Fitness literally means “being healthy and fit”. A lot is a sport based on exercise. Unlike all other sports, it is basically aimed to tighten and strengthen the muscles by working one by one with or without tools. It is basically the foundation of all sports. Because in every sport, there are muscle groups that are mainly used in the body. Fitness exercises are used to condition these muscle groups.
The training program for each goal is different from each other. There is no standard in fitness. That is, every age, every lifestyle and body type should have a different type of work followed by a specialist. You can start this sport at the age of 16.
This sport has two differences from bodybuilding.
First of all, it is done for health, not development. In addition, in a fitness training, cardiovascular work (exercises that will leave you breathless, burn calories and provide vitality, such as running and pedaling) are combined with weight training. For this reason, the muscles do not grow much, they only tighten and take on an aesthetic appearance.
Benefits
Fitness sports provide plenty of endorphin, estrogen or testosterone hormone secretion in the body. This makes the person feel psychologically better and fitter. Getting the body in shape also increases self-confidence. It accelerates the metabolism. Increases energy. It regulates sleep. It provides psychological healing and removes stress. It provides more healthly and fast of thinking. It strengthens the heart and vascular system. Those who engage in long-term fitness sports have a low risk of developing cancer and heart attack. It is recommended for diabetics as it burns calories.
Matters needing attention
Before starting the training, it is necessary to learn the risks. Appropriate clothing should be worn and special attention should be paid to the choice of sports shoes. The training program given by the expert trainers should be followed. In order not to be injured, the muscle should be warmed up with stretching movements before the training. It is important to do the movements regularly in weight training. If you are just starting out, a light training should be applied and the weights should be increased over time. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to burn fat.
Effects of Fitness Programs on Person
⇒ get rid of excess weight
⇒ have an aesthetic appearance
⇒ get rid of stress
⇒ To enjoy
⇒ Increasing flexibility and agility
⇒ Increasing strength and stamina
⇒ To shape and develop muscles
⇒ Helping the secretion of hormones such as testosterone, estrogen and endorphins, making the person feel more psychologically in the mind
⇒ Increase metabolic rate
⇒ To regulate sleep
⇒ It creates positive effects on the person such as strengthening the heart and vascular system.
⇒ Those who engage in long-term fitness programs have a low risk of developing cancer and heart attack.
Things to Consider for Beginners to a Fitness Program
Beginners have basic studies called an adaptation program. These should not be exceeded and the body should not be overloaded. The thought of being overloaded and getting an early yield can lead to disability and problems in the person’s body. Low-intensity exercises should be done, the intensity of the exercise should be increased gradually, and one should be patient.
Weight Usage and Exercise Information in Fitness Studies
Free Weights or Machines?
There will always be debates about whether one is better than the other in this regard. Free weights work more muscles and indirectly provide stability, balance and freedom of movement. Machines, on the other hand, isolate the relevant muscles better, and you don’t risk dropping the bar or weight, and you don’t need an assistant.
The fitness benefits of activities such as climbing stairs
Such activities have no effect on weight loss, it cannot be tried; but it can easily be said that it is not very effective. Of course, an active lifestyle is always good. Climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, walking instead of driving for short distances, doing garden-carpentry work or organizing trips should be preferred instead of just watching television at the weekend. In general, such activities are beneficial for health and have the effect of accelerating metabolism. However, if you want to lose weight in a targeted way, it would be more appropriate to do a programmed exercise.
Red and white muscles & effects on the body
Muscle growth occurs predominantly in fast-twitch white muscles. Fast-twitch white muscle fibers are stimulated during intense strength training. Slow-twitch red muscle fibers are stimulated more during low-tempo aerobic exercises. Doing high-repetition exercises on weight-lifters works more red fibers. For this reason, lifting with low repetitions and maximum power will have a volume-enhancing effect so that you can activate your white muscle fibers. Depending on the genetic structure, the density of white muscle fibers can also determine the limits of the maximum muscle size that a person can reach. However, looking at this, it is not right to despair and give up muscle training. Every person can shape their muscles by developing them visibly.
