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Weight Loss Exercise

Beginner Bodybuilding Workouts: Setting Your Goals


There are plenty of beginner bodybuilding workouts available online but which is the best? The answer depends on your situation – not just your current state of body fitness, but what you want to achieve.

Most beginner bodybuilders are impatient to get started and skip the most important step – setting goals. As a result, they soon lose focus and motivation. The first burst of energy that starts us on the road to building a great body soon fades away, especially since most beginners quickly wear themselves thin by overtraining. If you do not have clear goals to keep up your motivation at this point, you can easily lose your way.

So take some time right now to write down your goals. Like any goals that you might set in work or life, your goals in bodybuilding should be S.M.A.R.T. – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely. Let’s look at what each of these means in terms of bodybuilding workouts.

1. Specific

A specific goal is one that clearly says what you want to accomplish, along with how, when and where you will do it. ‘Get a great body’ is not a specific goal. ‘Go to the gym 4 days a week after work and train to build muscle mass’ is a more specific goal.

Even better, say exactly which muscles you will work on which days, and note down your routine. The routine for your bodybuilding workouts will change as you make progress but the overall goal of going to the gym 4 days a week to build muscle mass will remain the same.


2. Measurable

When you are working toward goals, it is very important to have some way to measure your progress.

If your goal is going to the gym for bodybuilding workouts 4 days a week, you can easily track that in a diary. But with a goal like ‘get a great body’, there is nothing to measure. So if you want to set goals in terms of the physical result, do it in terms of inches gained or weight that you can lift.

3. Attainable

It is important to know when you have reached your goal. That way you can plan a reward or celebration, have a sense of achievement and start thinking about your next bodybuilding workouts goal.

This means that the goal itself, as well as your progress toward it, must be something that you can measure and know whether or not you have achieved. So your goal is to go to the gym 4 days a week – but for how long? The rest of your life? If you think that way, you will never be able to congratulate yourself on having achieved the goal. A month would be good for a beginner. Then set a new goal.

4. Realistic

Your goal needs to be something that it is possible for you to attain in a reasonable period of time. Remember that goals can change. You do not need to start out with the goal of winning the Mr. Universe contest. If contests are your thing, start with winning your division in a local contest. However, if you believe you can win Mr. Universe, then go for that. It is all a matter of believing you can do it.

5. Timely

Whatever type of goal you set, it is good to give it a timeframe. Are you going for this year’s contest, next year’s or two years from now? Be specific about how much time you have to achieve your goal, and you will be set for success in any of the beginner bodybuilding workouts that you choose.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Swimming as Exercise

Swimming as Exercise

swimming as exercise

Swimming as exercise is an excellent way to get fit. Just swimming in the pool is great for all round fitness training. Kids love it, so encouraging an overweight child to swim can be great for their health. It is also good for pregnant women and the obese, because the water supports the excess weight. You should see your doctor of course before starting any fitness program, but the pool is a great place to work out for just about anybody.

In this article we will not look at swimming itself but at swimming as exercise that you can do in the pool. For these exercises, you should be standing in water up to shoulder level.

Swimming as exercise

swimming as exercise for arms – To tone the arms, stand with feet apart and hands holding a ball. Arms are straight but without locking the elbows. Move the ball smoothly around in front of you in the shape of a sideways figure of eight, so your arms are going up and down while also moving from side to side. Do up to 10 reps.

The ball stays completely in the water at all times. Avoid this exercise if you have a shoulder injury. Don’t twist the body – only the arms should move.

Toning the waist – Stand with your back against the side of the pool and arms stretched out along the rim to support you. Bring the legs up and stretch them out straight in front of you. Slowly move the legs round to right and then left, keeping the back firmly against the wall. Do up to 10 reps.

Toning the legs – Walk on the spot in the pool. Step up and down, stretching each leg out as it goes down, and pointing the toes. Swing the arms back and forward too. Keep the movement smooth and give the arms and legs a really good stretch each time. Repeat for 2-5 minutes.

Overall body fitness: jumping jacks – There are many swimming exercises for overall body fitness, giving a good cardio workout, but one of the best is jumping jacks. This is a tough exercises even on land – in the water it is harder, so if you are not fit, build your resistance with the previous exercises before adding this one to your workout.

To do a jumping jack in the water, start with your feet together, flat on the floor of the pool, and hands by your sides. Bend your knees and then jump up as high as you can, bringing your arms up out of the water to make a star shape. Land with feet apart and knees bent, then bring the arms back down and bring the feet together. Repeat up to 10 times.

Relax! – At the end of your workout, begin your relaxation by floating on your back in the water. Spread arms and legs to keep you afloat. You will find that the pool is a great place to relax and wind down after your swimming exercises.

Swimming as exercise is a great way to stay in shape and is a great low impact workout. Some of the great reasons to exercise in the water is that it is very low impact and all your muscles are being worked at once. There are a couple of ways as well that you can look at swimming as exercise.

Calories burned – swimming as exercise

Swimming can burn anywhere from 200 – 650 calories an hour. Compare this to running where the amount would be 600-800 calories an hour and you can see that swimming as exercise is a great calorie burner.

Not only this but as you can see above there is a lot of muscle toning going on. When you bike, walk, or run you are using the lower part of your body while swimming, being done any time of year will work all the muscles in your body.

So it is really time to look at swimming as exercise call a pool and go today.

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