Working out demystified. Aim for your target!
Don’t worry you’re not the only one!
So.. maybe you’re thinking about or maybe you have already started some sort of a workout routine. Making no or slow progress?
“I have no idea what I’m doing. Where do I even start?”
Sound familiar? Thought so. Planks, squats, kettle bells, bands, hit training, yoga or Pilates, there is no shortage of options. But where to start you ask?
Are you gaining or losing?
For this article we are talking only about working out with a goal of losing weight. You know. Like most people. Why else would you want to run in place for an hour? 😇
Put on your detective hat! 🕵️♂️
Let’s make this so simple a caveman can do it… 🦎. So we mentioned a few workout options earlier to illustrate a small sample of just how many possibilities you have to reach your goal. So which one⁉️ really it does not matter. But more to that in just a sec.
First let’s be a detective and search our bodies for clues that tell us when we are actively making progress to reach our goals. The scale tells us our weight. We want to make sure we’re losing weight. So as time passes we want to see our weight dropping in the form of lost pounds 🙄.
Yes I know it’s obvious. But it’s also what us data geeks like to call a dependent variable. Meaning it’s change, (losing or gaining weight) is dependent on other variables.
Not only is it dependent on something else, BUT it’s also a metric that we can’t easily use to measure real time progress. It would be nice to watch a scale while we workout and see lbs fall off. You know.. Like our bank account’s balance with current gas prices😬
So what is it dependent on, and how can we measure when we are actively losing weight❓🤨
Follow your ❤️ and aim for the 🎯 . No really!
Okay detective. What can you measure with your two fingers and 10 seconds? Your heart rate!!!! Feel the beat! Heart rate is measured in BPM or beats per minute.
Did you know there is a special BPM that indicates when you are in a state where you are actively burning calories from your fat stores? There is! It’s called your
Target 🎯 Heart 💓 rate!
Your target heart rate is a magical bpm that keeps you safe, making progress and consistent! We’ll get calculating it in a moment.
Guaranteed Weight loss in 3 steps
- Do a repetitive activity. Yes any repetitive activity, like walking, swimming, biking, or doing the Macarena. It does not matter as long as you feel safe and comfortable and can vary it’s intensity and/or speed.
- Continue to do that activity and increase its intensity until you have reached your target heart rate.
- Now continue for at least 15 minutes and activity vary the intensity of the activity to keep your heart rate in the target heart rate zone. Increase intensity to increase heart rate and decrease intensity to decrease heart rate.
As a good rule of thumb once you have stayed in your target heart rate for 15 minutes, your body will switch its metabolic mode to aerobic. Meaning your body has moved from burning glycogen in muscles cells as fuel to combining oxygen and fat to create the required glucose to fuel your body.
But careful! Go to high and your body will make another switch. One that’s easy to flip and you really don’t want. Well unless you want to stop burning fat and start burning your actual muscles for fuel! Stay out of the anaerobic mode. This is when your body sees oxygen levels drop and starts to divert muscles to eat itself to power itself. You know so your 🧠 still has enough oxygen to keep you conscious.
Go to low and you’re just back to burning your short term glycogen energy stores and not fat.
How to EASILY stay in aerobic mode and maintain your target heart rate.
Start with walking on a treadmill or road. Maintain your pace for 1 minute. Check your heart rate.
Below target? Increase your speed or incline of treadmill a bit. Wait 30 seconds measure again. Keep increasing until you reach your target! Stay there for 30 Minutes.
Wait and watch your fat start crying in the form of sweat! (For the record that’s not really how sweat works, it’s just silly)
Follow your heart and never plateau 🏔
I’m sure you have hear a million people say this. “I was losing weight and all the sudden it just stopped”
Long story short. You body did what it’s best at. It adapted. It found a new homeostasis. As
You begin to workout your body will gradually adapt to the new activities. Among other things, As you lose weight your body has less resistance when it moves. Less weight load to move around. So the same workout routine works less and less the more progress you make.
So if you think walking 5.5mph on a treadmill for a half hour always burns the same number of calories, you would be wrong. Over days and weeks, Each time you complete your workout you will have burnt less calories per session.
Those of us following our heart never see this happen though. Why? Because as your body becomes adapted to your routine, you will naturally and subtly start increasing the intensity of your workouts to keep your heart in the target zone!
So if you stay in the zone, the pounds will keep falling off. THE RIGHT POUNDS!
Okay it’s over… for now. Let’s recap
- Go buy a monitor
- Chest strap: Polar H10 Heart Rate Monitor Chest Strap - ANT + Bluetooth, Waterproof HR Sensor for Men and Women (New) https://a.co/d/afjuCvP
- Wrist strap: FITVII Slim Fitness Tracker with Blood Oxygen SpO2, Blood Pressure, 24/7 Heart Rate and Sleep Tracking, IP68 Waterproof Activity Trackers and Smart Watches with Step Tracker, Pedometer for Women Kids https://a.co/d/0U7SiBz
- Or go fancy with an Apple Watch, Fitbit or other premium smart watch
- Find your target heart rate:
- Go workout
- Get in your target heat rate for 30 minutes
Start there. Soon we’ll be talking about how to schedule your weight loss. Yes. I literally mean lose weight on schedule.
Have a great day!
Matthew