Mastering the Rep: Keys to Elite Conditioning

TESTIMONIALS

INTRODUCTION

Thanks to a growing fitness culture and emphasis on weight loss and muscle gain, more and more teenagers and adults are joining the gym to make use of gym equipment and exercise machines to achieve their specific fitness goals. Images of sculpted and toned bodies of bodybuilders, Hollywood actors, and Fitness personalities often inspire individuals to gather up their courage and begin the process of developing their bodies to elite condition and perfection.

Whether it is weight loss or mass gain, muscle development lies at the core of an efficient training program and, according to several research studies, it helps shred body fat and gives a more toned and ripped look to your physique.

However, when it comes to seeing the best results in your fitness routines, it is essential that you implement the correct techniques and strategies for building muscle. First timers tend to pick the easier route by focusing on quantity rather than quality. Elite coaches and movement practitioners always focus of quality movement. The muscle is form manifested.

a lot of individuals tend to focus on their environment while training and they allow outside factors dictate what and how they lift. I’m sure you can recall seeing or participating in pull up or push-up contest when you were a kid. The goal was to see how many push-ups they could do. Unfortunately very little attention was paid to the right form and technique required for each exercise.

Of course, competition is healthy for building motivation and endurance and increasing physical limits. The problem is that many get misled into prioritizing quantity over quality and end up achieving mediocre results, and this I assume, is clearly not your goal. 

What you need to know is that developing an elite conditioned body has no quick fix, but requires having utmost dedication, hard work and consistency, and most important of all, the right from and technique. Aspects including posture, amount of breathing, and rest and pause activities can make all the difference to developing muscle definition and size.

Some of the most successful bodybuilders and fitness trainers are well-versed into the different rep schemes and form variations that enable them to increase their workout efficiency. They utilize a mix of different kinds of exercises, such as primarily cardio and resistance training, to maximize their training results. Knowing the intricacies of different training modes and exercise apparatuses is essential for building strength. Bodyweight, dumbbell, kettle-bell, and resistance bands each have their limits and advantages and are suited for developing particular kinds of bodies.

Other aspects, such as diet and nutrition, supplements, and quality of sleep also play a critical role for muscle recovery and boosting metabolic rate for fat burning and muscle development. Elite trainers make use of both pre-workout and post-workout nutrition and supplements to maximize their workouts and minimize recovery time for optimum performance.

This eBook will aim to provide a comprehensive guide to optimizing your workout training by utilizing key elite conditioning secrets, techniques, and forms. In addition to reps and workout productivity, you will also learn about the different approaches to working out by looking at cardio, resistance, interval training, and circuit training to decide which works best for you.

Lastly, the eBook will outline and detail the importance of sticking to a balanced diet, whether low-carb high protein diets work, and how sleep affects recovery and workout performance.

TRAINING VS WORKING OUT: WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?

The terms ‘Working out’ is usually the term we use to describe our participation in an exercise program or when we are lifting weights in a gym on a Saturday afternoon. On the other hand, training is usually referred to situations in which a detailed and comprehensive program is involved usually in controlled conditions to develop focus and achieve specific goals.

Even though you may use these two words interchangeably, the two are drastically different. For example, a marathon runner and an Olympic lifter both workout and engage in physical activity that results in fat burning and weight loss. However, the important difference between the two is that each person has had different training regimen in order to become physically capable of performing the respective physical activity. Just as an Olympic lifter, given the training, is not capable of running a marathon until the finish, the marathon runner is also not capable of lifting considerably large weights.

What this should tell you that training involves committing to a specific workout regimen that utilizes a specific set of exercises to develop a specific body or physique – notice the word ‘specific’? Whereas, working out is random and not tied to any particular motive or objective. It does not adhere to a particular set of exercises as the idea it to engage in any kind of physical activity.

For you to achieve a toned and defined physique, it is vital that you focus on training as opposed to working out. Training will offer a 360 degree approach to targeting all muscles to develop strength and help you lose weight.

The following are a few key differences you need to be mindful of between working out and training:

How Pre-Planned are your exercises?

If you go to the gym and randomly start doing exercises depending on your mood, then you are not training but working out. A good training program involves creating a preplanned exercise weekly or monthly calendar that specifies that types of exercises you need to do for particular days to help you achieve a certain goal at the end of the program.

Comprehensive training program usually last between 6 and 12 weeks and focus on utilize a combination of different working out approaches for maximum effect. It is often a good strategy to have a focused training weekly calendar spaced out as chest day, leg day, abs day, cardio along with rest days for recovery. Entering the gym without having a clue what exercise you need to perform on that day will make you opt for exercises that require that least effort and resistance, thereby compromising your fitness journey.

