how to improve your workout in 3 simple steps
August 13, 2007 by Cash
I’ve been making a conscious effort to get back into my usual gym routine (5-6 days a week) while simultaneously getting my diet (I’m a disciple of Body for Life) back on track as well.
Being lucky enough to have an older sister who’s a personal trainer has given me some good, easy tips for improving every visit to the gym.
1) Keep your muscles flexed throughout the entire repetition.
It’s obvious you need to have them taught when you’re doing the extension (i.e. pushing the barbell away from you). What might not be so obvious is that by keeping your muscles flexed while smoothly returning the barbell to the starting position you’re helping to exercise other areas of the muscle. It’s like doing twice as many reps in the same amount of time.
2) Be mindful of what you eat before / after your workout.
In every case (both cardio and weights), most experts suggest it’s smarter to work out on an empty stomach. But what about after the gym? If you’re doing cardio, don’t eat anything for at least an hour afterwards. Your body is still burning calories during this time. Make it use the energy in your fat stores, rather than relying on newly consumed food.
On the other hand, after a weight routine you should try to have a high protein, low carb/calorie/fat meal as soon as possible. I prefer a protein shake made with skim milk. The extra protein infusion is just what your muscles need to begin repairing themselves and getting you all buffed up proper.
3) Use cycles of resistance
For cardio, this means doing something along the lines of, 1 minute at 8 miles / hour, 1 minute at 9 miles / hour, 1 minute at 10 miles / hour, then repeat (obviously this is just an example, you’ll have to find the cycles that work for you). As the workout progresses, also increase the resistance on the eliptical machine or the elevation on the treadmill.
For weights, this means starting with a set of repetitions that can be done somewhat comfortably, and then increasing the weight for each of your remaining sets.
Readers: I have mad faith in your knowledge; share your own tips in the comments.
Once I was having an issue in a yoga pose that strained a muscle area. I start engaging other surrounding and supporting muscles to remove the strain and it felt much better. I asked my teacher about this practice and he told me that eventually all my muscles will be engaged throughout my entire practice. Sounds a lot like your point number 1.