Beginner: Full Body Workouts

If you’re new to exercise, full-body workouts are the only place to start.

Many times we get carried away by appearances and we believe that because we only want to grow our butt or enlarge the muscles of our arms, then we should focus on that, but it is the opposite.

When we exercise, regardless of the part of the body that we focus on, our body, which is an impressive machine, will do its best to improve in a balanced way, and if we focus on a single muscle, yes, only that one will grow, but the fat burn, wasting and more will be distributed throughout the body without any benefit.

It is a reality that no matter what they tell you, there is no exercise to lose fat from a specific part of the body. There are exercises to grow specific muscles but when it comes to fat, conditioning, energy consumption and more, the body will always distribute it. If you want to lose fat from one part of the body, the only goal is to lose it from the whole body.

For that reason and more, your workouts should target all the major muscle groups so they can help you build a solid foundation for more advanced routines.

Remember, even athletes who are dedicated to competing in track and field exercise their upper body. They know that you must always aim to improve the whole, not just a part.

Full-body workouts can include exercises like squats, lunges, push-ups, and planks. In the end, depending on your goals, you will have different routines and devices, but always look for them to impact all muscle groups.

Note: This does not mean that daily you should focus on all muscles, you can have weekly or even monthly routines, but in the end the focus of the routine is to target the whole body.

Intermediate: High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Here the first question that occurs to most people is at what level I am. Many times we believe that because we have been training for a while and we are or have an impressive body and physical condition compared to when we started, then we are already experts and advanced, but the reality is different.

It is not my intention to disappoint you and you are on an excellent path but the reality is that if you have been training for the last 6 months or more around 4 days a week, you already know all the exercises, the correct postures and more, believe it or not that means that you are at an intermediate level.

Remember: The majority of consistent exercisers are in this category.

Below we will mention how to know that you are advanced, but in the end if you exercise in a gym you will realize that there are people whose nutrition, types of exercises, time in the gym, supplements and more are very different from yours.

For those who have been exercising for a while and the changes or results are not as noticeable anymore and feel they need to challenge themselves or increase the exercises in a more aggressive way to feel like they are improving again, in other words for people who are Intermediate level and looking to challenge themselves, High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is the next option.

At our base we learned to exercise the body in a holistic way, with different routines and how to apply the training correctly and which ones work for each muscle group.

We probably did some weight training and HIIT exercises along the way and had mixed routines. Now the goal is different.

A dedicated HIIT routine involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by short rest periods where we will not only build cardio but also strength. It’s not my intention that you spend money but a heart if you don’t have a heart rate monitor, independently if it’s a watch a band or whatever, this may be the time to find one. This type of training can help improve cardiovascular health and burn fat, but our goal is to improve muscular endurance that will serve us for the next stage and with the help of technology will be much easier. (but it’s not necessary)

You probably don’t realize it right now, but just as physical condition allows you to do cardio for longer and at a higher intensity, muscular endurance allows you to do more repetitions with heavier weights.

A big mistake that people believe is that just lifting weights is enough, but the reality is that it’s one thing to grow muscle and increase strength with greater weight through the breakdown and reconstruction of muscle fibers that we will explain later, and another thing is increase the number of repetitions we can do. Running faster is not the same as running for longer periods.

Advanced: Weight Training and advance exercises

For those who have been working out consistently for a while and have built up strength and endurance, weight training is a great way to take your fitness to the next level.

The advance group have years of consistent experience working their body and know how to manipulate variables to challenge their training needs and prevent injuries.

Continuing to increase cardiovascular resistance and physical condition is important, but this group already has a space dedicated to this area incorporated into their routine and it is not only immovable but they know they are improving little by little.

Therefore the next obvious step is to lift weights and do advanced exercises that involve not only impacting the muscle but also endurance, flexibility and balance.

Weight training can help build muscle mass and improve overall strength as long as you use the correct equipment. If you have a hard time leaving home you can check options like BowFlex and FlyBird.

The way it works is that when we increase the weight we are carrying, the force and resistance we use microscopically breaks the muscle fibers. When this happens, our body, which as we said is an incredible machine, realizes its weakness and gathers what is necessary to rebuild said fibers but in a larger and more resistant way. That’s the process of increasing the size and strength of a muscle and if you’re wondering, it’s obviously painful and that’s the pain we usually feel a day or two after lifting weights for the first time or increasing weights.

Exercises can include squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and more. Just as an example, you might see people doing deadlifts with more weights standing on one leg or even using instruments to raise the weights above what the hands and fingers can support by strapping them to the arms or wrists.

Regardless of the fact that it is important that whenever we exercise we have an adequate diet, if we have not done so, at this time it is necessary that we begin to supplement our diet with proteins and other supplements to avoid injuries and muscle wasting.

Note: It is not that it is necessary to take a protein after exercising but to supplement the 20 gr -25 gr of protein that they normally give you per serving you would have to eat 4 egg whites before, during or after the workout.