Ideal way to Lose Weight
You shouldn’t worry too much about how much you weigh. What you really need to be concerned about is how much of that weight is fat. When you want to lose weight by doing sports, your weight loss should not be by losing muscle and water, and the total calories you take should be less than the calories you give. The most efficient and permanent way to do this is through these three steps that will become a part of your daily life.
Begin an aerobic workout program
This should be an activity you enjoy doing. This need not necessarily be joining an aerobics group at a sports facility. Walking, cycling, swimming, skating, dancing, skipping, etc. can also replace it. It can also be any activity that can increase the heart rate and keep it within the useful exercise limit (at least 15 minutes). The longer the duration of this study, the more benefits you will get.
Change what you eat
It would be more appropriate to eat more fruits, vegetables, chicken, rice, potatoes. l gr. fat = 9 calories, l gr. carbohydrate or protein = 4 calories. Don’t be surprised by the slogan “95% FAT-FREE” for some foods, pay attention to how many calories come from fat. A 120-calorie food item may be considered low-calorie, but 9 gr. fat, 5 gr.protein and 5 gr. If it contains carbohydrates, this means that 70% of the product is fat.
In addition, small and frequent meals throughout the day will accelerate the metabolism and will eliminate the feeling of “Hunger”. By working your muscles with certain programs, they gain both form and strength, and at the same time, the calories you need to burn daily are burned more quickly and easily by the body. For this purpose, Fitness programs are the most scientific and healthy way to reach your goal.
Ideal Way to Gain Weight
Gaining weight is as much a goal for many people as losing weight. To gain weight, you must take in more calories than you expend. The best way to do this and maintain weight as muscle is to start a “Body Building” program prepared according to scientific principles. Only in this way can you ensure that your increased weight is “MUSCLE”, not “FAT”. While eating, you should increase your calorie intake slowly and supplement your food intake with a few additional meals. You can also use weight loss natural foodstuffs (carbohydrate products) produced for this purpose. You have to make sure that what you eat is protein and carbohydrates, not fat. Give yourself time, if you can gain 5-8 kg of muscle tissue per year, this is a good result.
The Working Order of the Muscles and Its Important
It is important in terms of working principle and efficiency. Muscles should be worked from large to small. If your large muscles are sufficiently developed, you can start by working the weak ones. Generally, you should prefer to run in the following order:
- Quadriceps (Leg)
- Pectoralis (Chest)
- Latissimus (Back)
- Hamstring (Rear Leg)
- Deltoid (Shoulder)
- Calf
- Triceps (Back Arm)
- Biceps
- Forearm (Forearm)
- Wrist (Wrist)
- Abdominal (Stomach and Abdomen)
The importance of this rule is that large muscles need to work harder to grow. If you tire your Triceps too much, you will not be able to do the “Bench Press” movement, which is the most efficient for your chest muscles, because your triceps muscles will be exhausted, and you will not be able to do it with a very effective and heavy weight, and therefore your chest muscles will not develop well.
If you tire your stomach and abdominal muscles before “Squat”, which is the most efficient movement for the legs, your efficiency in the Squat movement will decrease. Because the stomach and abdominal muscles are very important for squat movement and should be avoided before leg work.
Muscle Development
If you want to increase your muscle mass, the time it takes to grow your muscles in reasonable amounts and give them shape – 6 months – 1 year depending on the person’s metabolic structure and nutrition. If you want to create serious changes in the muscle structure of the body and make the muscles very large, the period can vary from 1 year to 4 years. The time required for muscle development also varies depending on the physiological structure of the person, the condition of the muscle fibers, the ratio of white muscle to red muscle fiber, the working efficiency of protein-building metabolism, diet and age.
¿ Can fitness cause an enlarged heart and therefore a heart attack ?
The heart is an involuntary muscle, but because it needs to work harder during exercise, it is normal for the heart muscles to enlarge. This applies to sports that affect the entire cardiovascular system. This is beneficial, not harmful to the heart. The heart muscle strength will also increase. However, a person who only exercises at high intensity for a long time suddenly stops exercising and stays like this for a long time, which can cause arrhythmia in the heart. For this reason, the exercises should be started by gradually increasing them and gradually decreasing. In a weight training, the breath should not be held, but should be given so that pressure does not build up while applying force against the weight. Sports do not cause a heart attack, on the contrary, it is one of the most important factors that reduces the risk of this situation.
