My Not-Remotely Secrets to Losing Weight (Part 3)

Fitness is a funny thing. Every trainer, every expert, etc. has a slightly different opinion what to do and how to do it. For example, current research shows that the popular mindset of low-weight + high-rep lifting helps to build size and keeps from building size. Great, huh? Some of it is not as contrary, though. If you've ever watched a P90X infomercial, they talk about muscle confusion. As I understand it, this principle talks about not having a set routine every workout so that your muscles will develop general fitness instead of getting very good at a few set movements. It seems like the experts all like that idea, so I went with it.

In addition, they seem to agree that a combination of resistance training and cardio is best for fitness. Good fitness will lead to weight loss, therefore I had my plan. A combination of cardio and resistance training that varies day to day.

Every workout, I start with cardio. 30 minutes of cardio to be exact. Typically I hit the Elliptical machine, but I also hit the Treadmill, Stationary Bike, and Rowing Machine. One thing my trainer said to me about cardio is to keep pushing myself, whether it's for distance, time, or some other metric. I wanted to keep my time the same, distance seems to vary from one machine to another, so I can't get a consistent apples-to-apples comparison out of them. Therefore, I record the number of calories the machine says I burn. I find it is a good measurement of how hard I feel like I've worked. So there was my goal, to keep pushing the calorie count in 30 minutes. I do this by keeping a consistent rpm on the elliptical or bike, and ramping up the resistance level. On the treadmill, I increase the speed.

For resistance training, I alternate between working chest/arms and legs/core on subsequent days. I have two routines for each set. Monday I'll do routine A, Tuesday routine B, etc. Each of these contains body-weight exercises (pushups, pullups, situps, dips, etc.), and lifts (bench press, front squat, etc.).

Routine goes vaguely like this:

1. Cardio
2. Stretching nearly everything
3. the daily routine (a, b, c, or d)
4. stretching the areas that I worked that day