September is here. With this, the unofficial end of summer, comes a few familiar things: the start of school, football season and pretty weather. It also is the perfect month to ramp up your workout routine; the weather is good, the kids are back in school, Keeneland is not open yet and the holidays are off in the distance.
Summer is often the time when you get out of your normal workout routine. Maybe you hit the golf course or the pool or just had to run the kids around. No matter, now is the time to get back into it.
The next eight to 10 weeks are a great time to focus on getting in better shape and losing weight. If you can get in a good workout and eating routine now, you can move into the winter and holiday season with confidence.
I like to focus on both cardiovascular training and strength training in the fall, as opposed to more of a focus on cardiovascular training (walking, biking and swimming) in the summer. Remember, building muscle through strength training is the best way to increase your overall metabolism and this leads to weight loss.
A good strength training routine should focus on your large, calorie burning muscle groups-legs, back, chest and overall core. Put a number system to your workout to make sure you are doing enough work each time.
A good system to use is to count the number of "sets" you do for each workout. I think a minimum of 24 sets is required to be considered a full workout. Ideally, you should try to design a workout that has 24 to 32 sets of exercises. A set is a group of repetitions of a certain exercise; a "set" of squats may be a group of 10-12 repetitions. Two sets of each exercise are fine, so a full workout of 30 sets might consist of two sets of 15 different exercises.
For optimum metabolism boosting and just making the best use of your time, you want the majority of your exercises to be for those large muscle groups previously mentioned. Ten sets for your legs, six to eight sets for your back, four to six sets for your chest and four to six sets for your core are good goals. Leave just a few sets for your smaller muscle groups (shoulders, biceps and triceps); you actually work these muscles during exercises for the larger muscles-chest presses also work shoulders and triceps; lat pull downs and rows also work biceps.
Ab work should be counted separately and should always be done until abdominal muscles are completely fatigued. Depending on what kind and the intensity with which you do your abdominal exercises, you may be fatigued in 50 reps or 200. It makes no difference, as long as you are getting the ab muscles tired.
Cardio workouts are important for burning fat and teaching your body to burn fat more efficiently, so you don't want to stop these, but you need to make room for two or three total body weight routines a week. Thirty to 60 minutes of moderate cardio work four to five times a week is always a good goal.
Moderate means that you could carry on a conversation with someone during your workout. Working at too high of an intensity will get you in good shape, but does not have the same fat burning benefits as "LSD" (long, slow, distance) workouts. If you are not a competitive athlete, working at a moderate level is all you need. Moderate intensity will give you all the health benefits you are looking for, but will not get you ready to win the Bluegrass 10,000. Workouts designed to improve your competitive edge are very different from health/weight loss workouts. If you are interested in getting faster, you should see a sport specific coach or trainer.
So, now that summer has come to a close, get back in the gym and into your routine. Look at this time as the time to get ahead and lose weight. Consistency with your workouts and quality choices for each workout are the key. Be consistent and put some thought into designing a good workout to make the most of your efforts.