Want to change your body? 3 workout rules to follow

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Kelly O'Shea, For Philly.com

Posted: Thursday, April 4, 2013, 10:36 AM

Have you hit a rut in your workout routine? We’ve all been there – and it can be really frustrating when you’re logging countless hours at the gym but still not seeing any real results. Well, fitness trainer and healthy chef Katy Clark says there’s a good chance that you may be doing it wrong. To get you on the right track, Clark shares her top three tips on how to ramp up your workout with FitSugar.com:

Reassess your workout: After a workout, ask yourself, are you really working hard enough? "You need to be sweating, you need to be breathing heavy, or you need to be sore the next day," says Clark. "If you didn't hit any of those three markers, then it wasn't a good workout." So, for example, if your body has gotten used to your treadmill routine, next time you head to gym, add a small incline or ramp up your speed. This will “shock” your body and make it work harder, and in turn, burn more calories – because that’s really the ultimate goal here, right?

Be consistent: Find a workout you actually enjoy so you'll stick with it, then set a weekly goal to fit that workout into your schedule as often as you can. "Anything you do consistently is going to bring about change," says Clark. The CDC recommends adults workout 5 hours a week for added health benefits, so aim for 1 hour of exercise, 5 days a week. And don’t let yourself make up any excuses! If you have a day where you feel like you just can’t fit a workout in, Clark says to think of it this way: "One hour of your day is just four percent of your day. Everyone's got four percent of their day to get a workout in."

Use weights: According to Clark, if you want to see the best results, then you have to weight train. But it’s not just a bout going through the motions; the key to successful weight training is using the right amount of weight to really get your muscles working. "Whatever weight you're bearing — if you're doing five pounds, if you're doing 10 pounds — if you're not tired by [rep] number 10, then you need to go a little bit heavier,” says Clark. “If you are consistently doing that, you're going to see changes in your strength and in your muscle mass."

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Comments (6)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 12:43 PM, 04/04/2013

Sorry--the comments by this trainer are wrong and potentially dangerous to novice or intermediate exercisers. "No pain, no gain" has been disproven time and again. You do NOT want to be sore the next day. This means you have slight tears in your muscles and are setting yourself up for injury if you work out at your regular pace. The real keys are varying your routine and changing your diet. Always consult a medical professional, or even someone like a physical therapist, who knows more about exercise physiology than most trainers.

— idshull

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:08 PM, 04/04/2013

@idshull: Muscles grow when they have small tears in them. I think you are referring to times when your body is so sore the next day that you can barley move, that is bad. But small tears in your muscles will lead to slight soreness the next day is not a bad thing. The body recovers stronger and better as a result.

— nick417

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:37 PM, 04/04/2013

Just what we need idshull, more overdiagnosis rather than hard work. Thank you for for taking the easy way out again. Your laziness makes me tired.

— kozykoz26

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:39 PM, 04/04/2013

Low impact hard cardio. I've been at it for 2 months. An hour a day 5 days a week and yes I have seen results. I saw them almost immediately. You don't need to pay a trainer

— Phillies2008WSChamps

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 5:04 AM, 04/05/2013

To remain fit and fine daily exercise is needed ,daily workout is needed if you are office worker.your suggested rules also good one .consistency in the work can achieve good result to maintain weight.READ MORE http://www.belmarrahealth.com/heart-health/easy-exercises-to-drop-your-blood-pressure/

— belmarrahealth

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:52 AM, 04/05/2013

"You need to be sweating, you need to be breathing heavy..." That is definitely the gist of it. Argue all you want about soreness, the point is when you're done your workout you should KNOW you just had a workout... The problem is that 'most people' need a "Drill Instructor" to get them to that point, and 'most people' are unwilling to submit to that...

— Olney Falcon