Define Your Goals
Design Your Own Program
You may want to design your own personal program specifically geared to your goals and lifestyle. Designing a program is easy, as long as you follow the guidelines below.
Understand fitness and its components: Improperly designed programs can be dangerous. Take some time to review this manual as well as other fitness guides.
Know your current fitness level: Before you start any fitness program you should consult a physician who will help you determine your current abilities.
Identify your goals: Goals are critical to choosing and designing an exercise program that fits and enhances your lifestyle, but so is strategy. It’s important not to rush the process and try to accomplish too much too soon. That will lead to setbacks and discouragement. Instead, set a series of smaller achievable goals.
Select complementary exercises: Be sure to pair exercises that address compound joint movements and single joint movements. In addition, select exercisesthataddresscomplementarymusclegroups.
Put first things first: During each session, first work muscle groups that need the most training.
Remember your cardiovascular component: Any fitness program must contain a cardiovascular fitness component to be complete. So complement your resistance training with aerobic exercise such as walking, running, or bicycling.
Training variables: When designing your own program there are several variables that, when mixed properly, will equal the right fitness formula for you. In order to find out the best formula, you must experiment with several combinations of variables.
The variables are as follows:
•Training Frequency: The number of times you train per week. We recommend daily activity but not daily training of the same muscle group.
•Training Intensity: The amount of resistance used during your repetition.
•Training Volume: The number of repetitions and sets performed.
•Rest intervals: The time you rest between sets and the time you rest between workouts.
Once you’ve established a base of fitness, follow these basic principles:
•Isolate muscle groups: Focus work on specific muscle groups.
•Progressive Loading: The gradual systematic increase of repetitions, resistance and exercise period.
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