Whole Body Training
How to get the whole body engaged.
You need to work hard, engaging as many muscle groups as possible.
What I'm recommending here is different to the way people have been told to train. Generally we do exercises that focus effort on one set of muscles at a time. For men there has been emphasis on lifting heavier and heavier weights. Weight training is associated with building big muscles.
The emphasis here is on working the whole body, using some weight or resistance, doing many repetitions, and getting the lungs and heart going quite quickly, and strongly for a short time.
If you are beginning off a very poor fitness base, join a Tai Chi group, or if you can't do that get yourself a Tai Chi video and follow the best you can. That will help you build balance, flexibility and strength.
Resistance Training
Use an interval timing app on your mobile phone, to set limits on how long each exercise lasts. Search for an app called Tabata. There are several options, most are free with a paid version.
Exercises are normally repeated until you fail. The experts say for the best results, until exhaustion. I'm sure they are right if you want the most muscle development in the quickest time. This hurts. I want to come back, keen to exercise again, not dreading the next session. So, my suggestion is go until it's hard, but not to exhustion.
The main session should take 15 to 20 minutes. You should get quite breathless. Focus on breathing out strongly to get more air. You will get a bit sweaty. Your heart rate will rise quite a bit, you might like to measure that by taking your pulse.
MOVE SLOWLY, no sudden bursts of energy, move the weight steadily and slowly both up and down. CONTROL is the key. Do more repetitions, up to about 15. Then make it harder by doing them more slowly. When your lengthen a muscle (extension) is the time to focus on slow control. If that's now easy you might increase the weight you are moving.
Recovery is critical. The purpose of exercise is to damage the muscle and FORCE it to repair itself. That will take about a week if you exercise to exhustion. Don't do that exercise again for seven days. But I want to come back, I don't push that hard, and usually I'm fine the next day.
This is what I was doing in 2016. Exercising in the garage at home.
Bench Press
You need a simple bench press, with a bar a suitable weights
Squats with Weight
You need a light bar and weights, or dumbbells.
This is my local "hill".
Punching and Kicking
You need a punch bag or striking target and gloves. (A car tyre on a wall to in a tree.)
Overhead Press
You need a bar and suitable weights.
Up and Down the Steps
You need a set of four or more steps, and a weight to carry.
Rowing Machine or Power Rider
You need a machine that exercises the whole body, and has effective resistance.
Dumbbell Stretches
You need suitable dumbbells.
Getting Up and Down off the floor
You need a carpet or mat to work on.
Ground to Overhead Lift
You need a fairly heavy dumbbell or a bag of sand.
Repeat the exercise 8 to 12 times as a set. (I try to do 24 repetitions in a day, ideally spread over 3 sets, with a rest or change of exercise between. You might do 24 lifts. eg 10, 7, 4, 3, less and less as you get more tired.)
Shift to another muscle group with a different exercise, do a set of 12. Move on to something different, perhaps a punch bag, work until you are tired. By now you should be really puffing. Go back to the original equipment.
Move through that series of activities again. Or as I preferred at that time do something completely different. Shoot some basketball hoops. Take a football or a cricket ball to the park. Go for a long run (bike ride), or using the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test, try short runs at speed. I've also got an old tractor tyre in the yard, and belting that 50 or 100 times with a sledge hammer is a bit different. Where-ever you are, there will be options. Even visiting the children's playground, monkey bars and climbing frames are designed to take the weight of an adult. You can use them.
Return to the Exercise Homepage (Tablet)
