If you’re on a diet, you also need to exercise – but what if you can’t afford a gym? According to Steve Kamb, creator of Nerd Fitness, ‘You can burn fat, build muscle, and get a great workout using just your body weight…By doing body weight circuits, where you complete one exercise right after the other without stopping, you’re both building muscle and getting a cardiovascular workout.’ But what makes body weight circuits work so well?
‘Every exercise involved [in body weight circuits] utilises multiple muscle groups, gets your heart rate pumping, and burns tons of calories,’ Kamb explains. ‘Essentially, circuit weight training burns more calories than interval training, which burns WAY more calories than steady cardio. Essentially, if you’re trying to lose weight, spending hours doing cardio on a treadmill is a really crappy use of your time.’ So what does Kamb’s body weight workout for beginners involve? ‘In a circuit routine, you’ll do each exercise in succession without a break in between (if you’re able),’ Kamb details. ‘Once you’ve finished all exercises in the circuit, you do it again. If you’re still able after the 2nd run through, go for a third. Because all of these exercises come one after another, you’re bound to get tired. It’s better to stop and take a break than to do an exercise incorrectly. If you can’t do all three circuits without stopping, that gives you something to build towards.’
Kamb warns, ‘Before you start, WARM UP – Never ever ever ever forget to warm up. Make sure to get your heart rate pumping and get your muscles warm or you’re just asking for injury. If you’re strapped for time, cut short your workout, not your warm up. You can run in place, jump rope, do a few push ups, pedal on a stationary bike, jog up and down your stairs, etc. Don’t wear yourself out completely, but get your heart rate elevated and little bit of sweat never hurt anybody.’ Have you warmed up? Promise? Ok, here is exactly what you need to do:
- 20 body weight squats
- 10 push ups
- 20 walking lunges
- 10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milk jug)
- 15 second plank
- 30 Jumping Jacks
‘After you’ve completed your workout, make sure you stretch,’ Kamb instructs. ‘All of your muscles have been contracted from lifting and need to be stretched back out and rebuilt. For either the body weight squats or lunges, if you can’t do them properly yet, it’s okay to put your hand on a support to keep your balance. For the body weight squats, think of it like sitting back into a chair. If you can sit down onto a chair, and then stand immediately right back up without having to lean forward, you are in balance. For the lunges, keep your eyes ahead and your upper body completely vertical. I used a milk jug for my dumbbell, but you can use whatever is heavy enough for you. Find something that is challenging to lift 10 times in a row.’
So how often can you perform this circuit a week? Kamb recommends, ‘Do this routine two to three times a week, but never on consecutive days. You don’t build muscle when you’re exercising, you build muscle when you’re resting. Generally I follow a pattern of strength training on one day, then 20 minutes of interval training on the next, then strength training, then interval training, and so on. You never want to do a strength routine two days straight (of the same muscle groups), as your muscles haven’t had time to recover. Along with this routine, you need to make sure you’re eating properly! A good workout and crappy diet will not get you anywhere. Lots of real foods (fruits, vegetables, lean meat, nuts, etc.). Eat natural, whole foods whenever possible, and leave the soda, candy, and junk food out of your system. Your diet is at least 80% of your success or failure.’
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