General Guidelines

Not too long ago, a friend asked for my advice on his work outs. Because he is overseas at the moment and I didn’t have the specifics of what he was doing, I could only be general in my suggestions. Here they are, and I hope they help someone else out there.

1. There is one way to lose weight; burn more calories than you take in. Even if you are eating the healthiest diet imaginable, if you are consuming too many calories, you will not lose weight. If you eat junk food you will always be hungry because you aren’t getting the nutrients your body needs.

2. One pound is 3500 calories. If losing weight is your main goal, you need to have a deficit in calories somewhere.

3. Ask yourself a question; do you want to lose weight or do you want to change your proportions – meaning stay roughly where you are, but put on some muscle and get stronger?

4. Cardio and weight training is Ok together. However, if you want to get stronger, lift first, if you want to lose weight, do cardio first. Best case is to do one in the AM and one in the PM. If you do this, most folks agree that cardio in The AM produces the best results.

5. Always do a minimum of two exercises for each muscle group. However, sometimes more than that is over kill as you should have exhausted your self on the first two exercises.

6. Switch it up every three-four weeks. If you are doing one muscle group per day, then go to upper body one day and lower body the next. Maybe switch number of reps and sets; more reps and sets, less weight. But always be aware of volume. For example, if you are lifting 6 reps, four sets at 100 pounds (total 6x4x100= 2400), then if you change to 3 sets of 20 reps try to get close to 2400 pounds total volume, so you would lift 40 pounds. (3x20x 40=2400).

7. You can also switch up your routine by focusing on stability, agility, power, or strength.

8. Maybe on leg day add a set of push ups between exercise, and on chest day add a set of squats between exercises.

9. No matter what you do, your body is always trying to stay balanced. If you lose too much too quickly (more than 2 pounds per week) your body will fight it. Be methodical.