How to prepare your body for summer if you have not played sports before

Learn about the state of your body

First you need to find out the current state of the body and contact a medical center. Doctors will measure height, weight, strength, lung capacity, blood pressure and heart rate, determine body mass index, bone-to-muscle tissue ratio, cellular activity, amount of water in the body, and examine the heart. After the examination, the doctor will write a conclusion and recommend a change in diet or sports that is suitable for you.

In Russia, you can get tested for free. To do this, you need to contact a specialized state medical institution called the "Center for Medical Prevention" or something else. A referral can be given by a local therapist.

If you know what condition your body is in and do not want to go to the doctor, you can skip this step or determine your body mass index yourself: divide your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared.

Values between 18 and 25 will indicate that body weight is normal.

After you have studied your body, specify the goal and name the beauty criteria that you lack: cubes on the press, a pumped up ass, big biceps, wide shoulders or a narrow waist. Depending on what you want, you will need to either lose weight or get pumped up.

Lose weight

Regular exercise leads to a decrease in fat mass, although the strengthening of the muscles may at first seem like you are gaining weight. Exercise aerobic exercise to lose weight. In this case, the body uses oxygen obtained during respiration. It is important to monitor your heart rate during aerobic exercise. An acceptable corridor for a 30-year-old person is from 115 to 150 beats per minute, for a 50-year-old person - 100–135 beats per minute. It is important to exercise for at least 20 minutes, three times a week.

If you want to see cubes on the press, this is what you need.

A simple and effective way is jogging. It does not require the purchase of a gym membership or specific equipment and is best suited for people with no physical fitness. But like any other sport, it requires self-control and discipline. You will have to accustom yourself to the correct breathing technique (learn to breathe through your nose and mouth at the same time), as well as run in bad weather and frost.

For those who find running boring, other types of training are suitable: cycling, swimming or team sports (basketball, volleyball, football).

If sports are difficult at first, start with long walks or Nordic walking.

Pump up

The basis for gaining muscle mass is anaerobic exercise, accompanied by a heart rate exceeding the aerobic corridor. When performing anaerobic exercise, the blood does not have time to deliver oxygen to the muscles. The lack of atmospheric oxygen is compensated by its production as a result of the breakdown of glycogen in the muscles.

Gradually, the body stores more glycogen, increasing strength endurance. And muscle growth is the body's response to power loads.

Anaerobic loads make men massive and powerful, and girls are given roundness in the right places and remove excess.

The easiest way to increase muscle mass is through powerlifting. This is a set of basic exercises: squats with a barbell, bench press or incline bench, deadlift. Basic exercises use the entire musculature.

Powerlifting also loses fat. Strength training not only burns a lot of calories, but it also contributes to higher energy expenditure outside the gym, as large muscles require a lot of energy.

Bodybuilding in Soviet times was known as bodybuilding. Unlike powerlifting, where the main thing is to increase strength, bodybuilding is designed to create a harmonious muscular body. In addition to the basic ones, bodybuilders perform isolating exercises on individual muscle groups for a harmonious appearance of the muscles.

Eat properly

Exercising includes not only exercise but also lifestyle changes. Effective training requires adequate sleep, reduced overall stress levels, and proper nutrition. Amateur athletes tend to underestimate the importance of nutrition.

It is advisable to regularly calculate the amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates eaten, consumed and used during the day. Previously, athletes wrote down what they ate in a notebook, but now, thanks to web services and mobile applications, even lazy people can control their diet.

Regardless of whether you want to lose weight or build muscle, drink more water and eat less salt, spicy and fried.

To burn fat in the body, you need to arrange a slight calorie deficit. It is important to understand that with a sharp transition to a low-calorie diet, the body will work in a saving mode. Scientists have proven that with a low-calorie diet and daily aerobic exercise, muscle mass decreases with fat in the body, than with exercise in combination with nutrition to maintain the current mass.

Reduce calorie intake gradually. To begin with, eliminate fatty, sweet and starchy foods and start eating more often during the day, but in small portions. Avoid eating two hours before and two hours after training. Eat low-calorie, healthy foods after 6 p.m.: green vegetables, lean protein foods.

After a week or two, compare the weight with the previous one. If it has not changed, you can reduce the calorie content by 10% and see how the body reacts after another two weeks.

Losing weight without harm to health can only be 2-4 kilograms per month.

To gain muscle mass, eat high-calorie foods high in protein and low in fat and fast carbs. Eat two hours before a workout, and an hour and a half after it. It is helpful to consume a protein-carbohydrate shake right after your workout. Before going to bed, bodybuilders eat low-fat cottage cheese or drink a serving of casein, a protein found in cottage cheese that is slowly digested.