GETTING STARTED
The basics to health, fitness, and nutriton.


Today, with the amount of technological advantages that we have in our society, trends show that people are becoming a lot less physically active than they may have been, even ten years ago. Even simple inventions, such as the remote control, prevent us from getting off the couch to change the channel, and possibly burning a calorie. The effects of this leads to a less active, less healthy body, which in turn can lead to fatigue, sickness, excess weight, colds, or over a longer period of time: strokes and heart attacks. By participating in sports, eating properly, getting enough sleep, and getting regular exercise, we can build a powerful and healthy body, which reduces the risk of strokes and heart attacks, while we gain strength, endurance, and flexibility.

The problem with most people these days is lack of exercise. Even with the busiest life styles, everyone needs to fit exercise into their schedule. Exercise is like sleep, if you can't fit enough of it into your schedule, your performance will suffer. Attending a gym regularly is one of the best methods to building a strong and healthy body. Lets face it, everyone would love to have a perfect body: men want a broad, strong, and muscular body, while women want a toned, slim look. Weight training helps us get one step closer to that ideal body. Whether you are going for a jog, playing in a hockey game, or working out at the gym or at home, one of the most important routines is warming up. A good warm up includes some light cardiovascular exercising, such as rowing machines, stair masters, or exercise bikes. This gets the blood circulating and the muscles warmed up, preventing a strain or other injury. You only need to do this for 5-10 minutes, or until you break a light sweat as some experts reccomend. After the muscles are warmed up and the heart is beating, lightly stretch all the muscles that will be using during your activity. Be cafeful not to stretch too much before you exercise, because it can actually cause a decrease in strength during your workout and the mucles can be injured. After your activity, is a different story. Hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds. The rule of stretching is to do it slowly and properly, until there is a burn, rather than pain. Never bouce a stretch. This can lead to injury, and it isn't properly stretching the muscle anyway. Studies have actually proved that stretching before and after a workout can increase overall strength gains by up to 18%! ("Fit News", Men's Fitness. Nov. 99: p.26).

Following and sticking to a routine is important if you want to get results to your health, inluding not only physically, but mentally and emotionally.YOU HAVE TO BE CONSISTANT! Those who get an hour of exercise a day are reducing the risk of a stroke by 50%, while those who get half and hour per day, are reducing their risk by 25% ("Fit News", Men's Fitness. Nov. 99: p.19). One of the first things a beginner needs to decide before picking a routine that works for them, is a goal. Do they want to simply get into shape and loose some fat, or do they want to tone their muscles and increase endurance? Some may be training to help performance in other sports such as swimming or hockey, while others may just want to get ripped! Whatever the case may be, everyone should have a goal. After deciding on your reasons for working out, and picking a goal, you must research what type of exercises you should do, and how often you should do them for, in order to see optimal results.

By reading my articles and following my links, I hope to inform you on all you need to know to get started. My articles are long, I know, but I want you to fully understand everything. Although I seem to know a lot about health, fitness, and nutrition, I am learning new things every day. While waiting for my transfer bus at Uvic, I often pop into the bookstore and check out the fitness mags. Usually I'll find something new, even if its small, to help me with my training and lifestyle. There is so much information out there. There are so many different philosophies and ideas about fitness, and many of them contradict one another. On my page I tell you what is working for me. I have tried many different training methods and diets off all kinds. Through trial and error, just like starting a business, eventually you find what works for you. Since God created us all different, what works for you will most likely be different from someone else. I have only put links on my page to web sites that contain what I consider good information. Like anything in life, the better you practice, the faster you will get the results you are hoping to see. You could sit on a piano for an hour a day pounding the keys, playing sounds, but not very pleasent sounds. If you took lessons or did some research you would end up playing music! Same concept applies to training: you could spend and hour in the gym each day, pounding the weights, but if you don't have a clue what you are doing, you're not going to play 'music'.

Those who are trying to loose weight, will probably stick to a routine of cardiovascular machines, with light weight training. If you want to loose fat, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Those looking to gain size and strength will probably do a quick cardiovascular warm up, intensive sets of weight training, followed by stretching and a cardiovascular cool down. For significant gains in size and strength, more calories than you need must be consumed.

Whatever your training frequency or routine, one of the most important factors is focusing on your form. It is better to lift light weights correctly than to lift heavy weights incorrectly. Your aren't working your muscles efficiantly (which is what causes growth) when you use momentom. Muscles grow by slowly working your muscles through the full range of motion, which includes a positive and a negative tension (raising and lowering the weights slowly rather than swinging up then dropping down). Just remember to be patient, and soon you will be able to lift those heavy weights, and properly - unlike those ignorant young men working their biceps you always see arching their back as they swing back 50 pounders. Besides boosting your ego, lifting weights that are too heavy won't do to much for you, well - maybe cause an injury. For beginners, a good choice is to go to the gym with someone who can show you how to use the different machines, and how to use the correct form with the free weights. Some key points of form include raising and lowering the weights under control, performing each exercise steadily, avoiding locked joints, exercising through the full range of motion, and remembering to breath steadily, exhaling during your effort in raising weights ("A General Workout for Beginners", Camosun Recreation article).

