Your workout: complete, intense, organized… as long as it is personalized!

by  Saverio Sculli (Personal Trainer)*

Building a better body requires a huge motivation, something that goes beyond the simple inscription in the gym. Also attending the best fitness club may not be enough .
But we start from where we left off in the previous article: ” You have to have an intense desire to deal with what you will need to succeed. You must follow your program, not just a week, but month after month, to go beyond the point where others stop. Every day, motivated by your goal, you will find the inspiration to continue in your program, no matter what happens”. We arrived at the first step: Motivation. This unstoppable force of will is needed to achieve the results you desire. Now we can go into the “tortuous maze” of training. Most likely you have heard dozens, if not hundreds, of “training philosophies” from at least as many “training philosophers (or aspiring)”. Well, I do not want to be one of these: I just want you to remember one day “someone said me that the correct knowledge of the training bases  is the best way to start with a healthy and complete personal training.” And it is precisely for this reason that we shall discuss in this article how, starting from the basics, I managed to train ordinary people and professional athletes.

The Basics

Aerobic exercises and weights contained in the programs are the foundations of a good workout. To get the maximum benefits will have to start slowly to warm the muscles, increasing the intensity gradually, to reach the end and be able to honestly say: ” This was a good, hard and intense training.” Think of each exercise in terms of intensity. Start with a strain/intensity of 10% of your maximum limit (10% for someone may be 2.5 lbs, for others 10 lbs). The point is: 10% should be easy and light, were just warming your muscles now. Following the repetitions indicated for each exercise, the intensity will increase, until the last series with 100% intensity, now you must give your best. Focus on execution. Two people who follow the same workout can have different results: one will see the results day after day, the other will wonder what is wrong. How is it possible? The person who gets results uses maximum concentration and every time he/she lifts a weight, the movement should be slow and controlled: you should not be in a hurry.

Preparatory Phase

Depending on your level of experience, you will spend the first few weeks to prepare to deal with heavier loads or to allow your body to fully recover. The preparatory phase has a dual function: first, it tries to adapt your anatomy in order to create a more protected physiological environment from trauma. In practice, tendons and ligaments must be strong enough to support the labor-intensive that will follow at later stages. Second, this step constitutes a good opportunity to deal with any muscle imbalances or instability. An effective method is to perform the exercises with dumbbells. The preparatory phase is also required if you are already trained quite well. In this case, the stage acts as a recovery period after the heavy workout. We are talking about the so-called active rest, to allow the physical ideal to recharge your batteries before tackling another phase. Although science has not yet been able to identify a variable as the primary cause of overtraining, we know that periods of intense training carried out without being interspersed with less intense phases appear to contribute greatly to this form of physiological fatigue .

 Growth Phase

The purpose of this phase is not complicated: increase muscle mass. The growth phase should follow the preparatory in order to increase the protein content of the muscles (increasing its mass). Keep in mind that the timing of implementation of this phase are very important if you want to prepare the physical transition scheduled for the following month, that of maximal strength. In this phase we shall increase the total volume of work and shorten the breaks. You will perform both simple and complex exercises, using techniques such as high-intensity sets descendants and focusing specifically on 1-2 muscle groups at a time. You’ll soon because we called “growth phase“.

Cardiovascular workout

You thought of becoming leaner and healthier without this item? You can also have the biggest biceps in the neighborhood, but you still need cardio. Here is the unvarnished truth: If you want to increase muscle definition cardio will serve you for sure. You can not underestimate the benefits of cardiovascular training, especially in the age group between 20 and 45 years. This form of training is a great deterrent for some of the diseases related to lifestyle, such as cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and some metabolic diseases. Over the years, it is becoming increasingly important. If you are among those who are afraid that aerobic activity can “eat” your muscles, do not be afraid if you do aerobic exercise 2-3 times a week for no more than 40-50 minutes you do not have to worry about your muscles. What you may not know is that a well-trained cardiovascular system there can also be useful in your bodybuilding workouts, for example by increasing the concentration of aerobic enzymes that delay muscle fatigue.

Flexibility

Since this is a complete program, we must also take care of this aspect, as if the muscles, tendons and other connective tissues are not yet ready to deal with certain exercises and certain angles the risk of getting hurt is more than real. Stretching will help us in this, to act on the muscles “before the damage happens”.

Motivate, train and make fitness your way of life!

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*Mr. Saverio Sculli is a certified Personal Trainer since 2006 (CSEN-CONI), but his experience in fitness training started in 1998. He is also an expert in the fields of Athletic and Agonist Training (2004) and Nutritional Fitness Education (2003). He works as director at the New Fitness Sport Center in Bovalino (Italy) where he continues his “training mission” with passion and professional care, promotes informative seminaries and organizes courses to form the next generation of fitness trainers. You can follow Saverio on his web site and on Facebook. Contact him for questions or/and customized training programs: make wellness your life style!