Six Week Workout Program

How To Train For a Marathon

Most successful marathon runners train for several months before running a marathon. However, if you are already an accomplished endurance runner and are able to complete a 12-mile run, you can use this training schedule developed by running expert Andrew Kastor to increase your capacity enough to finish the 26-mile race with six weeks of intense training.

(Click here if you’d rather read about sprint training)

Long Runs
Your body will need to recover after long runs in order to increase its capacity for performance, so limit yourself to one long run each week: a 10-mile run and a 13- to 20-mile run. The 13- to 20-mile run should increase gradually during the first four weeks of training. Make sure to include 5-10 minutes of walking at each end of the run for warm-up and cool down (you can count these toward your mileage). Aim for a steady moderate pace, especially at the beginning of your training. It is very tempting to run quickly early on and to slow down as you get tired, but your training will be more effective if you strive for a consistent speed throughout the run.

Rest & Recovery
Your body requires time to recover after a long run. A day of rest will allow your body time to repair the wear and tear caused by training, and to replenish vital nutrients. In order to recover as quickly as possible, you should do 20 to 30 minutes of low-intensity aerobic exercise, rather than remaining sedentary all day. Walking, swimming and cycling are good options; sprinting, power-lifting and competitive sports are bad ideas. The goal here is to get your blood flowing and your joints moving without placing any unnecessary stress on the body. Take your recovery seriously. Although it sounds backward, these are actually the days your body grows and strengthens the most.

Short Runs
During your shorter runs you should strive for a somewhat faster pace than on the longer runs. However, it is still important to start and end with 5 to 10 minutes of jogging. Like the longer runs, you should warm up, work your way up to a sustainable run and try to maintain your speed until you finish the run with a jog. If you overestimate your capacity for speed and find yourself flagging halfway through the run, take a jogging break but don’t beat yourself up. The purpose of practice is to gradually increase your capacity, which will fluctuate from day to day. The important thing is to commit to a training regimen and stick to it, not to achieve perfection every day.

Nutrition

Odds are your practice runs will leave you ravenously hungry, and they may increase you metabolism even on the days you rest. Proper nutrition will go a long way toward achieving your marathon goal and will keep you feeling energetic in the meantime. Every individual’s dietary needs are different, but some rough guidelines for marathon training are:

• 65 percent of your calories should come from carbohydrates (especially complex carbohydrates)
• 10 percent from protein (0.5 to 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight)
• 20 to 25 percent from unsaturated fats

You can take these figures as a starting point for developing your own diet, but always listen to your body; it knows your nutritional needs better than anyone else.

Brian Martinowich is a freelance writer with EarnMBADegree.com, a comprehensive resource guide for online MBA programs. As the Community Manager of the global social good campaign, Tweet Drive, Brian enjoys helping others through his experiences and expertise with social media.

Sources:
http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/marathon-training-schedule.html
http://running.about.com/od/marathonprograms/a/marathonbeg.htm
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/marathon-training-tips-for-beginners
http://www.marathonrookie.com/marathon-training.html
http://www.lamarathon.com/roadrunners/6-week-marathon-training-plan/

Killer Circuit Training Examples

Examples of Killer Circuit Training Routines

Circuit training can be very effective.  It shouldn’t be the only type of workout that you can do, but a couple of times a week can be excellent for fat and calorie burning, strength building, and improving your cardiovascular system.  There are many types of circuits you can do.  Here are 3 types of circuit workouts.

Set Time Density- Perform the exercises you pick as many times as you can in a given amount of time.  Here’s an example of this circuit:  Do 30 push-ups, 15 jump lunges, and 5 pull-ups.  Then start over.  You go through this as many times as you can in 10 minutes.  You’ll know your fitness level has increased as your density increases.  (This means you are able to do more sets of this in 10 minutes.) You can rest as long as needed, just make sure you go the full time you set originally.

Variable Time Density- The difference between the Variable Time Density workout and the Set Time Density workout is that here you do 4 sets of the example I gave previously and see what time it is at the end.  You know you improve when your time goes down.  Remember on both of these that you can rest as long as needed.  This one you just don’t end until you complete the number of sets you set for yourself.

