In this post I will discuss how to properly train your chest.

-Find out what you are interested in improving:muscular strength, muscle mass, muscular endurance or perhaps a bit of everything.
-Regardless of your goal, brake down your training into cycles. Each cycle should last approximately 8 to 12 weeks.
- If your goal is to improve muscular strength solely, you should perform 3 to 4 exercises, 3 to 5 sets per exercise(including warm-up sets), 3 to 8 reps per set and use free weights only.
- If your goal is to improve strength and also add more muscle tissue, you should choose 3 to 5 exercises, 2 to 4 sets per exercise(including warm-up sets), 8 to 15 reps per set and use both free weights and machines.
-If your goal is to improve muscular endurance, perform 2 to 3 exercises, 2 to 3 sets per exercise, 20 to 50 reps or more per set and incorporate free weights and bodyweight exercises.
Below is a program sample that will help you improve a bit of every fitness component abovementioned:

Flat Barbell Press;5 sets(including warm-up sets), of 5 to 10 reps
Incline Dumbbell Press;3 sets of 10 to 15 reps
Chest Dips;3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
Pushups; 2 sets of as many reps as you can complete

Rest 30 seconds between sets and 1 to 2 minutes between exercises.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Stay Healthy!

Let’s say that you are like most people who join a gym. Probably your goal is to get rid of five to twenty pounds of body fat in about three months. Well, I will share with you some ideas that you could apply in order to accomplish this goal.

1. Make sure your health status allows you to workout. In case you have any doubts, get a physical exam.
2. Start the workout with a five to ten minute warm-up on a cardio machine.
3. Whether you train with free weights, machines, elastic bands or any other resistance training tool, don’t do more than 15 reps per set. Once you can perform 15 reps easily, that means it’s time to increase the resistance. Do not use resistance exercises to improve your cardiovascular system, although 15 intense reps will work your heart a lot better than 20 mediocre reps.
4. Three sets of 12-15 reps per exercise is enough. Also, three exercises for bigger muscle groups and one to two exercises for smaller muscle groups is sufficient.
5. Choose exercises that will burn the most calories. What I mean is this: use more free weight exercises than machine exercises and perform most exercises standing rather than seated.
6. Three workouts a week will suffice. For example you could train Legs and Calves on Monday, Shoulders and Back on Wednesdays, and Chest and Arms on Friday.
7. In-between sets, please don’t rest for five minutes, text, socialize or watch TV. You should not rest longer than a minute, at most, and you should only rest after you completed three sets of an exercise. In-between sets you should do one of the following: jump rope, imaginary jump rope, jumping jacks, burpees, high knee dumbbell press, pushups, bodyweight squats, mountain climbers, box jumps or some other plyometric movement. To make it more fun choose a different movement between every set, and each of these movements should last 30 seconds.
8. You should be able to finish your workouts in approximately one hour, not counting cardio training. If you are in the gym for longer that an hour that means you are doing too many exercises or resting more than necessary, or both. Make the required changes.
9. Be patient and don’t be surprised if your body will take a while before adjusting to the training, it is normal and it’s part of the process.
10. There are other variables involved in losing five to twenty pounds of body fat; diet being the main one.  Let me know if you have any questions about this post or any questions related to fitness and diet. Thank you for your time.

Cristian Mariuta