Fitness Program To Lose Weight
I started this blog with the intention of building up a comprehensive resource for fitness freaks and aspiring bodybuilders alike, though my regular readers will probably have noticed how it’s recently become very much focused on the bodybuilding side of things. For this I won’t apologise, as it interests me more, but in the interests of balance and equality, I will make more of a conscious effort to write more fitness related articles as well as the regular supply of bodybuilding and weight loss posts that I produce.
I firmly believe that if you are serious about losing weight, then you need to be really serious about it. I don’t believe that you can do these things “half arsed” to use a well known phrase that I think originates from the colonials across the Atlantic.
If you think that you can lose weight by going for a walk every day and skipping puddings, then think again. Technically, this could work, assuming all other things remained equal, like your calorie consumption and expenditure, then yes, this simple change to your lifestyle would result in some weight loss. In reality though, no one is this disciplined, especially not people who are overweight - it’s usually bad self discipline that made them overweight in the first place, I know it was with me. I used to drink too frequently, just a few glasses of wine, but almost every night, and go out for a three course dinner with the missus every Friday night, and then not do any exercise!
If you want to lose weight, in my opinion, it’s as much a mental thing as it is a physical thing. You need to get the head right, then the body will follow. So you need to get your motivation for losing weight sorted, work out in your own mind what will make you happy about losing weight, then try and visualise that, and if possible, produce yourself some kind of visual reminder that you can place in your kitchen to keep you constantly reminded of the reasons for wanting to lose weight.
Right, with that in mind, it’s best to look at some exercises that can be used to help with weight loss. I’ll assume that everyone is unfit when starting this and overweight, as such the program will start off easy, and get harder.
Weeks 1 – 4
Start off with some fairly easy training, stuff that you can do with very little basic fitness levels.
Walk for 30 minutes at a brisk pace three times a week. Run for 10 minutes twice a week. If after two weeks you feel you can go for longer, up this to 15 minutes.
Weeks 5 –8
Increase the running to three times a week now, aim for twenty minutes of running during each session. Go for a hill walk three times a week on different days that you go running, this should be 30-45 minutes. If you don’t have any big hills near you, just find a small incline and walk up and down it, even walking downhill will work your legs more than walking on the flat. Aim for a brisk pace, the idea is to get your heart pumping and leave you a little out of breath.
Weeks 9 – 12
Swap your hill walking for three sessions of circuit training. If you have some weights at home this would be good, if you’re a member of a gym or have one nearby, find out if they have circuit training sessions in the evening (or whenever is convenient). If you don’t have any of these available to you, then you can use your own body weight and a bit of imagination.
Aim to do three circuits of the following (bodyweight exercises):
- Squats – put your arms in front of you, holding your hands together, bend at the knees and sit your bum down until your thighs are parallel with the floor, then back to standing straight up, do twenty – thirty of these.
- Press ups – lie on the floor, hands shoulder width apart, toes together, push yourself up so that your arms are straight, then lower yourself until your elbows are level with your body. Aim to do ten of these, if you can’t manage ten, just do as many as you can, you will improve!
- Sit ups – lie on your back, bend your knees, put your feet flat on the floor, hold your fingers to your temple, then tense your stomach until your upper back lifts off the floor, hold for at least a second, then lower back to the floor. Try and do ten of these initially, and work your way up to more as you get fitter.
If you are starting from a point of having very little fitness, by following this simple twelve week program, you will notice a big difference in your fitness and your weight, assuming you watch what you eat! For more information on what to eat, why read my article How To Lose Weight Eating Chocolate!
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