Add Some Variety

Have you ever noticed that when you try a new activity, you feel ten years older the next morning. You wake up and discover that you have muscles that you have not felt in….well maybe you just discovered to begin with. Variety helps build muscle. Are you always sore the day after your regular run or after your normal weight routine? Of course not. Your body has adapted to the stress you apply to it. That is your queue to make a change.



This past weekend, I had my first taste of the Nintendo Wii. As I was getting my butt kicked at boxing by my 5 year old niece, I realized that I was working up a sweat. The next morning, I was hurting bad. Now mind you, the Wii controls weigh next to nothing. The extreme movement that I put myself through was way out of the norm. You should also do that in your workouts.

Here are a few suggestions:
- Run hills instead of flat terrain.
- Run trails instead of roads.
- Vary you speed. You can use telephone poles, driveways or intersections to tell you when to change speed.
- Do a century workout. That is when you reduce your weights to one third of normal and do one set of one hundred reps.
- Cross train in the pool or on your bike.



Mix it up and keep it fun. You will enter a new level of health. Don’t believe me. Check out the blogs of some of our Olympians. They will tell of their tales on Pikes Peak, which is just a few miles from the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, and the workouts the mountain gives them.

Just Beginning with Weights

So, you want to make the Govenator look like a girly-man. Hey, it is OK to have a lofty goal, but let’s face it. Most of the population (myself included) tends to have a physique somewhere between Homer Simpson and Twiggy. Whatever your goal, resistance training is part of the fitness triad. Cardio, nutrition, and resistance.

Resistance training helps in many ways.
1) Builds muscle.
2) Burns calories.
3) Burns even more for about 2 hours afterwards.
4) Burns even more while you sleep (because you have more muscle).
5) Gives you a reason to take your shirt off at the beach. (Ladies to if you wish).

After consulting your doctor, realistically access your knowledge of resistance training. If you are a former high school jock, you may know a few things. If not, hire a trainer for a few weeks. Not only the knowledge they pass on will get you better results, but also help keep you motivated.

You will get sore. That is part of the process. Especially the first few times you do resistance training. You see, resistance training creates micro-tares in your muscle fibers. Your body produces new muscle cells to repair your injured ones. More muscle means better beach body. Just start slow your first time. 30 minutes of light lifting your first time will make you feel some discomfort in the morning. 30 minutes of overdoing it will make simple movements painful for the next three days. Also, for every day you do resistance training, you must rest a day. That gives you time for a cardio workout.

Good luck on your goals and get to the gym.