The first step of any weight loss program is to define your weight loss goals.

They should be carefully considered and desirable.

If you are in the healthy weight range for your height, your weight loss goals may be aesthetic.

If you are overweight, it is purely health based.

Ask yourself why you need/want to lose weight?

Weight loss can be good in some cases but in others it will do more harm than good.

Whether it is good or not depends on initial body fat percentage.

A realistic weight loss goal is approx 1kg every 2 weeks.

The more rapid the weight loss, the more likely it is to come back, the more likely you will lose more muscle and potentially decrease performance.

I could argue here that this depends on personality. Maybe you are someone who needs to see quick results to get motivated.

If so, quick weight loss is a good thing for you.

But if you have a history of repeated attempts to lose weight and have tried multiple diets, quick weight loss that is unsustainable is not a good place for you to go.

Also, it is perfectly fine to have weight loss goals for vanity. Just monitor the rate and type of weight you are losing. Take photos, use clothes as a marker, take measurements, get a DEXA scan. Use every measurement to ensure you are losing the right type of weight.

Ideally we want muscle to stay the same or increase slightly and body fat to decrease to a healthy fit level.

I'll be back tomorrow with the three main methods you can use to lose weight and you can decide what is the best approach for you.

This weeks workout is a 10-20 Minute Rowing workout for fat loss.

This can be adapted to any fitness level. Please see the video below for basic fitness rowing technique.

The rower is a great cardio exercise that works your entire body from your shoulders to your calves. No muscle goes untouched and because of this, it burns a lot of calories. 

Best of all - it is low impact and easy on the joints. Perform this workout 1-2 times per week for quick fitness and fat loss results.

Warm-Up:

Perform a 500m row at a an easy pace or 5 mins on a cardio machine of your choice. You should feel slightly out of breath and pretty warm at the end. 

The Workout:

• Perform a 250m Sprint on the rower. Note time taken to complete the distance.
• Rest for as much time as it took to complete the 250m. For example: If it took you 90 seconds, rest for 90 seconds and repeat.
• Workouts 1 & 2: Perform  250m Sprint x 4
• Workouts 3 & 4: Perform  250m Sprint x 5
• Workouts 5 & 6: Perform  250m Sprint x 6
• Workouts 7 & 8: Perform  250m Sprint x 7
• Workouts 9 & 10: Perform 250m Sprint x 8
• Change cardio workout.

Cool Down with 5 mins walking or slow rowing.

How To Adapt This Workout To Your Level:

If you are unfit, it may take anywhere from 1min to 1:40mins to complete the 250m depending on the rower you use. 

The aim is to try and row for your best pace that matches your current fitness level. If you are really fit you will really feel this workout as you will have less recovery time.

Please email john@humandesign.com.au if you have questions.

Here is a full body Kettle Bell fitness workout that can be performed indoors or outdoors.

The workout has 5 exercises and you can perform as many rounds as you like for a period of time or pick a number of rounds and try to increase your weight every few workouts for 4-6 weeks.

Warm up with 1 round of the exercises for 10 repetitions at a lighter weight.

Check out the video below for a full description of the exercises.

​If you want a FREE weekly workout sent to your email every Sunday night - CLICK HERE

The Kettle bell Swing is now a hugely popular exercise and looks fantastic when performed correctly but it also has the potential to cause lower back pain if performed poorly.

Here are some tips and a good photo to help if you are some who gets back pain while doing this exercise.

The picture above shows a good finishing position for the Kettle Bell Swing. I am showing this because normally people think it is the bottom of the swing where the back is most at risk but everyone seems to forget about the top position also.

When you stop at the top of the movement you have two options.

1. You can do a strong, muscular contraction where you brace your abs and glutes and keep everything nice and tight - which is what we want.

2. Or you can do a soft ending where people sway their hips forward and kind of sag into their back joints. It looks like the person is bent outwards from the waist.

Now, this might be okay for 10-20 swings but it can become a problem when you are doing 100's of reps every week.

So here are some tips to help for the Kettle Bell Swing:
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1. Your back should not be rounded at the bottom of the movement.

2. At the top you should not have your hips pushed was forward like many people do.

3. Your shoulders, hips, knees and ankles should be directly under each other and you should consciously squeeze your glute/bum muscles as can be seen in the photo above.

If you sway forward you will compress your back joints together and eventually get pain. I have heard many people complain of this sort of pain and the finishing picture above is one of the best ways to stop that from happening.

If you are unsure - get your form checked.

This is a great exercise for many reasons. Hope these tips help.