ResultZ Fitness Consulting

Make Fitness a Priority

by Jeffry E. Robinson, Fitness Consultant 

This article is an exerpt from my Life-Long Motivation Manual

Successful adherence to a “life-long” exercise and diet strategy is dependent upon placing a priority upon it and letting nothing stand in the way of that priority (short of an emergency). 

You should schedule one-hour of exercise each day.  You should also schedule your meal times to ensure that you have at least 3 meals per day (preferably 4-5 small meals per day). All these changes require that you place a high priority on the exercise schedules and meal planning.

I’ve trained over 45 clients and I can tell you that many of them struggle with their daily priorities.  So, I know that it’s no small task to re-arrange your life to embrace a new fitness lifestyle.  However, I also know that the clients that have been most successful have made exercise and proper diet a high priority. They got results.  They succeeded.

Conversely, those clients that let daily distractions, business commitments, family issues and social engagements take priority over their fitness program were far less successful in reaching their goals.  Some never reached them at all!  While these clients had great intentions initially, they failed to re-arrange their life’s priorities to make exercise and proper diet a necessity. As a result, some of them became discouraged with their progress and “dropped out” entirely. They failed.

There is a saying that goes like this: “There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen; those that watch things happen; and those who wonder what happened.”  Which one will you be?   Will you make things happen?  Will you succeed in reaching your goals?  Will you make fitness a high priority in your life?  Will you embrace a fitness ethic that endures for your entire lifetime?   I hope so. 

Don’t let distractions, other people, or events get in your way to achieving your fitness goals.  Priorities and schedules can be re-arranged to meet YOUR needs.  Fitness cannot be last or “near the end of the list” in your priority ranking.  If it is…then you’ll not achieve your fitness goals.

The Fat Burning Benefits of Resistance Training Are Huge!

by Jeffry E. Robinson, Fitness Consultant 

This article is an exerpt from my Resistance Training Manual

These carbohydrates, in the form of glycogen, are stored in the liver and muscle and can only supply energy to the muscle in an anaerobic state for a short time – usually 1-2 minutes for each exercise set. During a resistance training workout you expend a sizeable quantity of carbohydrate energy.  Depending upon your exercise intensity, bodyweight and muscle mass, this energy expenditure can range from 150 to 800 calories per workout.

Besides the energy expended during the workout, there are additional energy expenditures occurring after the workout.  After the Resistance Training workout, you’re in a recovery mode.  During this recovery, the body delivers glycogen, enzymes, and amino acids to the muscle.  Now your body is in an aerobic state and burns mostly fat.  This process has been nicknamed the “afterburn”.  Depending on the duration and intensity of the workout, this “afterburn” can last several hours.  

Studies have reported a 4-7% increase in metabolic rate over a 24-hr period following a resistance training workout.  So, if you have a daily caloric expenditure of 2,500/day, you could expend 100-175 calories of fat after resistance training – this in addition to the 150 to 800 carbohydrate calories you’ve used during the workout.  Again, your actual energy expenditure depends upon your bodyweight, muscle mass, daily caloric expenditure and exercise intensity. 

To maximize the benefits of the “afterburn”, studies have shown that higher fat burning rates are achieved if you exercise to “near failure” or “failure” on the last set of each Resistance Training exercise.  Reaching “failure” means that you’re not able to finish an attempted repetition.  “Near Failure” means that you’re barely able to finish the last attempted repetition.  Both of these conditions mean that you pushed the muscle to its limit during the last repetition of the last set of the exercise. 

In Resistance Training, “failure is good”, because you exhausted the muscle during a maximum effort.  This “near failure or failure” maximum effort will increase the “afterburn” or post-exercise fat burning rate higher.  After your initial conditioning phase, progressively increase your resistance in the last set of each exercise to achieve your maximum fat burning capacity.