Is strength training for obese beginners different?
Strength training for obese beginners should be no different from anyone else just starting out. It’s always a good idea to start with low-impact strength training using only your body weight for resistance. This helps protect your joints and puts you less at risk for injury. The benefit of doing strength training far outweighs doing just cardio. Not only are you burning calories, you’re also taxing your muscles and joints to promote strength and new muscle growth. The other benefit is the more you weigh, the more work you’re putting on your body doing body weight strength training. As a result, you burn more calories leading to more weight loss when you couple this with a calorie deficit macro-friendly diet.
How to gauge appropriate exercise intensity and frequency
A good way to measure how hard you should be training is judging by your RPE (rate of perceived exertion). This looks at your workout intensity based on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being no intensity and 10 being maximum intensity. When you’re just starting out you should aim for an intensity level of a 5 or 6 and as your body adapts you should shoot for a 7 or 8 for intensity. Anything less or more than this would not be sufficient.
You can also judge intensity by how many reps of any given exercise you can do. You should comfortably be able to perform at least 5 reps before rest. If you can’t you can go with a modified version until you’re able to work your way up to at least 5 reps. As you get stronger, you should be able to comfortably work up to 10-15 reps of any exercise before resting.
Exercise frequency should be based on what you can maintain consistently. Ideally, you should aim for 2-3 times per week for at least 20-30 minutes of active exercise at a time.
Obesity beginner workout program
There are different types of low-impact non-weight bearing exercises you can do to start your fitness journey. Walking, swimming, cycling, and walking the stairs are all great for you!
These are exercises you can seek out in your everyday life by for example opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator and cycling or walking instead of driving to get to your destination.
In order to get more strength training in your routine, it’s also a good idea to do low-impact body weight exercises such as planks, hinges, wall sits, wall push-ups and superman hold in a prone position. These are all compound movements, which are also functional making them much more beneficial to your health. Compound movements involve the engagement of multiple muscles and joints so you gain more from the movement. Functional means it’s applicable to how you move in everyday life. The more your body is adapted to move well the less at risk you are for injury.
With any new exercise program, form is most important. You want to make sure you’re only choosing exercises you can perform correctly. Modify your routine as needed to ensure your mastering form first.
Four weight loss exercises you can modify as an obese beginner
- Strength training for obese beginners should focus on compound exercises that are easy to modify. The plank is a great exercise because it involves your entire body. It’s a great way to build strength and get your heart rate up. To modify the plank you can either drop to your knees from the floor or elevate into an incline plank on the wall. Start off by seeing how long you can hold this position with good form and then start timing yourself until you can work up to a minute.
- Squats are a great exercise for working your lower extremities. It also requires stability and mobility. You can modify it by doing squats over a chair or bench where you lower into a seated position and then push yourself back up to a standing position. You can also modify with a wall sit. Focus on depth here and good form. As you get stronger gradually increase the reps you can do.
- A lying glute bridge hold is great for strengthening your posterior chain as well as your back. It’s also great for helping to promote good hip and back extension. To modify this exercise you practice holding for a second or two before lowering back to the floor. As you get stronger you can hold for longer at the top and perform more repetitions.
- Push-ups are a great compound exercise for hitting the upper body and core. You can easily modify this exercise by starting from your knees or you can perform them elevated from the wall. As you progress, you can aim to do full push-ups from the floor and even other variations of push-ups.
Diet is also a factor for overweight beginners
While strength training is a great place to start for obesity, it’s not always enough for fat loss. Your calorie consumption and protein intake are also equally important not only for fat loss, but for improving your lean body mass. No matter how hard you train you can never outperform your diet. A healthy caloric deficit, which should look different for everyone, coupled with a macro-friendly diet and exercise is the key for the treatment of metabolic disorders, reduction in the risk factors of cardiovascular disease and fat storage in the body. It’s also beneficial for improving your overall body composition, which helps enable you to maintain long-term results.
Do you need help with your fitness goal? Get in touch with our specialized fitness trainers to start your journey for recovery now or book your free 1-1 consultation with us.
This blog is sourced from Leading edge personal trainer website.
