1. Exercise with more effort
Take a walk through the gym. What do you see? You see people walking on the treadmill while they are talking on the phone. You see people pedaling on the lifecycle machines as they read their Cosmopolitan magazine. In the weight room you see lots of people doing bicep curls with the little soup can size weights. If your water bottle weighs more than your dumbbell, please put the dumbbell back and lift your water bottle!
Oh, sorry. I should get back to my point.
If you are not getting results in the gym, we can probably make the assumption that you aren’t working with an appropriate intensity. How much effort you put into your workouts is directly proportionate to the level of your results you are getting.
People are always wondering what the best fitness program is. However, they are overlooking a component of fitness that is just as important as the program itself. With enough intensity, one could achieve a decent level of results even with a subpar exercise protocol. On the other hand, if you can have the best exercise program in the world but you will not see any significant results if you aren’t working hard enough to make your body adapt to your program by losing fat, getting stronger and improving its overall health and fitness level.
2. Choose better exercises
Okay, let’s take another walk around the gym. That lady over there is trying to lose 15 kilos of bodyfat. Will someone tell me why that trainer has her doing arm curls on a machine? In terms of losing body fat, you will get better results jumping up and down onto a box 100 times in 10 minutes than you will doing 100 bicep curls on a machine. Every time I see a trainer with a 45 year old woman looking to shape up on a bicep machine, I want to go shake the hair gel out of his hair!
The point is, some movements are much better than others. The more muscles you can get involved into your exercise movement, the more calories you will burn. Furthermore, if you use exercises that recruit lots of muscles and do it with proper intensity, then you increased metabolism will last for long after your workout has already finished.
What exercises should you do and not do? First, stay away from the machines where you have to sit down and stabilize your spine and pelvis. Unless you are a steroid monster bodybuilder, you don’t have much need for those muscle isolation movements. Move your body! Not machines! Machines are great at selling gym memberships, but they are lousy at getting people results.
If you want to see the greatest amount of results quickly, stick to the classic exercise moves. For example: Squats, deadlifts, pushups, rows, and other movements that use the whole body as one systemic unit such as jumping and calisthenics. If you aren’t sure how to do these movements…learn! There are hundreds of books and videos to help you learn how to do these things safely. Or better yet, hire a qualified coach. It is an investment that will be well worth it for the rest of your life.
3. Workout as part of a team
Working out with other people provides us with motivation. Most of us are spending too much time in front of the TV and computer screens. Not only is it affecting our health and fitness levels, but we are increasingly becoming disconnected with those we love.
Working out together is a great way to do something positive together. It’s amazing how effectively it adds a positive spark to our relationships with people around us. Instead of getting together and talking about the usual daily stuff like life problems or our jobs, we can come together to accomplish goals, cheer each other on and share a simultaneous endorphin rush. We can be achievers as part of the same team. Anyone who has participated in team sports can tell you how fulfilling and rewarding being a part of a team can be. Well, pushing through a tough workout with friends will give you an equivalent feeling of gratification. When you are working out with a team of fitness achievers, you will find yourself looking forward to going to the gym from the moment you get up in the morning. When you start looking forward to your workouts, the results are sure to follow.
There you have it- Three quick things you can do to improve your fitness quickly. It goes without saying that the next thing you’ve got to do is to just get in there and start applying the stuff you have read.
Hope to see ya there,
Jeff (Paradise Fitness Camp Head Trainer)
No comments:
Post a Comment