Set Rest Circuit- In this type of circuit you don’t rest more than the allotted time you set in the beginning.  Here’s an example.  Perform Burpees for 30 seconds, rest 30 seconds, jumping jacks for 30 seconds, rest 30 seconds, repeat from the beginning.  You would also set how many times through you will do this routine before you start.  In this example you can perform the exercises for a set number of seconds or reps like the first two examples. (The first two examples have to be done with reps because the variable is time and if you say you’ll do an exercise for 30 seconds in that one then you can’t improve.)  A major difference between this one and the previous two types of circuit workouts is that here you rest no more than the time allotted.

Another way to modify the previous three circuits is to use heavy weight instead of body weight.  Perform heavy squats or heavy shoulder press or heavy bench press for a set number of reps (5) or set number of seconds (10).  Also, remember the key on these is speed.  Slow reps will not get you the results you are looking for.  This means you need to choose exercises you are good at keeping good form.  That being said, form is important, but can be sacrificed a little for speed.  It can’t be sacrificed a lot, but a little is fine.

These circuit routines would go perfectly along with my book The 6 Week Workout Program.  If you are interested in that please click here.  

The Science of Sprinting

The Science of Sprinting

The slump.  The plateau.  The why-aren’t-I-losing-weight-like-I-used-to?  It goes by many names, but no matter what you call it, it stinks.  After starting an exercise regimen and sticking to it for many weeks, people are often very disappointed (to say the least) to find that they aren’t losing weight or gaining muscle at the rate that they were when the exercising started to pay off.

Many people are convinced when they hit this fitness plateau that they have simply reached the lowest weight (or maximum muscle mass) possible for them—this is just not true.  The truth is that after a period of time, even if you’re working out as hard as you can, your body will acclimate to the demands you put on it if you aren’t mixing up you’re routine.

As you become more and more fit, it becomes more and more difficult to challenge your muscles and continue to burn fat using the same exercises.  This means that you can’t just add more weight or make your runs longer to continue on your journey to fitness, but instead means that you have to surprise your body by doing something completely different.

So, what’s one excellent way to totally surprise your body?  It’s called sprint training.  Adding higher intensity periods of exertion during exercise, even if the total workout time is shorter, will give you explosive results in your training.  It confuses your muscles by not allowing them to find a rhythm, and by so doing, keeps your metabolism high.  It also builds muscle in a way that regular exercise won’t—and more muscle makes for a higher metabolism as well.
Researchers at McMaster University have determined that a series of 30-second sprints three days a week is as beneficial for your health as an hour of endurance training five days a week, if not more.

If you’ve hit that plateau, and are ready to keep burning fat, try this workout and you’ll be surprised by how explosive you can be.  Alternate these workouts doing each only once in a week, and change the order in which you perform them every week.

Week 1
 Jog 1 mile
 Sprint 200 yards at 50% of your maximum pace
 Jog 200 yards
 Sprint 100 yards at your fastest pace (100%)
 Jog 200 yards
 Sprint 200 yards at 75% of your maximum pace
 Jog 1 mile

Week 2
 Sprint 400 yards at 100%
 Rest
 Lunge walk for 100 yards
 Rest
 Do 3 sets of 10 pull ups
 Rest
 Sprint 200 yards at 100%
 Jog 1 mile

Week 3
 Run 2 miles at your fastest jogging pace (approximately 50% of your maximum sprinting pace)
 Rest
 Bear crawl for 100 yards
 Rest
 Do 5 sets of 10 push ups
 Rest
 Jog 1 mile

If these exercises prove too difficult at first, cut the numbers in half, but keep the workouts the same.  And, of course, if they’re too easy, you can always add more, or combine the workouts in one day.  The point is: be explosive, and always keep changing your routine.

Author Bio:
Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online colleges, online degrees etc. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

*This article was written by Maria Rainier. While the opinions

expressed are hers I would like to say that I advocate high-intensity

interval training.

Strength workout or endurance workout and detraining

There’s a fabulous study in the Journal of Strength Training and Conditioning.  It’s about the effects of detraining (taking a break) after 24 weeks of strength workouts and 24 weeks of endurance (jogging) workouts.  They didn’t workout for 24 weeks after that.  The results of the study showed that strength training has more long lasting benefits.  Find out what this means for you by reading my final post (for personal reasons) at ironwarriortraining.com.

Do you need to take breaks from weight training? The concept of detraining. 

Do you know someone that could use a  personal trainer on the go? Check out The 6 Week Workout Program!

