Bowflex Elite™ Plus home gym - Manual (Page 55)

31
You may want to design your own personal program
specifically geared to your goals and lifestyle.
Designing a program is easy, as long as you follow
the guidelines below.
Understand fitness and its components:
Improperly designed programs can be dangerous.
Take some time to review this manual as well as
other fitness guides.
Know your current fitness level: Before you
start any fitness program you should consult a
physician who will help you determine your current
abilities.
Identify your goals: Goals are critical to
choosing and designing an exercise program that
fits and enhances your lifestyle, but so is strategy.
It’s important not to rush the process and try to
accomplish too much too soon. That will lead to
setbacks and discouragement. Instead, set a series
of smaller achievable goals.
Select complementary exercises: Be sure
to pair exercises that address compound joint
movements and single joint movements. In addition,
select exercises that address complementary
muscle groups.
Put first things first: During each session, first
work muscle groups that need the most training.
Remember your cardiovascular component:
Any fitness program must contain a cardiovascular
fitness component to be complete. So complement
your resistance training with aerobic exercise such
as walking, running, or bicycling.
Training variables: When designing your own
program there are several variables that, when
mixed properly, will equal the right fitness formula
for you. In order to find out the best formula, you
must experiment with several combinations of
variables.
The variables are as follows:
• Training Frequency: The number of
times you train per week. We recommend
daily activity but not daily training of the same
muscle group.
• Training Intensity: The amount of
resistance used during your repetition.
• Training Volume: The number of
repetitions and sets performed.
• Rest intervals: The time you rest between
sets and the time you rest between workouts.
Once you’ve established a base of fitness,
follow these basic principles:
• Isolate muscle groups: Focus work on
specific muscle groups.
• Progressive Loading: The gradual
systematic increase of repetitions, resistance
and exercise period.
Design Your Own Program
Define Your Goals