After you have been shown how to use the different machines, and have learned the many creative exercises you can do with free weights, you have to figure out a schedule that fits your body's needs and your daily timetable. For gaining size and strength for example, an effective routine that I started out on is called a split. With this routine, you 'split' your body into different parts, working each part on a separate day. The body can be divided into several parts, including arms, chest, shoulders, back, legs, and abs. Each day you focusing on one or more of the major muscle groups. You intensively work that specific muscle group(s), then give it a week to repair and grow stronger (by fueling your body with power foods and getting rest), then your train that muscle group again. See programs for information on setting up workout routines. Depending on what you want and how much your body can handle determines how frequently you should train. When you go to my article on programs, and whenever you visit other fitness web sites, you will hear the words 'rep's, and 'sets'. (This is really basic stuff for beginners). A set is a group of complete and continuous repetitions, while a repetition is a single, complete action of an exercise ("Strength Training Workout Card", Recreation Oak Bay). Anywhere from 6-12 repetitions are the norm for gaining for size and strength, while 15 reps using lighter weights are better for muscle shaping and toning. However, even competative body builders who want size will often go on a 'high-rep' cycle to shock muscle growth by giving them somthing they aren't use to. This technique has worked for me. Intensity cycling is actually a very popular method for promoting muscle growth and not allowing them to get used to the routine and adapt (refusing to grow any more). Varrying the weights (light, moderate, heavy), the exercises, and frequency of your training program are all helpful in promoting growth.

After you workout, remember what I mentioned about doing a quick (5 minutes) cardiovascular cool down followed by stretching to prevent stiffness and speed muscle growth. The next workout (if you are doing the split routine), you would focus on the next muscle group(s), followed by another one the following time you go to the gym. Whatever type of training schedule you set up, try it hit each muscle group once a week. This way, by the time you have gone through your cycle (in my case it was a 5-day routine), the first muscle group has had a full week to repair and regrow, and the cycle continues. I stuck with a 5 day split routine (Chest/Back/Arms/Legs/Shoulders) for a year, training for 5 days, taking a day or two off throughout the week, then back to another cycle. By reviewing the records I kept and by doing some simple math, I see that I increased my strength by 40%! Eventually I hit a plateau (where the muscles adapted to the routine and refuse to grow any more), and had to switch up my routine and severel exercises to promote furthur growth. Next I started a similar routine, a 4-day split, which got just as much work done as the 5 day cycle but I only trained with weights 4 times a week. Instead of having a separate day for arms, which include the biceps and the triceps, I combined biceps with back (because you use your biceps a lot to work your back anyway, so the bi's are nice and warmed up) and the other combination is triceps with shoulders, again for the same reason: the tri's will be warm after you work your shoulders. (Chest and Triceps is another good combination). Switching your routine every once in a while prevents these anoying plateaus and allows steady development.

Another major muscle group I havn't mentioned yet is the abdominals, muscles all of us have but maybe don't see because of body fat. But you can see them! See Ridding Fat. The abs are different from the other muscles because they do not need as much time to recover. I used to train my abs every second day, working them from as many different positions and angles as possible (crunches, leg-raises, cable-crunches, etc), but after doing more research I realized that training with less frequent, but more intense workouts was more productive. Yes, they don't need as much time to recover compared to larger muscle groups, but 2 or 3 times a week will do.

The five-day split, or any similar routine that works one or more muscle groups each session, is an effective program for increasing in size and strength. If you stuck to this program consistently for a year, you would experience a huge strength increase, a leaner body, and outstanding endurance, as long as you remember to eat and sleep right too, "which is more than half the battle" (Sahota, Shane: personal reference).

This brings us to nutrition. Although regular exercise is important, what we put into our mouths is equally important, if not more important. Good food is essential for the health as well as for survival ("Nutrition", The World Book Encyclopaedia. 1991 ed.). For maintaining a healthy, balanced diet, you must make sure you are eating from each of the four main food groups every day. These groups include dairy products, meats, fruits and vegetables, and grain products. Depending on your lifestyle and amount of physical activity, you may need more from one food group than another. What food provides for you is broken down into three main groups of nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. These nutrients provide energy which are measured in units called calories, which most of you have heard of, but maybe do not understand. Carbohydrates are the starches, fibres and sugars in foods and serve as the body's main source of energy. Fats, another source of energy, are good for you in small amounts, but excess fat (or sugar) can lead to problems such as obesity and high cholesterol - which are both known causers of strokes and heart attacks. Proteins are vital for the growth and repair of muscle tissue that has been stressed by tough workouts (this is a good thing), and are found mainly in meat and milk products.

