Travel Light

Bodyweight alone can provide all or most of resistance you’ll need to improve both strength and endurance, while at same time burning fat and toning up entire body.

The addition of some very lightweight, inexpensive items can provide you with a level of variety, safety, and an overall more effective approach.

Resistance bands, or tubing have been popular with physical therapist for years, as they offer a safe and ffective way to challenge muscles when recovering from injury, without placing undue strain on surrounding joints. Lengths of tubing that come in various resistance levels, weigh almost nothing, take up virtually no space in most over-packed suitcase. When combined with a simple door anchor, bands make available a wide variety of exercise options. They're also are a great substitute for stationary and more expensive forms of resistance equipment.

An exercise mat is a must-have. Put it between yourself and any hotel room floor. Inexpensive mats ri-fold, and fit nicely folded into a traveling bag. It can be used to do push ups on a sandy surface, or sit ups on an unpadded floor. A good mat provides solid traction and footing for many simple floor type exercises.

A summer day spent walking around any big city is a plethora of sights, sounds and beautiful experiences. living right outside Manhattan, Kim (a very special lady and my co-editor) and I, put on a good pair of walking shoes and take Long Island railroad into Penn Station without having a specific destination. We feel like we’re on vacation as we comb town on foot, having a great time, burning lots of calories with every step.

So go ahead and enjoy yourself. The amount of stress relief you’ll gain from enjoying life will be well worth a few missed workouts. In process, you can continue to exercise your body in a possibly, much needed, new fashion.

You’ll be surprised at how a few simple adjustments and keep you fit all summer long.

Select a resistance level (or weight) that allows you to hit fatigue in a pre-established rep range that coincides with results you want. But remember cardinal rule; don’t “waste” a set because you initially picked too little resistance, work to some level of muscle fatigue regardless of number or reps completed, and adjust resistance on subsequent sets.

The more intensely you train, fewer sets are required to get same results but limit total sets to two or three per exercise. If working at proper intensity levels, your entire workout should be no more than 10 or 15 sets This can be accomplished in one session or split into two (see rule four for more details on frequency of exercise).

Keep your objectives in mind, addition of any amount of lean muscle mass will burn more fat 24 hours a day.

Rule Four: Adequate Rest and Recovery

Intense exercise combined with an inadequate amount of rest equals a failed program. Whether you create intensity by doing extra sets or working past muscle fatigue on every movement, intensity mandates plenty of recovery time.

Let’s take a look at how to make sure we recover properly from set to set, as well as workout to workout. Every workout should start off with a five minute warm up. This could be a walk, jog, step in place, or any such activity. Immediately after warm up move right into your first set done to fatigue in your correct rep range. So how long do you rest before doing set number two?

Long rest between sets is compatible with lifting heavy weight at low repetitions. A three-minute rest will allow you to recover completely and be ready for a heavy weight on next set. Shorter rest between sets will lead to more tone, endurance, and fat-burning effect. A recovery time of one minute or less will keep your heart rate elevated, necessitate use of a somewhat lower resistance level possibly still more than you used on first set), and burn a lot more fat.

On a weekly basis, more intensely trained muscles need more rest. If, for whatever reason (illness, age, fitness level), you need to keep intensity at a minimum, repeating two or three full body workouts each week with at least 48 hours between each workout is way to go.

On other end of spectrum, if you’re ready, willing, and able to crank up intensity, be sure to rest an adequate amount of time before repeating exercise on same muscle group (from 48 to up to 96 hours). By splitting your full body routine in half, you can create two separate workouts that train whole body in two sessions. This would result in four “half” workouts each week.

Rule Five: Utilize Multi-Muscle Movements

Stick to exercises that act upon more than one muscle group. For example, many of us are interested in maintaining lean and well-toned arms. After all, this is part of your body (man or woman) that gets exposed all summer long, and there’s temptation to do endless bicep curls or tricep presses.

But biceps and triceps are relatively small muscles that don’t need a lot of work. As a matter of act, when bench pressing, chest, shoulders and arms are all trained at same time. This translates into a much higher calorie burn and greater overall muscular development. If you want to lose weight when you lift, forget about isolating small muscles.

Do an extra set of exercises like bench presses for upper body and squats for lower body. An easy way to differentiate between exercises that isolate small muscles, and those that work many muscles simultaneously, is to observe how many joints come into play as you go through full range of motion called for. Multi-muscle movements will work across at least two joints (usually elbow and shoulder, or hip and knee). Stick with these “big” exercises that not only work many muscles, and challenge body in a more functional capacity, but bring a host of balancing and stabilizing muscles into play as well.

Quick Review of 5 Rules

Rule 1: Adhere to perfect form, following instructions/illustrations closely

Rule 2: Accelerate progress and overall results by increasing intensity levels

Rule 3: Control weight lifted and reps performed to bring about desired results

Rule 4: Adequate rest and recovery time is essential to continued success

Rule 5: Stick to multi-muscle movements like squats and bench presses