Welcome back to "Rock Your Body," The State News' fitness and nutrition column. Each week, we hit up our local experts with some questions and pass on their wisdom to you.
But before we get to the goods, we thought we'd tell you a little bit about who'll be giving you advice.
Tim Wakeham: Tim is an assistant strength and conditioning coach at MSU.
Ronda Bokram: Ronda is a nutritionist in the health education department at Olin Health Center.
Tom Ostrander: Tom is the owner of Powerhouse Gym, 435 E. Grand River Ave. He is one of Michigan's top amateur bodybuilding competitors. Tom is a personal trainer with experience ranging from professional athletes to stay-at-home moms.
This week, we asked:
SN: How do you design a weight lifting program? How long does it take to see results?
Tim: After being cleared by a physician, a weight training program should be designed by first acknowledging goals, practical situation and health (injury) history. A general framework is to work each large muscle compartment two to three nonconsecutive times per week in a systematically progressive fashion.
Perform one to three sets of an exercise for each body part and somewhere between three and 20 repetitions per set. Proper technique should be practiced while executing each exercise
Choose mostly multi-joint exercises. Multi-joint exercises are best for training large amounts of musculature in a time-efficient manner. Examples include: bench and shoulder presses, squats, leg presses and lunges, along with pull downs and rows.
Improvement in the ability to increase weight lifted and repetitions performed can usually be seen on a weekly basis. Cosmetic tissue changes usually begin around week six of a program.
Tom: Generally speaking, you want to train your whole body over three to five days. The more advanced you are, the more days you should lift and the more specific exercises you can incorporate into your routine to work all aspects of a muscle.
Beginners should concentrate mostly on basic compound movements such as bench presses, squats, military presses, dead lifts, curls and triceps extensions. A beginner should start to see some sort of results very rapidly in the form of either strength, endurance or physique.
The more advanced you are, the less dramatic the results will be in the short run. However, when an advanced trainee does see improvement it is often solid, lasting gains.
SN: What are the healthiest foods to eat that are easy to find? How often should I eat them?
Ronda: Unfortunately, healthy is most often defined by the current trend in diets: low carbohydrates, high protein, reduced calorie or fat - in other words - restricted in some way. In truth, if the food isn't a poison, or contain food-borne pathogens, and you are not allergic, it can be fit into your eating plan in a positive way.
The old message of balance, variety and moderation is really true. It is variety that insures we get all the nutrients we need. Incorporating nutrient-dense foods are important, but you still have room for "fun" foods.
Understanding these concepts makes finding good foods easier. They can be found at a regular grocery store, not health food specialty shops.
Tom: Specifically talking about college students, I would recommend trying to eat something healthy every three hours to promote a healthy metabolism. Foods that are nutrient rich, that are readily available and easy to find include (but are not limited to): tuna, chicken, lean red meat, fish, eggs, nuts, veggies, fruit, cottage cheese, low-fat milk, bagels, pitas, beans, rice, potatoes and, of course, lots of good old-fashion water.
Always remember that how foods are prepared is just as important as the foods themselves. Just because I said chicken is good doesn't mean head down to Kentucky Fried Chicken and suck down a six-piece.
If you would like to have your questions answered, please e-mail them to msandu@statenews.com.
