Get Fit Using a Plan for Success

How many times have you flipped through the channels on your TV and run across some energetic young man or woman hollering at you, “Come on! You can do it! Keep it up!. And 2 and 3, and 1…” I know I run across them all the time. Watching the performance of people such as these makes the exercises they are doing look quite easy. However, when I try to mimic what I see on the television, I usually end up with my legs tied up in a knot, my shoulder dislocated, and whip-lash! It’s no wonder that I get discouraged while attempting to keep up, and since many people feel the same way I do about the subject, I feel compelled to share the knowledge I used to implement my own ‘easy’ military type master fitness training’ regimen with anyone who wants to listen.

When I was in the Army, I attended a master fitness trainer workshop. This workshop taught us the fundamentals of exercise, the knowledge of which can be used to help you create your own work out. Note: Always consult your doctor prior to beginning any exercise regimen.

An important principle to consider when exercising is the F.I.T.T. principle. Each letter in “FITT” stands for an element of the principle.
F. Frequency: How often the exercise is performed. If performed more often, you can expect better results.

I. Intensity refers to the amount of energy or effort put into an exercise. The theory is that if you put forth more effort, you can expect better results.

T. Time: refers to how long each exercise is performed. Here, it is believed in this principal that the number of repetitions performed, nor the number of miles walked, jogged or ran matter. What matters is how much time is devoted to each of them. For Instance, if one person runs 2 miles in 30 minutes, he is getting a better work out than the guy who runs it in 15 minutes even though the intensity of his run is higher. In addition, the longer a person runs, the more fuel is taken from fat storage supplies within the body.

T. Type: refers to the type of exercise performed, and the individual exercises engaged in. When deciding what exercises to perform, it is not recommended that you concentrate on just one area of your body. In fact, the types of activities you engage in should provide your body with a balanced effect.

Knowing this FITT principle can help guide you on a path of ‘bodily improvement’, since you know how to adjust your work out to meet your changing needs.

Before beginning exercises, you should warm-up first, then stretch. This should take at least 15 minutes. This warm up can consist of jogging in place, jumping jacks, a few push-ups, and anything that raises your heart rate and respirations slightly, and warms your muscles. This warm-up prepares your body for a workout, and makes stretching safer.

The kinds of stretches you want to perform are called static stretches. With static stretches, you will want to hold the stretch at the point just before you feel pain, In which case, you should only feel a moderate bit of pulling on the muscles and tendons you are stretching, then hold the stretch for 10 to 15 seconds. A second type of stretch, but one that you should not perform are called ballistic stretches. These stretches are bouncy in nature, and can cause injury.

After your body is warmed up and stretched, you are ready to workout. I am using the word workout as a global term covering aerobic exercise, as well as anaerobic exercises. In the army, we worked out 5 days every week, then rested on the weekends. We devoted Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to Aerobic conditioning, and Tuesday’s and Thursday’s to anaerobic exercises.

Aerobic exercises work the largest of muscle groups, require large amounts of oxygen, and are performed so as to increase stamina, burn fat, and condition the heart muscle. When aerobic exercise is performed, the exerciser should try to reach and maintain a percentage of their target heart rate for at least 20 minutes. 3 days per week to accomplish those goals. A rule for finding your target heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. Then, a percentage of the resulting number should be used. For example, my target heart rate is 220-39 or 181. Based on my current health, I’ll shoot for 70 percent of that number or 127 bpm (beats per minute). Most people will be attempting to reach 70%, 80%, or 90% of their target heart rate depending on their own current conditioning. People who are in better shape can go for the higher percentages.

Some of the more well known aerobic exercises are aerobics, running, swimming, and wind sprints.

Anaerobic exercises refer to , weight lifting, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and the like. These exercises employ smaller muscle groups, and require less oxygen than aerobic exercises since the muscles will fatigue before you get out of breath.

Following your exercising, you should go through a cool down and stretch phase where if you were running, or walking vigorously you allow your heart to gradually slow down to a near normal rhythm. This can be accomplished by first slowing to a brisk walk then slowing even further to a slow walk while working your shoulders up and down repetitively. Eventually when you stop, you can do some deep breathing by inhaling deeply through your nose then exhaling through your mouth. Do this breathing while gently stretching the muscles you just exercised.

Create a plan for success by first realizing that you should not jump into a difficult training regimen all at once! Doing so can cause undue soreness which can be discouraging. Fortunately, this can be alleviated somewhat if the program’s difficulty point begins at a level that you can handle fairly easily.

The next thing you should realize is that the changes you want to see will not occur over night. If you are out of shape, I’m sure it took some time for you to get that way, and I can assure you it will take some time to reach your goals. Rest assured though, you do have it within you to be successful. The day you decide (with resolve) to start a program, and not give up, is the day you change your life. For the healthier

Here is a sample week:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Warm-up by jogging in place, doing jumping jacks, 5 slow push-ups, 10 sit- ups, then stretch legs for 5 minutes. Total time 15 minutes.

Exercise: Walk briskly for 30 minutes, then jog for 10 minutes, then walk briskly for 5 minutes.

Cool down


Tuesday’s and Thursdays: Warm-up and stretch as above for a total of 15 minutes, then perform your work out. You can lift weights if you have them. Use weights that are light enough for you to do at least 20 repetitions of each exercise. If you don’t have weights, you can improvise by using a bag of sugar, bottles of laundry detergent, fill 2 liter soda bottles with water, etc.

You can do ‘curls’ where you hold the weight in your hand, palm up, elbow at your side, then you bend your forearm up and down at the elbow joint, repetitively. Do 3 sets. With the first set, do 20, second set do 15, third set do 10.

The next exercises you can do are ‘presses’. While standing, hold the weight at shoulder level in an “I don’t know“ posture, then press the weight up word, straightening the arm at the elbow, and moving entire arm upward as if you’re holding up the ceiling. Repeat this motion utilizing the same repetition schedule as for ‘curls’.
Do ten push-ups and as many sit-ups as you can. And do 3 sets of each of these two exercises.

Cool down here by doing what you can to stretch out the muscles you used. Be creative, but don’t hurt your self.

Note: The above work out schedule is only a suggestion. Only you can know the type and amount of each exercise is right for you. The repetition numbers given above are by no means set in stone, you can adjust the numbers to fit your own abilities.

Ultimately, what’s important to remember is that no one can do this for you, and this is the only life (here on earth) you will ever have. So, why not get up off that couch and start moving. Go buy a bicycle or two and go for a ride with a friend or spouse. If you get moving, you will begin to feel more alive. You know, being alive isn’t necessarily living if you are not taking an active role in your own happiness. So, take an active role by becoming active and soon, you will look and feel better.