Walking before running

Today was my first day of resistance training at the gym, which is essentially any exercise that involves a motion that requires a forced movement to complete, ie. lifting, pulling or pushing something.

As it was my first day I wanted to ease into things. Personally I feel that its important to ease into any exercise routine for two reasons, 1) it reduces the chance of injury, and 2) it makes staying the course a little easier.

To begin with I spent 10 minutes on the treadmill before looking to do a series of resistance exercises that would hit the majority of the muscles in my body. Set wise I only did 2 sets per exercise with the first set being a warm up of 10 reps on a low/medium weight then the second set being 6 reps at a high/medium weight.

The mixture of exercises I used were, in no particular order;

• Chest press
• Seated row
• Lat pull down
• Bicep curl
• Overhead rope pull
• Seated leg press
• Machine crunch

Tomorrow will be a rest day as my body looks to repair the micro damage that my muscles have received over the last two days. I'll likely do some light stretching to ease the onset of 'delayed onset muscle ?'

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And we are off!

Before beginning any fitness program its worth taking some basic measurements so you can track your progress.

Today I took weight, waist and body fat measurements and I will use these to set my goals. This will give me an indicator of my progress and allow me to tweak things to improve my results.

I started today with some basic all over stretching and a jog at a pretty relaxed pace. What I mean by a relaxed pace is one that you can hold a coversation at.

When jogging I prefer an underlating course, one with hills basically. This avoids our body, which is essentially an amazingly advanced organic machine, from find its groove. Think of a production line in a factory, it all goes at the same pace and seems effortless.

When a body has been in motion at the same pace for any length of time it adapts, and it does so quicker than you think. When the body has adapted it only fires the minimum number of muscle fibres required to maintain that pace. So basically it shuts down those muscles not required. Now this is a natural reaction and in some instances a vital one, but we want to work as many muscles fibres as possible throughout the workout. By varying the incline of you run you vary the amount of muscle that is required. As these requirements are constantly changing your body can't determine which muscle fibres it needs and which ones it doesn't so it recruits more to be sure to cover the workload. The end result is a better workout that will produce bigger results.

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The night before

Tomorrow I begin my quest to show you all how simple it can be to get in shape and lead a healthy life. Sports and fitness companies thrive on complexity and misunderstanding but it doesn't need to be that way. Anyone can can change, all they need is a little drive and determination and some simple guidance pointing them in the right direction.

With sweat I aim to give you the proof and belief you need to kick start a change. I will share not only my personal journey but also the knowledge I have acquired over the years. Knowledge and insight that you won't need to discover on your own, just take it and use it straight away, knowing its been tried and tested over the years and right before your eyes here on sweat.

I'll be getting a good nights sleep tonight and I advise everyone to do the same before you begin to change your life. Go to bed as one person and wake up new, ready to forge ahead.

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