2 Reasons To Do Plyometrics

Plyometrics are popular for two very different groups.  They’ve been popular for a long time for athletes that have a goal to be quicker and more powerful.  More recently they’ve become popular for non-athletes who are looking to be trim.  These can burn a lot of calories!  My article at Ironwarriortraining.com is titled “Plyometrics: What are the 2 main reasons to do plyometrics?”  Read it now for more information on plyometrics.

Do you know someone that could use gym workout routines for women? Check out The 6 Week Workout Program!

Should I Do Circuit Training?

To circuit train or not to circuit train is a question many consciously or unconsciously ask themselves.  Circuit training is part of many popular workout programs (i.e. P90X).  Circuit training can be great for burning calories and creating definition.  However, circuit training is not good for everyone everyday.  Read my article at IronWarriorTraining.com titled “Circuit Training- Why you would or wouldn’t use circuit training“.

Do you know someone that could use gym workout routines for women? Check out The 6 Week Workout Program!

Energy Systems of The 6 Week Workout Program

In “What Are Energy Systems” I describe what energy systems are.  In this article I will discuss what energy systems are used in The 6 Week Workout Program.

Weeks 1-3 and 6 most often use 15-35 repetitions. A set of repetitions this great will last approximately 20-50 seconds.  Thus, you will mainly use glycolysis when performing the lifts in these weeks.

Weeks 4-5 most often use 5-10 repetitions.  A set of repetitions this few will normally last approximately 8-15 seconds.  Thus, you will mainly the phosphagen system when performing the lifts in this week.

Every day I recommend cardio for 20-40 minutes.  This type of cardio work utilizes the oxidative system.

Many people go to the gym and simply create workouts that are difficult.  Every workout program must consciously consider what energy systems and what muscle fiber types (type I, type II, stabilizer, mover) they will target.  Simply creating difficult workouts is not nearly enough.  Workout programs, such as  must be well thought out to ensure quality results and optimal health and fitness.

See the following for more information on: Workout program design, Why you must change your repetitions in your workout program, and the importance of rest in your workouts.

If you don’t have a copy of The 6 Week Workout Program, don’t be left out and get yours today!!!

What Are Energy Systems

There are many systems in the human body.  We’ve all heard of the respiratory system and the cardiovascular system.  There are three main energy systems in the human body: phophagen system, glycolysis, and the oxidative system.  These systems provide you with energy (hence the name “energy systems”).  You might ask why do we have three different energy systems.

Our bodies use ATP (adenosine triphosphate) for energy, but our bodies store very little ATP.  You can work for approximately 1 second with the stored ATP in your body, thus you must be able to create it very quickly.  The three energy systems: phosphagen system, glycolysis, and oxidative system all create ATP.  They do this from different substrates (aka beginnings or bases).

• phosphagen system uses phosphate from creatine phosphate
• glycolysis uses glucose
• oxidative system uses fat (This is not necessarily the best energy system to use to lose weight and fat.  All exercise will burn calories which helps to create a caloric deficit.  Thus the fat burning zone is a myth.)

Generally the first energy system your body uses is the phosphagen system, then glycolysis, and then the oxidative system.  You will rarely if ever only use one energy system at a time.  Please look for my future post of how these energy systems are used in The 6 Week Workout Program.

ATP picture and animation of how ATP releases energy.

Most information was taken from the NSCA’s Essentials of Strength and Conditioning excellent book.

The 6 Week Workout Program on Kindle, iTouch, iPad, PC, Blackberry, & Android

If you haven’t gotten your copy of The 6 Week Workout Program yet then you may have been waiting for it to become available electronically!!!  It is now published through Amazon’s Kindle which can be viewed on Kindle (obviously), iTouch, iPad, PC, Blackberry, and Android.  These are perfect to take to the gym because they are small.

There ares two changes to the electronic version of this book.  First, there are no workout logs or places to write in how much weight you used on each lift.  Second, even though The 6 Week Workout Program is already a cheaper alternative to a personal trainer this version is even cheaper!  Click here to see it today!

Women Improve Your Workout Program Today

“Workout Program for Women- Effectively Improve Your Health and Fitness Today” teaches women how to have a more effective workout at the gym.  You will learn three main points in this article: Get some education; have a workout program; set goals.  Please comment and let me know how it helps you!

Read the full article here at Ezine Articles: “Workout Program for Women- Effectively Improve Your Health and Fitness Today”