To build serious muscle, 3 standard meals a day will not be enough. Try to have 5 or 6 smaller meals spaced throughout the day (every 3-4 hours), which contain healthy items from all 4 of the good groups and contain carbs, proteins, and fats. The problem with 3 meals is that your body can only absorb so much good stuff at a time. Think of it this way: if you took 10 advil all at once, it wouldn't do much good, actually it would probably cause you harm, but if you spaced that out, and took 10 advil over a period of say 16 hours, your body would be able to handel it all and put it to its full potential. Same principal applies with food. Your kidneys can only handel about 30 grams of protein at a time. For the last year and a half that I've been seriously training, I've eaten every 3 hours, which equals 6 light meals a day (eating less in the evening, especially before bed). Another benifit with frequent meals is that it keeps your metabolism up. See Nutrition for more detailed information.

As an athlete, you want to take in high carbohydrate foods 1-2 hours before the workout, which will increase glucose levels in the muscle tissue, and provide your body with sustained energy to help you get through your workout with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength! After the workout, especially after intensively focusing on one muscle group, you need to replenish your low carbohydrate stores and eat protein to get started at repairing the microscopic tears in the muscle fibres, and increasing the muscle tissue in size. You need some fat too. 'Good fat', that is! Good fat refers to omega 3's, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated fats. These essential, yes essential, nutrients help transport protein and vitamins to the appropriate places in the body so they can complete their function (make us grow!). I used to not eat any unnessessary fat if I could avoid it. The only fats I got were 'trace fats' found in skim milk, all bran, fruit, lean meats, etc. That would be 0.8g here, 1.2g there, etc. Not very much, and not enough. Now that I've been researching, I've discovered that any diet less than 20% fat is not going to contain enough essential vitamins, that found only in fats, to help maximum muscle gains. On the other hand, any diet over 30% fat is exessive and will lead to health risks. When I started adding more good fats, (salmon, canola oil margarine, etc) I experienced my best growth results to date.

Anyway, you need carbs, protein, and fat after training. The carbs are protein sparing, that is they allow the protein to be used for more important things than energy. Many non-updated web sites and magazines tell athletes, especially bodybuilders, that they need much more protein than other people, assuming that most other people are typical office working, beer drinking, donut eating, couch potatoes. But that doesn't necessarily mean we need 'much more' protein. Those typical office workers don't require much protein, but they get more than enough from their poor and uneducated diet. The most recent professional studies I've read (that have done experiments with intermediate weight lifters and protein intake) say that 0.8g of protein per bound of body weight is plenty for all body building needs. Other fitness mags suggest 1g of protein per pound of body weight. When I take the average of them all, anywhere between 0.8-1g of protein per pound of body weight should be plenty. Many web sites or magazines out there have testimonys of well built guys who say they take in 400g of protein a day, minimal carbs, and minimal fat. Yes, they are big, but what their bodies have done is simply taken the amount of protiein that it needs (maybe 0.9g of protein per pound of body weight), then used the remaining amount of protein as energy, which puts a huge strain on the kidneys, as carbohydrates are the bodies prefered fuel source, followed by fats.

Before bed, you want some protein to go on repairing muscle throughout the night from todays workout, and from all the previous workouts of the week. You require very little energy as you sleep. Depending on your weight, age, etc, the average person burns less than 50 calories per hour of sleep. Tuna is my favorite food before bed. One can (in water rather than oil) contains 1g of carbohydrate, 30g of protein, and 1g of high quality fish fat - the food of champions!

By visiting the various free sites on my links page, you can figure out (by entering your weight, height, etc on an 'activity calculator') how many calories you burn while you sleep. I burn only about 47 calories an hour while I sleep. That wouldn't even burn an orange, so don't load up on food before bed - it will go straight to fat deposit. Your body will get its energy it needs while you sleep from extra calories you've eaten that day but not yet used. Other sites on the links page allow you to view the nutritional contents (grams of fat, calories, etc) of many foods, including what is really in those McDonalds extra value meals! Figure out on a calculator exactly how many calories you should be eating each day, and more! Also check out my favorite links to what I consider great, accurate, and informative sites on everything you need to know about burning fat, building muscle, power eating, and so on.

People ask me if I ever miss donuts, alcohol or chocolate, and I tell them no. You have to think of your bodies as a high performance sports car - like my '89 Cavalier (just kidding). The higher quality fuel you put in your tank, the more efficiantly it will run. Putting low grade 'fuel' into your bodies (like alcohol) will slow you down. Did you know that alcohol is digested BEFORE food? The best advice I can give you is to read as much as you can. See magazines, other web sites, and other sources of information. The more information you understand about how your body works, the better you can make it. Check out your bodies user manual - do your research! I learn things all the time that I wish I knew when I started working out! As well as all of the countless benefits of living a healthy life, it can become a fun and interesting hobby which you'll love to share with others, just as I am doing now.

This article is so general. I havn't mentioned much about the importance of sleep, water, cardiovascular exercising, and much more. Check out some more articles. Bookmark this site and come back if you don't have time to read more now. Please take 1 minute of your time to sign my guestbook if you learned anything today. Train hard. Eat tuna!