Consideration of Failure to Progress and What to Do
At this point, there are four points that should be checked first.
You may be training too much. In that case, try to rest for a week and when you start again, keep the first week or two of work easy and evaluate your work.
You have to make sure that what you eat is nutritious. If you don’t give your body the resources to regenerate, you will never grow. Your body may be accustomed to doing the same exercises at every workout. You can prevent this by changing the exercises and the system you apply. You may have reached your genetic peak. Not everyone can have 50cm arms or reach a world-record athletics degree.
As a result, when you hit a development plateau, taking a break from work and resting, getting your nutrition right and fortified, and changing your exercise program and system will open up new avenues of development for you.
How to Cross a Plateau?
Plateau means “stuck” at the same weight for weeks and never seem to get over it. Here are some ways to overcome a plateau:
⇒ Take a week off to give your body a chance to rest.
⇒ Change your training cycle and your workouts.
⇒ Develop weaker muscle groups more. For example, if you are not satisfied with the weights you lift in the Bench Press, you should strengthen your Triceps muscles more. Because weak triceps muscles prevent you from lifting more weight on the Bench Press.
⇒ Do shock work to the muscles.
⇒ Use the technique of reducing and continuing from the weights worked (will be explained in the Work systems section).
⇒ Do negative reps.
⇒ Perform 10 sets of 10 repetitions with a light weight.
⇒ Their weight is 5 kg from your partner. or in 10 kg plates, so you get used to the weights more quickly and your mental concentration stays on track.
Initial Recommended Weight Program
Beginners with weight training should pay as much attention to basic movements as advanced ones. Basic movement does not mean beginning. It is the exercise that uses many muscles and develops the most. Rest is just as important as work. As it is thought, muscles develop, strengthen and renew themselves during rest, not during work. This period varies between 48 – 96 hours. So a work schedule should include rest days.
Beginners need to find the weights to use while applying a program that will work the whole body. Generally, the weights should be something you can do 10 reps with, and the last two reps should be pretty tough. If you can do 10 reps, increase the weight slightly. Don’t worry too much about how much weight you can lift. Work in the best posture, concentrating on the working muscle. Strength increase, form, size and shaping will come in time according to the applications in various programs that we will give in the following topics.
Barbell Weights
The bar weight in Olympic Barbels is 20 kg. Normal and Zigzag bars are about 10 kg. and should be included in the total weight. However, in other station type machines, only the weights of the plates are calculated. In the meantime, one thing you should pay attention to is the following; weight sets can also be different in different gyms. In addition, pulley systems in station type machines also affect weight due to friction.
Should We Work an Aching Muscle?
It is better not to operate. It’s okay if you train legs and your legs hurt from “Squat” and you have “Chest” work that day. But if you have leg work and your leg muscles are still sore after the last leg workout, you should rest for at least one more day. This is because your muscles develop and regenerate while you rest.
Belt Use in Weight Training
Many exercises do not require a belt. Continuous use of belt weakens the lower back muscles of the stomach and abdomen. The reason for this is that the muscles there work less and the blood circulation is blocked in that area. However, heavy “Squats” should be used to protect the lumbar vertebrae during powerlifting exercises such as overhead presses or dead lifts.
Do You Need More Protein For Weight Training?
Protein intake should be 12-15% of your total calories. If you cannot increase muscle mass with this amount of protein, your genetic requirement for protein is higher than that of a bodybuilder. Another reason is that you have just started training. In this case, you will need more protein. But if you’ve reached a plateau, 0.8 to 1.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight should be sufficient. According to some studies, it is recommended to keep protein intake between 1.5 and 2.0 grams per kg of body weight during the developmental period. However, even such a protein intake should not exceed 12-15% of the total calorie intake.
Muscle is similar to fat cells. As soon as the protein in muscle cells or fat in adipose cells reaches the genetic maximum, excess protein or carbohydrate will not grow these cells.
At this point, using steroids or hormones for growth reduces the amount of protein needed for muscle growth. This is just one of the dangers faced by athletes who use them, as you’ll see later on doping.
