8 Ways to Instantly Improve Your Workouts

Following on from the success of the post 8 More Ways To Instantly Improve Your Eating, here is the workout version. Too often we get caught up focusing on minutia instead of getting the basics right. If we take the back basics approach, more often that no there is a lot to gain. Enough rambling, lets get to it.

1. Stand Up. If you can do an exercise standing then….do it standing. We sit down way too much these days so the last thing you want to be doing when you are trying to improve your health, fitness and physique is to be exacerbating an existing problem.
2. Avoid Machines. The most advanced machine known to man is, well, man itself. (Perhaps I should have said the human, but I didn’t!) Body weight exercises, free weights and other forms of resistance such as kettlebells, sand bags, resistance bands will get the job done. The only ‘machine’ worth using is an adjustable cable. If you don’t know how to exercise safely and effectively without machines get someone (ideally me…or at least someone qualified to do so) to show you what to do.
3. Work the whole body. Yes guys, there are muscles on the back of your body. A full body workout isn’t just chest, arms and abs! Your strength in general will increase if you can squat or deadlift more weight. Strengthen your butt and hammies and you will be able to run better and fill out your jeans at the back. Increase the weight you can row, or the number of chin ups you can do and all of a sudden your bench press increases. Get to it and work the muscles you can’t see in the mirror.
4. Go unilateral to save your back. Huh? Uni what? Think single leg exercises. Step ups, lunge variations and single leg deadlifts. These will work your legs just as much as the bilateral versions (two legs) but because you aren’t using as much weight you will decrease the amount of stress on your spine.
5. Get up (and down). One of the best ways to get your heart rate up is to get your body moving vertically. Think about it this way. Star climbing, jumping, hill running. All of that is seriously hard work. If you want to keep the intensity up in your workouts, either throw in some sort of jumping exercise (jumping, skipping, burpees) or alternate between floor exercises and standing exercises. This little trick will send your body into a calorie burning frenzy!
6. Weights first, cardio last. If you are doing any sort of cardio, metabolic or conditioning work make sure you leave it to the end. The reason I suggest this is two fold. First of all you want to be lifting the maximum weight possible for all of your exercises. If you are fatigued from intervals, you won’t be doing this. Secondly, if you are fatigued , physically and mentally (and you should be after some serious conditioning work) then the chance of injury will be higher. Follow this formula. Warm up, weights, intervals -> go home.
7. Change it up. Whatever you are doing, even the most perfect workout, will have a shelf life. I’d suggest that somewhere between 3 and 6 weeks is the most you should follow the same program for. Even if you are making physical progress you will find that your potential progress might be limited when you get bored with a program. If you really like the program, mix it up, do something different for 3 weeks and come back to it.
8. Have goals. Last but definitely not least, goals will make or break your success. Have at least one if not many. A goal might be just to workout 3 times per week. It may be to deadlift 210kgs for 5 reps (that’s one of mine right now), or it might be to train consistently for 4 weeks. Whatever the goal is doesn’t matter. If you don’t have one, why are you training?

I could keep going on but I’m sure you’ve had enough listnening to me! Lets have at it. What is your number 1 method to instantly improve your workout?

Hobart Personal Trainer Demonstrates Running Warm Up

Whilst the workout is the focus of a lot of our thoughts, we need to make sure that the warm up isn’t over looked.

Gone are the days of running a few laps and then doing some static stretches for the quads, hamstrings and calves. Instead you want to do something a bit more dynamic which will really get your body primed for your workout.

The focus of the warm up is to get the body ready for action. You want to get the heart rate up and increase your body temperature so that when you start your workout your muscles and central nervous system are alive and kicking.

You should be getting your breathing rate up as well during the warm up. If you sweat easily you might find that you start to perspire a bit during this time. Great! Just don’t turn the warm up into the workout.

Have a look at the video below for my complete lower body warm up which is perfect for any running, sprinting, interval or lower body workout. Tweak it a bit if you like, after a few trial and error runs, you will find what works best for you.

Fat Burning Cardio

Forget cardio. Well at least forget cardio in it’s usual form. Unless your goal is to get better at riding a stationary bike, or running on a treadmill then you had better ditch the idea that this will help you burn fat.

To get the maximum amount of fat burning happening you want to recruit a lot more muscles, build fatigue and be working hard enough to question why you are doing it at all. By using high intensity intervals the goal is to get your heart rate up around or over 90% of your maximum. A typical session should last at most 30 minutes. You want to get in, go hard and go home. No messing around.
Instead of just going for a run next time you have a cardio day scheduled, try the following workout.
All you need is a few dumbells or kettlebells, a treadmill (running outside would be better) and the desire to work hard.

For Time :  Maximum number of rounds in 30 minutes

Run 250 metres
10 One-arm dumbbell/kettlebell swings (each arm)  Hard – 10kg, Easy – 6kg
Run 250 metres
50 Mountain Climbers (25 each side)
Run 250 metres
10 One-arm Alternating dumbbell/kettlebell clean (each arm) Hard -20kg, Easy – 10kg
Run 250 metres
50 Bodyweight Squats

Rest as much as you need to but as little as possible.

This fat burning workout will get you using all your big muscles which will get your heart rate sky high, burning so many more calories than a normal cardio session.

It is important to fully recover between session like this. With this in mind I would recommend that you did no more than two of these sessions per week.

Also, make sure that you have your food and nutrition in order. You can learn more here.

Post your results below.

Do You Really Need To Run for Fat Loss?

Personally I think that the treadmill is so over-rated and equally overused. In my opinion, unless the weather doesn’t permit, you should be running outside. This doesn’t mean the treadmill is completely useless however!

One workout I do prescribe for the treadmill is walking at maximum incline (usually 15%) at a pace that you can maintain for 20 minutes. Now it may surprise you just how difficult this can be. According to a recent study out of the A.T Still University shows us that walking at 5km/h at an incline of 15% translates to a flat (0%) running speed of 11km/h.

Why do I care? Well first of all, if you are carrying a few (or more) extra kilos, you will be decreasing your chances of injury through your ankles, knees, hips and lower back. These weight baring joints cop a pounding when running, even with the absorption technology available in treadmills and running shoes currently available.

Secondly, by forcing yourself to climb Mount Treadmill, you will be increasing the recruitment of your calves, hamstrings and glutes. This technique can serve as a solid workout for these typically underused muscles, or as a quality recovery technique the day after a heavy session.

I would recommend starting with 10 minutes for two sessions, 15 minutes for another two sessions and then having a go at the full 20 minutes. Two or three sessions per week on the days you aren’t doing your weights will be plenty.

By utilising the treadmill in this fashion you will ensure that you are able to continue working hard without the fear or realisation of injury. I don’t care how great running might be for fat loss because you won’t be burning anything if you are on the injured list.

Take care now.

James