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7 Tips On How To Get Fit Fast

Posted by rstapholz on
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Health & Wellness
7 Tips On How To Get Fit Fast

Do you want to get fit but have a hard time getting to the gym? Well, a lot of people skip their gym sessions because they don’t have the time to do it. Yes, going to the gym has a lot of benefits such as improving your mood and reducing stress. However, many people can’t spare a few hours to do it because of chores and errands.

Packing a bag, going to the gym and getting started on your workouts takes a lot of time. However, with the right techniques, you can get an effective workout in the shortest amount of time. Here are some of the best tips on how to get fit fast.

  1. Superset Exercises

Supersets are the oldest exercises in the book since they work. You can perform 2 exercises back-to-back and get your workout completed in a shorter time. Also, you should be able to increase the number of calories burned. If you want to maintain a high intensity and get the most benefits out of back-to-back exercises, you should alternate between lower and upper body movements. That way, as one muscle group recovers, the other one is working.

  1. Time Your Rest Periods

There are so many distractions in the gym such as TV, cell phones and friends that will make it hard to stay on task. According to Thomas Paddock of Home Gym Review, it’s a good idea to bring a timer the next time you go to the gym and time your rest periods. You should limit your rest periods to 90 seconds or less. However, you can adjust the rest periods depending on your specific goals. It’s important to choose the best rest time and stick to it. When the timer goes off, you need to get back to your workouts without any excuses.

  1. Keep It Moving

When you are resting, you don’t have to sit idly on a machine. Some of the most neglected exercises include foam rolling, stretching and supersets. Therefore, you can do these during your rest periods. When stretching, you should target areas that are not part of your current workout. For instance, when doing an upper body workout routine, you should stretch your hamstrings and hip flexors during the rest periods. If there is adequate space to roll out, you should definitely consider foam rolling in between sets.

  1. Try High-Intensity Interval Training

Interval training has become very popular over the years. Sandeep Bhandari from Ask Any Difference informed us that the Tabata protocol is quite popular where people work out for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds in between the sets. Yes, these workouts might be shorter, they are not easy. By increasing the intensity, they can boost cardiovascular health.

If you want to get started with interval training, start incorporating some short and intense bursts in your regular cardio session. You can push the pace for 20-30 seconds before resting for the same amount of time at a lower intensity. You can repeat the sequence 3-4 times and increase it as you become comfortable with high-intensity workouts.

  1. Plan Your Workout Ahead Of Time

After a set, one of the biggest distractions is wondering what to do next. Failure to plan your workout sessions will kill the efficiency of your sets. Therefore, you need to write down your workouts in advance, suggests Maria of Bespoke Fitness Buddy. You can take a screenshot with your phone for better efficiency. If your workout routine requires special equipment, you need to get them beforehand to allow faster transition between sets.

  1. Have A Backup Plan

If you have written down your workout routine but find that all the machines are taken, you should have a backup plan in place. If you visit a busy gym, you will find that it’s hard to get a machine when you need it. Rather than waiting for another gym member to finish using the machine, you should have a backup plan ready for every exercise.

Remember, not all workout machines will guarantee results. If the squat racks are busy, you should use dumbbell goblet squats or try walking lunges. Both of these exercises use the same muscle groups in different ways. You need to keep moving rather than waiting around.

  1. Warm Down

A lot of people don’t warm down after their sets and this can end up resulting in far worse pain than they would otherwise need to be concerned with. Make sure to stretch and even use a suitable cream or balm afterwards to help prevent stiffness and injury.

Conclusion

Workouts don’t have to take a lot of time to be effective. If you have the right methods in place, it should be easy to get through your workouts within the shortest time possible and enjoy all the benefits.

Workout burnout

Posted by Editor on
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Variety
Workout burnout

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So we have been making strides and efforts to get off the couch and put down the Lays potato chips, the tv remote and halleluiah our mindset toward fitness and exercise is improving. We all are very aware of the consequences of not moving more, (you see I have decided in an effort to drive home the mindset of QOL, quality of life, movement is our synonym for exercise) and with this new found energy we are making progress, fantastic.

However our new energy can lead to the dreaded INJURY, our new found exuberance has put us on the DL (disabled list) and dang it we lose our mojo. In other words workout burnout, please allow me to share a story, and perhaps we can together avoid this momentum killer.

In my own quest to lose the fifty I had acquired through my 40’s, the movement (workouts) I had been doing was adequate, and hey everyone starts somewhere. Every couch potato in the world starts at the bottom of the mountain, this one included. And let me preface this whole piece by stating that the limited and somewhat adequate workouts were enough to help me in 2008 when I had a serious illness to recover from.

