The human body is designed to move. It has numerous muscles, joints, bones and tissue that needs to be in good standing to make movement possible. When excessive weight is gained, it can not only put stress on your joints, but it can also raise your risk for chronic diseases. Workout programs can be used for simple prevention or to make you a more well-rounded athlete.
Full Body Routine
When you have never worked out before, it is good to start out with a basic program to get your muscles and body adapted to exercise. One such program would be a full body routine where you do six to eight exercises and two to three sets for each major muscle group. Since this is an introductory program, it is best to use machines for their ease of use. Chest presses, shoulder presses, lat pull-downs, triceps extensions, biceps curls, ab crunches and leg presses are examples of exercises, and there are machines available to accommodate all of these. The reps should be in the eight-to-12 range.
Compound Exercises
When size and strength are your goals, you should partake in a program that uses compound exercises. The difference between these and isolation exercises is the fact that they incorporate more than one joint movement and more than one muscle group. The result is a higher workload and creation of more muscle fiber. Exercises in this program include bench presses, military presses, dead lifts, triceps dips, twist curls and squats. For this type of workout, keep your reps in the six to eight range and do five to six sets with two-minute recovery periods in between. Use the heaviest weights you can handle and take two days off in between sessions to fully recover.
Muscle Endurance
Lean muscle mass is created when you train for muscle endurance. This takes place when you move lighter loads for longer periods of time. A program to build muscle endurance would consist of doing higher reps and lighter weights. Circuit training is a good example of this. This workout consists of doing eight to 10 exercises with a mix of cardio and weight training. Not only can it build muscle endurance, but it can also help burn calories and promote weight loss. A typical circuit workout would include exercises like push-ups, jumping jacks, lunges, crunches, shoulder presses, burpees and jumping rope. The exercises are done in succession and the rest periods are kept to around 30 seconds. Depending on your current fitness level, you can do 25 to 30 reps and four to six circuits.
Split Routine
Split routines are often done by bodybuilders. One muscle group per day is a common split routine in which you do eight to 10 exercises and three to four sets of each. Due to the high volume, you only do one muscle group a week. Take the legs as an example. In one session, you would work the quads, hamstrings and calves. On a chest day, you would work on the upper, mid, lower and sides of the chest. As you can see, even though you are targeting one muscle group, there are a lot of variations.
Supersetting
Supersetting involves doing different exercises back to back with no rest. They can be incorporated into an existing workout or you can do a whole program of supersetting. Single-body-part supersets can include three to four different exercises strung together. For example, to work the shoulders, you can do push presses, upright rows, lateral raises and forward extensions. Antagonistic supersets are done with two opposing muscle groups. The triceps and biceps are a good example of this. You can do a set of triceps pushdowns with a straight bar on a cable machine, then follow it with a set of straight bar biceps curls. This kind of routine is intense and it can give you a satisfactory workout in a short amount of time.
Cardio
Cardio exercise can be alternated in with any workout routine. When it comes to weight loss, it is usually done for 45 to 60 minutes, four to five times a week. When you are doing a bulk-up routine like the compound exercise program, it is kept to 20 to 30 minutes two to three times a week.
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