Basic Training Regimen

Today I want to write about basic physical fitness. In any sport or physical activity, the building blocks for proper performance is a solid training regimen coupled with proper nutrition and eating habits.

I follow a very simple routine that is most importantly SIMPLE and works very well in keeping up my cardiovascular fitness and my overall energy levels.

To start, before focusing on exercises and training, first focus on how you eat.
Nutrition is about one-third of a successful training program, if you exercise like a professional athlete, but eat like a slob, you will not succeed in accomplishing any of your fitness goals.

I eat 5 to 6 small meals a day. My Basal Metabolic Rate (basically, the base level of energy my body requires in order to stay alive) is approximately ~2,000 calories per day. Because of my training level (I work-out 2x per day, morning and evening) my average total daily energy expenditure is approximately 4,000 calories per day.

So simply put, I consume 3,500 to 4,000 calories per day, spread-out between 5 to 6 meals per day.

To break this down even further, into macronutrient ratios, I consume approximately: 40% Lean proteins / 40% whole grain and fibrous carbohydrates / and 20% fats. By doing this, I am constantly providing my body with the energy it needs to maintain my level of fitness.

In future articles I will write more on nutrition and keeping up a balanced nutritional program to suit your training needs. I want to emphasize that I am writing from personal experience, what works for my specific body type and training needs.

I am not a certified nutritionist, so please consult your physician before following any nutritional advice you read anywhere.

In terms of my physical fitness regimen, I perform variations of about 5 basic exercises.

I want to emphasize again that my workout routine compliments my martial arts training. I am not exercising to become a body-builder or to gain strength.

This is a very simple program that I can use anywhere I go, I do not have a gym membership (personally, I do not enjoy going to the gym or any sports clubs). I consider physical training an active meditation, a form of body prayer.
When I exercise, I set an intention on the results I wish to accomplish from my activity.

Here is my Basic Training Regimen: (Note, for all exercises, I rest no longer than 45 seconds between sets)

Day 1 :: Push-Ups
Sets of anywhere between 40 to 80 push-ups. I vary the widths and angles of my hands. You can look-up some great push-up workouts on Youtube. Just make sure you are doing a full-rep each time. Within 1 workout I typically do: 12 - 15 sets of very high repetitions (50 - 80 pushups), then 10 - 12 sets of lower repetitions (30 - 45 pushups). Again, I emphasize varying the widths of your hands, etc. to work the entire chest/triceps region. On a day that I do push-ups, I split-up my workout so that I end up doing about 1,200 push-ups per each workout (2 workouts in 1 day).

Of course, if you are a beginner, you will have to start with much less. For example: 10 sets of 10 pushups. Do that for the first week and build on it at your own pace.

Day 2 :: Biceps / Shoulders / Squats
Again I emphasize that I keep my workouts very simple. I own a set of dumbells at home: 30lbs./25lbs./20lbs. For Biceps I do: Standard Curls, Reverse Grip Curls and Hammer Curls. In one workout I will typically perform about 10 sets at low repetitions (i.e. 30lbs x 10 reps) and then 10 sets at a higher repetition (i.e. 25lbs x 15 - 20 reps; or 20lbs. x 25 - 30 reps).

For shoulders, I perform one basic exercise: The Dumbell Shoulder Press. When you do push-ups, you are working out your front shoulders, so don’t over-do it when it comes to shoulder presses. I do about 10 sets with either the 30lbs or 25lbs dumbells. Typically I will do anywhere from 25 to 50 repetitions, depending on my energy level and goal for that specific day.

Squats: The squat is probably the second best exercise in my training regimen (I’ll get to the best exercise next). I do not use weights. I perform high repetitions of squats, anywhere from 45 to 125 repetitions per set (again depending on my energy levels and goals for that particular workout).

I use either an unweighted bar on my shoulders (to keep my form) or I put a small towel around my neck and hold onto the towel. You can do the squats almost anywhere, as a beginner try doing 10 sets of 25 to 30 squats and slowly increase from there. The idea is to do a full squat (do not straighten the knees, keep them slightly bent when you come up to a standing position) as fast as you can, as many repetitions as possible. Currently I perform anywhere between 10 to 20 sets of squats in one workout, and I do squats every other day.

Day 3 :: Running and/or 8-Count Burpees
The third day of training I will do a 45 - 60 minute outdoor run. You can set your own pace for your own specific goals, I run twice per week, never more than 75 minutes in a single run though, as this can lead to a breakdown in muscle tissue. I won’t write much about running as there are thousands of sources on information you can find on developing your own running program. Running is a great way to burn calories and keep up your aerobic fitness.

8-Count Burpees: This is my single favorite exercise, it incorporates your entire body, is a killer aerobic exercise and is always challenging. Basically an 8-Count Burpee is a combination of Jumping jacks, Squats, and Push-ups. The count is as follows: 1-2 Jumping jack, 3-4 squat to the floor, kick the feet back into push-up position, 5-6 Push-up to the floor and back up, 7-8 jump the feet back into a squat position and stand back up. At first you may want to do sets of 5 to 10 of these as they will wear you out FAST! When I do 8-count burpees, I do about 10 - 12 sets of 10 - 15 repetitions. I try to do them as fast as possible, as this really challenges you.

As a closing note: This is my personal workout routine. Currently I workout 7 days a week. As you can see from the regimen I described above, I split-up the routine between 3 days and never workout the same part of my body 2 days in a row. This keeps me from overtraining.

Secondly, I listed the basic exercise that I perform, but I constanly do variations, variations, variations!! You do not want your workouts to become a routine that you are not motivated to follow.

Enjoy, physical fitness is comprised of three parts: 1) Motivation, 2) Physical Training, 3) Nutrition. Each single part is absolutely required to keep the other two parts going.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Warrior Workout in Central Park