving a joint
|
|
constantly. These are good to warm up before another exercise
|
|
session. By contrast, static stretches will hold your joints in a
|
|
fixed position. These can increase overall flexibility, but are
|
|
generally best saved for after a workout.
|
|
|
|
This is the area in this post I am least familiar with, so I'm not
|
|
going to go into much detail. Probably the most popular technique out
|
|
there right now for improving your flexibility and mobility is
|
|
Yoga. Many other people can give better advice than I can for getting
|
|
started with it.
|
|
|
|
One pair of programs I followed (for less time than I should have) for
|
|
mobility and flexibility are
|
|
[Molding Mobility](http://www.phraktured.net/molding-mobility.html)
|
|
and
|
|
[Starting Stretching](http://phraktured.net/starting-stretching.html). I
|
|
found it much easier to grasp when I watched a set of Youtube videos
|
|
demonstrating them:
|
|
|
|
* [Molding Mobility - Warmup Exercises](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3yTrhuwUJo)
|
|
* [Molding Mobility - Joint Mobility](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoyy3bKtD84)
|
|
* [Starting Stretching](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1iXMvTMvBo)
|
|
|
|
The idea with this order is to perform the dynamic mobility routine
|
|
first, perform any resistance training next, and then finally perform
|
|
static stretches at the end.
|
|
|
|
## Conclusion
|
|
|
|
Thank you for making it through these three posts, I know I didn't
|
|
make it easy. Hopefully they have provided you with lots of
|
|
information, a good idea of the terms at play, and encouragement to go
|
|
read more from better sources. And, of course, I hope you don't just
|
|
make this an intellectual endeavor, but start taking control of your
|
|
health!
|
|
|
|
My recommendation for getting started with this: get your nutrition
|
|
improved, and to a place where you're comfortable with your daily
|
|
eating routine. Try not to focus on a scale goal; focus on eating
|
|
better. Experiment, and find what works. Introduce some exercise. Make
|
|
sure you're ultimately getting in exercise that both improves your
|
|
strength level, and improves your cardiovascular system.
|
|
|
|
I hope this was useful. If you have questions, please send them to
|
|
me. I still haven't decided if I'll be making more health-related
|
|
posts. If this _is_ something you'd like to see from me, please say
|
|
so, it's more likely to happen with such feedback.
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* [Read part 1 now](/blog/2017/06/naive-overview-nutrition-exercise)
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* [Read part 2 now](/blog/2017/06/naive-overview-nutrition)
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