|
The Question: With the New Year comes change and new goals. The New Year has us thinking how we can change our workout program to achieve newer/greater results. How will you alter your workout following the New Year? Be specific. How are your goals this year different from last year? Do you usually make changes to your workout regimen following the New Year? Show off your knowledge to the world! The Winners:
2nd place - 50 in store credit. To use your credit, e-mail Will @ will@bodybuilding.com for more info.
With the New Year comes change and new goals. The New Year has us thinking how we can change our workout program to achieve newer/greater results.
With the coming of each New Year, new resolutions are always being made and we begin to realize how we have either failed in our previous resolutions or have succeeded. One thing's for sure, the top resolution made by Americans each New Year is to get in shape, and an overwhelmingly high percentage of these resolutions are not followed.
The problem is that people set unreasonable goals. For example, people decide that they want to lose 100 pounds the upcoming year. They decide that they are going to go from a sedentary lifestyle to having an intense weight training session and jog 10 miles a day. Now, this is obviously very demanding and unnecessary, even for the seasoned athlete. But can you see how this would cause burnout very quickly? People could hardly maintain a regimen like this, no matter how motivated. Now, the way to a successful year of weight loss or muscle gain, or even both, is through setting rational goals, and there are a couple of things that should be done for this to work. 1. Pick Out Your Specific Goals: Depending on what you're really wanting to work on, workouts will be drastically different. For instance, if your goal is to put on loads of muscle, you will have to go about it differently than if you want to lose fat. Most of us seem to fall somewhere in between those two goals. So that's the goal we're going to focus on in this workout of the week.
2. Find An Acceptable Workout Plan:
Now what would a workout of the week article be without a nice workout? This workout will essentially be for increasing muscle mass while losing fat. The Workout: Day 1: Chest & Biceps: Day 2: Legs: Day 3: Shoulders:
Day 4: Abs: Day 5: Back & Triceps: At the end of every workout, include 15-20 minutes of cardio because of the fact that many more calories are burned after weight training than if done without having lifted. Rotate machines from day to day to keep yourself well rounded (Stationary Bike, Treadmill, Rowing machine, Stair Climber, Elliptical, etc.). This should also aid in preventing muscle imbalances due to the constant change in stresses. If you enjoy swimming and happen to have a pool at your gym you would be fine in doing that as your primary source of cardio. This is what is going to aid in keeping body fat levels, and since it's only 15-20 minutes rather than 30-40 it'll be much easier (mentally) to handle. I find the hardest part of cardio is getting myself onto that machine, so if I only plan on doing 15 minutes, it's much easier. Key Points To Keep In Mind During The Workouts:
3. Have Patience When Critiquing Your Results: Now one of the main reasons that people fail in their New Year's resolutions year after year is because they want to see instant results. This is where the problem ensues. Results take time! Being patient and consistent with simple workouts in addition to small positive changes in diet, results will occur. Even though sometimes we all become very discouraged, there will always be something that can help us find motivation to keep on working. For me to find motivation in the gym, I use music to help me through the rough times. An MP3 player is basically essential to my success. Outside of the gym, I find motivation to keep my diet and life in check by keeping a nice big poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger above my desk.
I'm currently in the market for a "Yeah Buddy!" Ronnie Poster, unfortunately I don't think anyone is making those... YET! But seriously, you can derive a lot of willpower from looking at a picture of one of the pros, and it can help you stay on track. Bodybuilding.com has an awesome variety of wallpapers in addition to a wallpaper of the week that are good to put as your desktop if you'd like.
Last year, I had the goal of having a 6 pack. It seems like that is basically the goal that essentially every North American has, but is it really that important? I don't take my shirt off often anyway. This year I want to get much more specific and make a two part goal. Related Six Pack Articles: What I really want is to be stronger. So I'm going to quantify that part of my resolution by saying that I want to be able to bench press 225 pounds once. Of course, I will be working out my whole body but this is going to be my measure. In addition to that, I want to see if I can cut down below 10% body fat at one point this coming year as sort of a bodybuilding challenge for myself. I feel like these two goals will be much more about power of will than just, "lose weight" or "get jacked." This year will be about self-improvement; mental and physical.
It seems as though every year I have a new approach to changing my workout regimen, just like most other Americans. Last year I wanted a six pack. The year before that, I wanted to run a 5-minute mile. This year I feel as though I just want to be healthy, and my workout will follow in the footsteps of that goal. As shown by my sample workout, I would like to include more cardio in addition to heavy strength training. This will help me keep the gains that I achieve very lean, aiding in my goal for a low body fat percentage. Of course, one more bit I need to focus on this year is having the supplements that I need. Two years ago I'd go lift, and go to bed without eating anything. Of course most of you know how important proper protein supplementation is, and this is the perfect web site to aid in that. A ten pound bag of protein is going to be in my next order from BB.com for sure.
Recommend this article to a friend by e-mail here! Visitor Reviews Of This Article!
Related Articles
|
View Protein Powders Sorted By Top Sellers 
Sign in for more FREE features and tools!
|
|
Give Us Feedback:
Report A ProblemSite Feedback |
Follow Us:
|
Bodybuilding.com Newsletter
Receive exciting features, |