After that epiphany, which is actually the first chapter in my book “The 200% Solution”, the workout efforts seriously got kicked into high gear, and that is where things started to get hairy and overuse, and workout burnout raised its ugly head.

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Movement (exercise) and the neuro- chemicals that are released in our brain during exercise are very powerful, so powerful if you are not careful the desire to fuel the release of these, (endorphins, dopamine, serotonin) can lead to issues. Issues for example described as “avoidable” , can really take a toll on our body, knock us out of commission and put us right back on the couch, dang it!

So lets talk about over training and overuse which lead to workout burn out, or put another way, avoiding becoming a wounded warrior.

The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM, where I hold my certified personal training and fitness nutrition specialist certifications, weight loss specialist and senior fitness specialization) defines overtraining as:
“Excessive frequency, volume, or intensity of training, resulting in fatigue (which is also caused by lack of proper rest and recovery)”

Overuse injuries are similarly defined as:

“ Injury that involve repetitive submaximal loading of a particular musculoskeletal unit, resulting in changes due to fatigue of tendons or inflammation of surrounding tissues.”
In real people speak knock you back to the couch time! And this can really kill our momentum to get back into shape. It’s tough to imagine the goal, get rolling, start making progress and then crash into an injury, that my friends is not a trainers answer to getting into shape.

As I prepped for my first body building show in 2010, I was determined to make a good showing. I set the goal, had the coaching, (Chris Johnson of On Target Living) a great training partner Regie Reider, a 28 year old former college football player and I was not going to let either of them down. Chris and I both competed in the same division, the grand masters which is for men over 50, and so it went, for 16 weeks of double sessions, before and after work workouts, strict whole foods every 2 hours, we were ripped and cut cats by the time the show took place in April. And let me tell you it was great.

The problems started for me right after the completion. Soft tissue, tendons and cartilage need rest, they do not recover as quickly as muscles and when stressed out you have the perfect storm for tendinitis, and I developed the elbow version. It was a nagging issue that did not completely stop me from continuing to exercise, but let me tell you I was very close to having major issues, and that my friends is the classic definition of “workout burnout”. I was very lucky; don’t put yourself into that precarious situation if you can avoid it.

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Do not become the classic gym rat, rolling into the gym and doing the same workout once a day, treadmill, elliptical, gotta stick to my routine because that is my comfort zone. That leads to thoughtless training, overuse, and staleness. It takes the fun right out of your day and puts you right back into the funk (which coincidentally the subject of another chapter in “The 200% Solution”).

Training smarter and having more fun will increase your pace, which can lead to a more efficient compact training session.

Recovery can be our friend, and sleep is our great equalizer. Your efficient workouts can help you become more adaptable in the sleep department. Good sleep takes effort and planning, however the payoff is huge. Your muscle recovery is enhanced, your work efforts are improved and your overall QOL benefits, and that is my friends is the name of our tune.
Ok so now we have an explanation, how about a routine, how do we train smart and avoid workout burnout? I am so glad you asked.

The following is a short list of to-do’s, of using your brain to not over train, check this out-

Why I should train smarter-
• Because you will recover more quickly.
• You may avoid an injury
• You will become more efficient/gaining speed/ increasing endurance
• And you will keep yourself feeling young and energized
• Your confidence will soar

Work out burn out can be avoided by trying these tips, and I have personally used them all at one time or another, they work, are not difficult and can help you meet your goals of enhanced QOL.

• Understand the “Kinetic Chain”, the concept is that every part of your body, including muscles, joints and nerves, must work together to produce movements. Posture, form and pace. It is quality above quantity
• Vary your workouts- Look at your training this way, one hard day followed by two easy days keeps you not only fresh, the routine flexible but gives you recovery time needed to heal.
• Heart rate monitors- I use a Polar, and have for several years now. I believe it keeps me on track and is a good monitoring device
• HIIT training- High intensity interval training, quick hitters between sets, I am a jump rope guy and believe everyone should try it, 30 seconds of lunges, squats or jumping jacks will work just as well
• Cross training-Runners try cycling, lifters try yoga, cardio people try resistance training, varied training can not only prevent the dreaded burnout, but you may become aware of something you like. Like the old saying, “variety is the spice of life”.

So as we move forward into our forward chapters, the “transition years” think about the positives and the possibilities for affirmative growth. We are at a special place in the history of our country, and through personal accountability in regard to our health and wellness we can all make a difference. Keep that in mind as we make strides to slowly improve, small steps, life is a very long and fruitful journey as long as we don’t overdue and move to quickly and expect too much too fast.

Peace, 

A video for inspiration.

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