Hobart Personal Trainer | Hobart Fat Loss | Hobart Personal Training

If there’s one thing that has been obvious in the first few weeks of getting two new additions to the family, it’s that time is of the essence.

Every day activities seem to take a bit longer and before you know it you are running late and behind the eight ball.

Typically this translates into rushed eating and missed training sessions. Not a great combination when you want to be at your peak both physically and mentally.
So what can you do to combat this common problem? Well prevention is always better than a cure so use some protection! But assuming the kids are planned then you will also need some sort of a plan to make sure you stay on track with your eating and training.

1. Pre-make meals and freeze them so you have well prepared, healthy options at the ready. The best way to do this is to make a double or triple batch of your recipie and store the leftovers.
2. Have a plan ‘B’ for in between meals and so you don’t miss a meal. All you need for this is a few zip lock bags. In one put a serve of mixed nuts (almonds, cashews and walnuts work for me), and in the other have a serve of your favorite protein powder. Throw those in a large shaker and you have all your nutritional bases covered in on neat package.
3. Don’t train for more than 45 minutes per session and see how much you can cram into a 30 minute session. If you need some ideas make sure you have a look at these workouts. Keep your rest periods short and avoid isolation exercises.
4. If you only have 20 minutes a few times per week then your best option is to do some tabatas. If the word tabatas is foriegn to you then have a look at this Tabata Workout.

Keep an eye out for some more short, sharp and hard workouts which will be posted as soon as I have given them a test run and the thumbs up!

Update: Posted the first one yesterday! Check it out here –>> Time Saving Super Workout

Whether you are training at home or in the gym,  putting in the time, you want to make sure you are getting the biggest bank for your buck, so to speak. There are some things which are done time and time again for no other reason than ‘that’s the way we do it’. If there are things you are doing for no other reason than this, it might be time to change. Take yourself armed with the following information to your next training session to supercharge your workouts.

1. Time your rest periods.
Sounds simple huh? I know I have already written about it here, but I have to say it again. 60 seconds should be 60 seconds. If you are meant to have 90 second rest then have 90, not 180 or more. You will be surprised how much more you can get done, or how much quicker you can get it done if you are on the clock.

2. Stand Up
If you can do an exercise standing on your own two feet, then lets do exactly that. If you want to be sitting down doing that exercise you’d better have a damn good reason for it. Chances are you sit down enough already. That’s the way life is these days.

3. Multi Joint (Compound) Exercises only
Let me put it this way. If you are training to get fitter, lose some body fat or get stronger then you have no business doing tricep kickbacks and concentration curls. If you want a quick experiment in increasing metabolism, try the following. Do a clean and press for 3 sets of 15 reps with a minute rest between sets. Next do 3 sets of 15 reps with your favourite isolation exercise. Which one really got your body going?

4. Warm Up, Resistance, Intervals
99% of the time you will want to be doing your resistance training after a proper warm up and before any ‘cardio’ (see next point) or interval work. Why? If you want to get boost your metabolism and change your body shape you want to be doing your resistance training at the start of your work out when you are fresh. If you have just spent half your workout and most of your energy on the treadmill then the effort you can give your weights is going to be be compromised.

5. Reconsider your ‘Cardio’ training
Now this one fits into the category ‘Change the world one step at a time’. Remember however; that the world was once thought to be flat. Just as we once thought that ‘Cardio’ training was great for fat loss. If you really want to use some form of electronic cardio equipment (think elliptical trainer, treadmill, stationary cycle, stepper, rower etc) then at least do some High Intensity Intervals. Say goodbye to steady workouts and you will be saying goodbye to some extra stomach fat as well.

Got a sixth tip to share? Leave a comment below.

Fat burning workouts need to be high intensity and use compound and full body exercises. The combination of using large muscle groups and minimal rest periods will shock your body into the fat burning zone. As my friend Donovan says, “There are two zones. The Comfort Zone and the Burn More Fat Zone…To get to one you have to get out of the other.”

If your workouts are in the comfortable zone you won’t be maximizing your fat burning potential. Push yourself and you will realise what you and your body are truly capable of achieving.

This weeks workout has three phases. The first two consist of 5 exercises performed in a circuit fashion with no rest between exercises. Rest 90-120 seconds between circuits, and take up to 5 minutes between phases.

A1: Front Squat x 20
B1: Chins x Max (-2)
C1: Mountain Climber x 25 each side
D1: Dips x Max (-2)
E1: Clean and Press x 10

A2: Romanian Deadlift x 20
B2: Inverted Body Row x Max (-2)
C2: Stability Ball Crunch x 25
D2: Pushups x Max (-2)
E2: Burpee x 10

Finish with Medicine ball slams 3 x 30secs with 30secs rest.

Remember: You can either be in the comfort zone or the Burn More Fat zone. To get into one you have to leave the other.

WHICH ZONE ARE YOU IN?

When I write a customised gym program I expect that it only represents the starting point for an individual. Your first session of any new program should, relatively, be the easiest of the cycle. You may feel at the time that is has whooped your ass but that should only be because it is different to what you had previously been doing.

Now when I see someone two or three weeks into a new program and they are doing exactly as they were the first session it does my head in. Your body will have adapted to the change in stimulus already so that feeling of being whooped you got first session has gone.

You need to progress your output at every possible stage if you are going to get the maximum possible result.
“How do I do that?” Well I’m glad you asked. There are four simple ways to increase the output and intensity of your workouts to ensure you get better results in less time.

1. Increase Weight

Oh really. Seems obvious enough, but the number of people who do the same weight for the same exercises week in and week out would amaze you. There will be a time when your reach the weight limit for a particular exercise and this is when you can use one of the other techniques.

2. Increase Reps

Another blast from Captain Obvious. This technique is the most common at being implemented and is probably overdone at the expense of number 1. When using this technique try to stay within a certain rep range (say 3-5, 8-12, 15-20) so that you are not just adding more and more reps. When you can get the target reps on any exercise bump up the weight, drop the reps and start the cycle again.

3. Decrease Rest

First of all I have to say that in order to decrease your rest periods, you need to know what they are to start with. If you tell me they are 60 seconds and you don’t have a stopwatch, second hand or any other timing device available to you then I’m calling you out. 60 seconds is exactly that. When you actually time it you might find it is quite a bit shorter than you expected. If all you did was decrease the rest between sets (keeping the weight and reps the same) your workouts will be more intense, not to mention,  finished in less time!

4. Exercise Order

This is probably the most overlooked aspect of a program. It is however one of the easiest ways to change the flow and intensity of your workouts. If you only did three exercises (lets say chin ups, deadlifts and dips) there is a possibility of six different exercise orders, all of which will give you a different intensity because they are essentially different workouts.

So there you have it.  Four easy to implement strategies that will keep your workouts at a high octane level for weeks on end.

James