For men, if you select "Male" to begin, you will not be able to enter anything in the "Hips" field - because that's not an area of measuring male body fat. Males have 3 areas to measure. Females have 4 areas to measure.
Condition Your Heart
Prepare Yourself
This is going to be very simple and to the point.
First and foremost, if you already have a heart rate monitor, USE IT!
If you do not have a heart rate monitor, which you can find for around $20, get one before you begin this conditioning.
Pick your equipment. Are you going to use the treadmill, stair climber, stationery bicycle, or just walk outside?
You can use whatever activity you want for this, but it must be something you can control the speed and intensity.
Weeks 1 & 2:
Set your device on the lowest level possible. If you are walking, just make sure you are walking on a level surface. No stairs. No hills. If the surface has a hill like a driveway entrance, that's fine.
You will walk at your normal pace for 20 minutes. No more. No less. If you are walking, walk for 10 minutes one direction and 10 minutes to return. Or however you wish, but walk for 20 minutes.
Done.
Do NOT change anything for 2 weeks. Even if you "feel" like you should, don't! This is not about how you feel. It's science.
At the end of week 1, when you begin the first day of week 2, look at your heart rate. It's lower than it was 7 days ago doing the same thing. You are making progress.
Weeks 3 & 4:
Increase your time to 30 minutes. Continue at the same 0 level intensity changing nothing other than time.
Monitor your heart rate. You will see it's lower than it was in weeks 1 and 2. That's progress!
Weeks 5 & 6:
Increase your time to 40 minutes. Change nothing else.
As you begin week 5, you will see that there is a considerable difference in your heart rate between weeks 1 and 5. But don't stop now! You have 7 more weeks to go!
Weeks 7 & 8:
Now your heart is ready for more "intensity". This is the first time you should change anything in your routine other than time.
If you are using a machine (e.g. treadmill; stair climber; etc.), this week you will change from level 0 to level 1. Make no other changes.
Continue at 40 minutes on level 1 for 2 weeks.
At the end of each week before you stop, look at your heart rate. It's continuing to drop dramatically from when you first began this walking routine.
Weeks 9 & 10:
You will increase the intensity to level 2 this week and maintain that level for 2 weeks. Change nothing else.
Continue for 40 minutes on level 2 for 2 weeks.
Weeks 11 & 12:
You will increase the intensity to level 3 this week and maintain that level for 2 weeks. Change nothing else.
Continue for 40 minutes on level 3 for 2 weeks.
At this point you have options.
If you wish, you may stop conditioning your heart and switch to whatever exercise(s) you wish.
Most people, when the reach even the end of weeks 9 & 10, they want to continue until they reach level 12 on their machine, or decide to walk up a steep hill.
If you decide to go further than week 12, that's GREAT! The more you train your heart, the stronger it gets and you never have to worry about it again. Ever!
When you increase the intensity, make sure there is no "jump" past levels. That means you are on level 3 in week 12, increase to level 4 for 2 weeks.
The formula is, 2 weeks at "X" level, increase by 1 level higher for the next 2 weeks.
Every 2 weeks you make a change. NOT before, and no skipping levels.
The vast majority of people I have trained go on to at least a level 10 just because they are so excited to see that their heart rate is so low. At, perhaps, level 8 is what they "used" to find is barely possible for them. When they follow the routine to condition their heart, they find level 8 is the same heart rate as level 1 was during their the first week!
Folks, this plan WORKS! If you feel it does not, I'd like to hear from you through the Contact page. I can honestly state that for this training, I have never had anybody dissatisfied.
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- Written by: Thomas Garrison
- Category: Exercise
- Hits: 100
Knowing your body fat percentage is extremely important information you need in order to attain your goals. Armed with your true body fat percentage, you will know if you are considered "healthy" or...not. Knowing whether you are gaining or losing fat or muscle will tell you if you are exercising and eating correctly.. The higher your fat mass the harder your entire body has to work - for everything.
A simple test you can do as you are reading this is a "pinch" test. Using your thumb and forefinger of one hand, raise your opposite arm and lightly pinch the back of your arm. When you do that, do you feel anything firm or "not soft"? The soft feeling "skin" is - fat. Where you feel something between your thumb and forefinger, that would be muscle.
If you can pinch just a small spot because there is not enough to grab, that's good. If you can pinch and realize you could grab a large portion of that area hanging down and none of feel solid, just soft, that's fat.
There is no such thing as "saggy skin". It's one of two things - muscle or fat. If you can flex the muscle and still see more than a "pinch" of "extra", that's fat. The longer you refuse to say "fat" the more fat you will continue to add to your body.
High body fat forces your heart (and other bodily functions) to work much harder than is healthy. If you have never "conditioned" your heart (the fact that you are asking yourself what that means indicates you have never conditioned your heart...) you could be putting yourself at risk. Keep your body fat under 20% and your body will thank you. If your body fat is 28% or higher, meaning, anywhere you test you find a fist-full of fat, you can be sure you are well over 28% body fat.
Did you know that 28% body fat is considered "obese"?
Review the "Body Fat Chart" in order to see what percentage is healthy for your age.
Please note: It's impossible to measure your body fat accurately without personal contact. BMI is the only method to check your body fat through a Web site. Yet, it's the "least" accurate method and can be off by as much as 10%. If you would at least like to get an "idea" of where you are with your body fat, knowing it may be an inaccurate measurement, take a look at the BMI body fat calculator.
Simply enter the information for each field, then click on "Calculate" in the following calculator.
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- Written by: Thomas Garrison
- Category: Exercise
- Hits: 4169
Simple Exercise
Exercise encompasses a lot of wives tales and jargon, but you only need to know that it means you are doing "something" other than sitting...doing nothing. Your diet is not the only thing that you need to consider for changing or for maintaining.
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- Written by: Thomas Garrison
- Category: Exercise
- Hits: 9415