Better Body Road Map

For the best results from your exercise routine, you should have a clear idea of what it is you are trying to accomplish. Just like any other work project or hobby, generally you have a vision of what you want to achieve and a map or plan of attack as to how to get there. Health, muscle building and exercise are no different.

You should make it very clear what your objectives are. And, more than anything, you should be crystal clear with yourself. Have you recently joined the gym because your doctor has suggested that regular exercise might be a great way to control your chronic hypertension condition? Perhaps you have been recently told that you have pre diabetes or type I diabetes and you are simply using exercise try to minimize the amount of medicine you need or avoid having to take medication altogether.

Or maybe you want to lose weight and you have high hopes that establishing some kind of regular routine will help you peel off some pounds. You might be in search of a little more strength or muscle tone. If you are like so many men, young and old alike, you might just want to develop muscle size and tone so that you feel AND look good.

Whatever the case may be, to get to where you want to be, you have to know exactly where that destination is. Only then can you start to intelligently create the road map as to how to get there. That's not to say that just by going to the gym and stepping on the treadmill for 30 minutes doesn't have any benefits -- it certainly does. But by clearly defining what it is you are after, you can use all the proper tools to maximize the results of your efforts in a minimum amount of time.

Have you every heard the common complaint of someone who spends as much as a couple hours a day at the gym and still suggests that they are not losing any weight or building any muscle or getting any stronger. Admitting that everybody is different and weight loss, muscle growth and conditioning occur at different rates in different people, those that have a plan that makes sense and then stick to it are across the board far more effective than those that don't.

How can you arrive at a destination if you don't know what it is? Be precise with your physical fitness goal/destination too. Being vague about what you want to achieve will most likely result in you going about your exercise in a lackluster manner. If you want to gain muscle mass all over your body and decrease your waist size in the process, start off by taking measurements of all body parts. Measure your total body fat too, if you have the tools to do it. Decide on what all of your goals are in terms of inches gained or lost, pounds gained or lost, resting heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc.

Keep a log book of everything so you can track your progress. Create the map and then follow it to a T. Know where you are going, use all the tools available to you, and you will arrive far sooner than you thought possible.

Anna Greene likes to write about many different topics. You can visit her new site on the DMCLX5 or DMC-LX5 Panasonic Camera.