The Key To Fast Weight Loss - Exercise

By Ian Robertson, Managing Editor PhenForum Daily and the Weight Loss Club

You may ask yourself, “Why do I need to exercise AT LEAST three days a week?” There are plenty of reasons why you should be exercising and exercising consistently. There is not a single person that cannot gain something from some level of physical activity, whether it is walking around the neighborhood or lifting heavy weights at the gym. Simply put, exercise is an integral part of the journey toward good health.

What kind of benefits should you come to expect from working out three days a week? Exercise can alleviate many problems that some of us may deal with regularly. For instance, regular exercise helps to lower excess blood sugar and improve circulation in order to help with diabetes.

Also, for those that think that exercise might be too hard on your joints, exercise can not only strengthen the muscle around the faulty joint but strengthen the tendons and ligaments too so that discomfort is kept to a minimum.

Of course, exercise has noticeable effects on blood pressure, cholesterol, and, therefore, heart disease. Lastly, a good number of studies have now determined that senior citizens can actually peel the years back with exercise, not to mention strengthening those brittle bones too. Some cases have been so extreme that the most feeble of 85 year olds will begin exercising only to become as fit as an average 55 year old.

So, even if you feel like a “lost cause”, don’t give up! Now, everyone knows how good it is to be active, but what exactly should you be doing for exercise?
Resistance Training

This could mean bodyweight, dumbbells, weight machines, or surgical tubing. I would recommend spending about 30 minutes at least three days a week perfoming total body workouts.

Make sure that the pace is challenging, the weight is not too heavy so that your technique deteriorates, or too light so that your workout wasn’t demanding enough. This takes trial and error.

A sample workout I might give to a client would be 4 simple movements that utilize a push movement, a pull movement, a leg movement, and a core movement. So, pushups, pulldowns, squats, and situps. For these four movements, I would have them perform 25 repetitions for each movement, then 20 repetitions, then 15, and finally 10. This should be done with as few breaks as you feel you need and with as much passion as you feel you got.
Cardio Exercise

Cardio is best described as an exercise performed for extended periods of time. This could mean 30-45 minutes of biking at a moderate pace, jogging, elliptical, or stair-climbing.
All of the options burn significant calories, but some prove to be more demanding on the joints for some people. It’s all personal preference. Many people choose to perform cardio on two days sandwiched between the three resistance training days.

Just remember that you exercise to make yourself stronger, not to make yourself comfortable.