The Best Approach to Getting Super Fit!

We have probably all seen these types of people. One person is constantly on the treadmill or exercise bike or perhaps they run by your house every day, but they never do any strength training exercise. Or the fellow who spends time everyday pumping iron but they just about never do anytype of cardio endurance exercise. Any good fitness professional will advise you that the best approach to getting great fitness results is to have a balanced workout program. You should think of your training as being part endurance training and part strength training. It is NEVER a good idea to just do one or the other. There are several reasons for this. Your body has two basic exercsie energy system; aerobic (long term endurance) and anaerobic (short term strength). Both should be exercised to obtain ideal benefits. Ignoring one of these two energy systems will reduce your overal benefit by 50%. People who are looking to lose weight are very often guilty of just doing cardio exercise and ignoring strength training. This is a HUGE mistake because it is strength training that has the most significant effect on increasing your metabolism by building muscle. A slow metabolism is often a key reason that people have a high body fat level. Cardio work will burn some calories but will not have a significant increase in your metabolism. As for burning calories (energy expenditure) remember it is not the number of calories so much as the rate that they are used. Did you know that walking a mile and running a mile use about the same number of calories? Running the mile will have a better effect on stimluating your body to become more fit. A very good approach is to simply follow the guidlines as suggested by The American College of Sports Medicine. These are (A) Do moderately intense cardio 30 minutes a day, five days a week or (B) Do vigorously intense cardio 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week and Do eight to 10 strength-training exercises, eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise twice a week.
Moderate-intensity physical activity means working hard enough to raise your heart rate and break a sweat, yet still being able to carry on a conversation. It should be noted that to lose weight or maintain weight loss, 60 to 90 minutes of physical activity may be necessary. The 30-minute recommendation is for the average healthy adult to maintain health and reduce the risk for chronic disease. (ACSM)