Having a pre-planned training calendar, on the other hand, will help keep you focused and bring out more results out of your training sessions.

Consistency

The muscle shock principle made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger in his Mr. Olympia days is an excellent approach to keeping your muscles confused to induce greater muscle growth and size and prevent you from reaching a plateau.

However, this particular method of lifting weights is appropriate given its prerequisites and conditions and not something for a beginner to start his or her training journey with. The whole point of the muscle shock method is to avoid performing the same rep frequency and sets repeatedly. However, if you are looking to train and develop endurance and strength, consistently applying weights over a long duration is beneficial for conditioning the muscles to a particular set of weights. As you increase the load over time, you will build muscle strength and size.

Guidance of a Mentor or Coach

An important feature of focused weight training or exercise regimen is to seek guidance from a guidance, coach, or mentor. Making the most of your sessions requires having someone watch your form, rep and set frequency, and whether you are adhering to proper techniques or not. Those who do not have access to a mentor, however, can still benefit from a training program by watching exercise videos and practicing their form and technique for optimum results.

In contrast, performing exercises alone without any supervision or guidance can make lead to deficient results.

Quantity vs. Quality

Another importance difference that separates random exercises from focused ones is in the quality. Rather than hoping to impress others with how many reps you can perform with a particular weight, it is far more important to do so by emphasizing effectiveness. For instance, rather than do 20 reps of dumbbell bicep curls, a better approach is to do 10 reps of the same exercise but slowly to the point that you feel increased tension in your bicep muscles at every rep. Emphasizing quality over quantity is critical to building muscle definition and endurance.

Sticking to a Particular Diet Program

What you eat and drink should complement your fitness goals and objectives. If you spend two hours at the gym lifting weights and then go have 4-6 pizza slices to balance your calorie loss, you will not see good results. Your diet should be balanced with the right macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats) to fuel your body, as well as help induce fat burn and muscle gain.

The diet program you follow will vary depending on your body type, how much physical activity you engage in, whether you have a desk job or not, and your weight loss goals for determining your body’s required calorie intake. Using this strategic approach to consuming food and drink, you will ensure your body is given sufficient time for recovery and growth, whilst keeping weight loss goals in check. Further details will be given in the chapter on nutrition advice.

In short, there are stark differences between committing to stringent exercise training program and simply working out. For you to achieve effective results, you must devote yourself to a focused approach to fitness by identifying and determining your personal physical needs and short term and long term fitness goals.

This will eventually lead you to decide a particular training program among different types that is discussed in the following chapter.

DECIDING WHAT TRAINING PROGRAM IS BEST FOR YOU

There is no shortage of exercises that you can use to engage in a physical activity to achieve weight loss. But, since we have already explored the benefits of a focused training program, it is critical that you are aware of the different types and choose one that you are most comfortable with. Cardio, weight training, interval training, and circuit training are among the most popular types of training that one comes across. It is not time to define and discuss each to have a comprehensive understanding of what you need to expect.

Cardio

The word cardio corresponds to cardiovascular and exercises of such type focus on raising the heart rate to promote better cardiovascular health. The higher blood circulation resulting from running or jogging for a set number of minutes provides numerous health benefits, such as lower cholesterol, greater stamina, and weight loss. Cardio exercises often get bad rep as they do not help build muscle; in fact, too much cardio can even lead to muscle loss. For this reason, cardio exercises are generally not looked at very favorably.

Cardiovascular exercises consist of blood circulation and respiration usually involving the heart, arteries, veins, and other blood vessels along with lungs. Among the greatest benefits of engaging in cardio exercises is a reduced risk of cardiovascular illnesses and diseases, such as heart attack, stroke, and heart disease. Those who participate in cardio exercises can significantly minimize the chances of having blocked arteries, which can result in heart problems.

During intense cardio exercises, the heart is being pumped to supply a greater amount of blood to all blood vessels, arteries, and veins thereby increasing oxygen intake and health per heartbeat. The resulting lower resting heart then leads to a higher fitness level that increases lifespan.

Another major gain from doing cardio exercises is that it can prevent or reduce the chances of obesity. A person is considered obese if he or she has a body mass index of more than 30. This puts the person at severe risk of sustaining various diseases and illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, as well as cardiovascular diseases.

Cardio exercises have a high fat burn rate depending on the intensity and the type of exercise you perform. Walking burn calories at around 300-400 per hour, running burns 600 calories, and rowing burns more than 800 calories per hour. For this reason, patients struggling with high body fat percentage are recommended to bring their body mass index to normal levels.