Nancy gets stars all over the chart for what she has done this year to take charge of her health, fitness, and body shape.

Actually, last year too, when she made major headway in a 40 lb weight loss and made a solid shift into a whole-foods, plant-based diet.

One of the reasons for Nancy’s success (see How Nancy lost 1.5 lbs in her first week of Booty Camp) is that she doesn’t leave things to “chance”.

She doesn’t wait until she “feels like it” to follow through.

And perhaps most importantly, she has committed herself to getting back up and getting GOING with action when a day or two of ‘gray area’ have happened.

That’s what I call going the distance.

So it should come as no surprise that Nancy took seriously the guidelines I recently published regarding the ACSM (American Council on Exercise) guidelines for health and fitness, based on over 400 reports spanning a period of 10 years.  You can review these guidelines for yourself here:  The 4 pillars of the ideal workout schedule: What the research says.

Let’s review those guidelines,  how Nancy made her own workout routine based on same, and how to personalize your own all-the-bases-covered workout routine.      

4 Components of the ACSM Guidelines for a weekly workout schedule

1. cardiorespiratory exercise  ( 3 – 5x a week)
2. resistance exercise ( 2 – 3x a week)
3. flexibility exercise ( 2 – 3x a week)
4. neuromotor exercise  ( 2 or more days a week)

Simple enough.

Next chapter:  Nancy signed on for coaching support. Nancy whipped out a plan and sent me a schedule for review

How Nancy configured her workout schedule with the ACSM Guidelines

Here is what Nancy selected as her workout choices to meet the various categories of the ACSM guidelines for one week:

1. cardiorespiratory exercise: 3 Burst Training/Cardio sessions + 3- 15 minute walks – C  15 minute Burst on Bike and 15 minute walk
2. resistance exercise: Fit Quickies #1 thru 10; Upper Body Extra:  Add Pushups & Planks 4 times a week.
3. flexibility exercise: embedded in Fit Quickies, Yoga,  and Physical Therapy exercises
4. neuromotor exercise: 2 Neuromotor/functional exercise workouts – B – A.M. Yoga; Physical Therapy exercises; Breathe

Here is how Nancy integrated her workout choices to meet the ACSM guidelines for one week:

11/13/2011

Nancy simply took the ACSM guidelines, plugged in her workout style choices into the various categories, and then created a simple schedule.  Voila!  Keep in mind that the rest of Nancy’s day is fairly sedentary.  If yours is too, you need to be proactive about creating blocks of activity.

To create your own effective workout schedule:

1. list your favorite activities according to category
2. fill in any holes that might be missing.  For example, is your resistance training really providing enough resistance challenge?  Are  you including some solid cardio, whether high or lower intensity?
3. assess your schedule for hitting your fitness marks the right number of times in a week, and you’re there.

Thanks for reading this post.  Please share it if you like it, and if you’re on facebook, please join me now on my facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/lanimuelrath.  See you there!

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