Fitness Goals
The first thing a person has to do after the fitness assessment is to decide what are their primary fitness goals. Once the goals are set then a person can decide what kind of activity will enable them to reach these goals. Once that is done they will want to find the proper fitness instructor to help them reach those goals. Here are some common fitness goals and methods that will help them reach their goals.
Gain Muscle: If the goal is to gain muscle then a person must take part in a regular resistance training program.
Lose Fat: Diet comes first. Then depending on the individual you will either want to do this with either weights, cardio or a combination of both. Of course a person can also increase the amount of daily activities they do for an increase in the amount of calories they burn.
Improve Cardiovascular Conditioning- This can be done with either a properly designed weight training program or aerobic conditioning. (bike, treadmill, walking, running). It should be noted that to increase cardiovascular conditioning that a person has to work at high enough intensity and duration. A person must get into their Target Heart Rate Zone and keep it there for at least 20 minutes, done most days of the week.
Target Heart Rate Zone = 65-85% of Heart Rate Max. Heart Rate Max=220-age.
This can be done with any activity that gets your heart rate into that zone and allows it to stay there for desired duration.
Improve Flexibility- To improve flexibility a person must take part in a regular stretching program. It must be done at least 5-6 times/week. The most simple way is to get into a stretch and hold it for at least 30 seconds then repeat 3 x. The best time to do this kind of stretching is either after the workout or before bed. Click here for a really good book on stretching. It will go in great depth with diagrams on what you need to do.
Protect Against Heart Attacks and Strokes- to protect against heart attacks and strokes a person needs to do at least 20 min of moderate activity most days of the week. This does not have to be very intense and tremendous benefits are seen by doing something as simple as walking briskly.
