Total Fitness Network : Program How-To's : Pump the Muscles Too

By Therese Iknoian

You’re walking, you’re running, you’re cycling, you’re hiking,-- whatever your exercise of choice, you are either doing it or planning to do it now.

But there’s more. Pumping up the heart muscles with aerobic activity is great. For the best all-around fitness, you need to think about pumping up the other muscles in the body too.

Don’t get me wrong. Pumping the muscle doesn’t mean a Schwarzenegger imitation. Just use ‘em in a well-rounded way.

Here are the basic guidelines from the research gurus at the American College of Sports Medicine:

How much? - Pick 8-10 exercises that as a package target all your major muscle groups (Don’t worry. We’ll explain what the heck a “major muscle group is in a second.”)
How often? -Do that package of exercises 2-3 times a week.
How many? - For basic conditioning, do one set of 8-10 repetitions of each. If you have time, or want to build a little more strength or power, 2-3 sets can be get you there faster. If you are older or weaker, do easier exercises or lighter weight and do 10-15 repetitions.

Major Muscle Groups
Huh? These are the big muscles. I bet you can name them. Think both sides of your body, and don’t get technical: Back, chest, shoulders, abdominals, gluteals (buttocks), front of thighs (quadriceps), back of thighs (hamstrings), calves, front of upper arms (biceps), back of upper arms (triceps). Now that may sound like a lot, but it’s not.

If you have access to weights, there is an array of exercises we won’t get into here.

If you don’t have weights or other gadgets, you can do pushups (that’ll get your arms, back, chest and shoulders). Crunches for your abdominals. Wall sits (sit with your back against the wall as if you’re in a chair) for your legs. And toe raises for your calves. That’s pretty much it, although there are a lot of other things you could try.