How do we flip the switch, and get the most from our work outs? FHW asked a select group of fitness experts to share their best tips to help us put an end to unacceptable and lifeless workouts once and for all.
If you’re like me, there is nothing more frustrating than leaving the gym with nothing but a mediocre stretch and light sweat. Our goals are too precious and time too short to waste one more workout sampling equipment and hanging out around the water fountain.
How do we flip the switch, and get the most from our work outs? FHW asked a select group of fitness experts to share their best tips to help us put an end to unacceptable and lifeless workouts once and for all.
Workout Maximization 101
After years of working with clients and preaching the serious angle on workout maximization, the humorous approach might be more appealing for a refreshing review!
1. Pre-Pack Your Gym Sack: Go ahead... load it up the night before! Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance (5P’s)
- Ipod for the “head nod” (instead of the full hour conversation)
- Workout Gloves to prevent unsightly calluses
- Workout attire that makes you feel good about yourself (even it’s just a “good” color for you)
- Gym Shoes for gym moves
- Gym Socks – (You can’t rock the black sock!)
- Water Bottle (To actually quench your thirst – fill it!)
- Protein Shake/Powder
- Gym Lock (Safety First)
- Gym Towel (Germ Protector/Equipment Saver)
2. Physically Show Up at Your Gym: Use your GPS if necessary!
- Get in the door – this is where the action happens.
- Leave your phone and any work/family/relationship or any other conversation residue in your locker. Take it out of your mind and shove it in the locker and lock it up.
- Use the restroom and wash your hands so you’re not OCD about having to go or not having washed your hands during your workout.
- Go directly to the Gym Floor to meet your workout partner or Trainer.
3. Mentally Show Up at the Gym: Your Trainer/Partner is there to motivate you, so YOU do the work!
- Train your brain to leave your work at work – again for the record you locked all the mental madness in your gym locker . . . remember?
- Train your brain to think about your body.
- Train your brain to think about each rep, set, cardio maneuver, pedal stroke, muscle twitch, whatever your fitness passion or poison is for this workout.
- Train your brain to listen to how good it feels to get yourself physically strong.
4. Call Your Own Bluffs: This is not a Competition it’s an Exhibition!
- Remind yourself not to compete with others on the floor – it’s all about YOU
- Do Your best.
- Test Your limits.
- Comparing and contrasting your body/skills with others will just keep you stuck in your own “Mind Tornado” and your performance will suffer.
- Control Your own controllables.
- Take records of all your workout achievements for future “Bluff Calling”.
5. Exit with a Strategy: You’ve got to name it, to claim it!
- Set your next workout day
- Set your next workout time
- Set your next workout agenda
- No Fitness, Health, Diet Program works until you do!
Personal Power Thought: “To uncover your true potential, you must first find your own limits and then have the courage to blow past them.”
Sherry Derossett, CNC, CPT Personal Power Health and Fitness. Get connected with Sherry through LinkedIn.
Training Methods
“I work 40-50 hours a week, have 2 kids, and have to take care of them and the rest of my family. I barely have enough time to myself, let alone enough time to exercise. I only have about 20-30 minutes of free time each day and I try to use that time to exercise. What can I do to maximize my efforts in that minimal amount of time to help me reach my goals?” This is a question that is routinely heard throughout the health and fitness world. As trainers, we know that on average we spend about 3 hours a week with our clients. So what happens to their clients during the other 165 hours a week?
Well outside of work and sleep, a person is left with about 69 hours in the week. Getting your client to understand that although they may have a hard time finding time to exercise, they can still maximize their efforts during that short amount of time.
Several training modalities enable clients to train the body as effectively and efficiently as possible. Those include areas such as interval training, circuit training, and “
total-body training”.
- Interval training is training that involves both high- and low-intensity aerobic exercises.
- Circuit training is training that involves using both resistance training with aerobic endurance training. Circuit training may not improve cardiovascular endurance but may enable experienced exercisers to maintain current body composition and beginners to initiate body composition change.
- Total-body training is training likened to programs such as P90X and Insanity where there are a lot of activities, some weighted and some non-weight, that uses many parts of the body doing many different movements.
Programs like those outlined above are fantastic training modalities that will help you achieve optimal results in least amount of time.
Charles M. Ware, NSCA-CPT, ACE-CPT, CHES, he is the Executive Director for Professional Fitness Institute. Get connected with Charles through Facebook.
Personalize Your Program
At Studio 222 we believe you have to incorporate two essential ingredients into your training program in order to make it more time efficient and functionally productive.
- First, you have to take inventory of what you demand from your body on a daily basis and your training sessions should be based on this. You are an athlete 24/7 and you need to perform at a high level every single day. Gymnasts don’t train like body builders, so a teacher shouldn’t train like a mechanic. Designing a program that takes this into account will help you reach your specific goals much quicker.
- Second, your training session has to take into account that you are a 3-dimensional being and exercise movement has to accommodate to our unique build. The Studio 222 Foundation program helps our clients combine flexibility, stability and strength into every 30-45 minute training session and often in single exercise movements. It’s simple. Just remember these three rules:
1. Treat your body like the 3-dimensional entity it is. Your exercises should work your body side to side, back to front and rotationally.
2. You're an athlete 24/7. Look at how you use your body everyday and just like a professional athlete, design your training program to enhance your life.
3. You don't need 60-90 minutes to get your workout in. Using interval or Tabata style training is essential. Time your rest periods and keep them to 60-75 seconds in the beginning and 30-45 seconds when you progress.
James Wong, NASM-CPT is the lead instructor and owner of Studio 222. Get connected with James through Facebook.
Focus
The Key is FOCUS. The more focused you are in the gym the more you will understand how everything feels and you will learn each move to make in order to reach your maximum potential. The person
curling dumbbells while chatting with a friend isn't focused, nor are they ahead of the pack. If you will only go into the gym with focus on doing exactly what you need to do and keep that focus for every single rep---that is what will separate you from the good or average and into the realm of GREAT. By all means, never have a bad work out. There should not even be a such thing in your agenda that makes that possible. You go in there and WIN!! Take your passion for the Ultimate Goal, straight into that gym with you and ROCK THE DOME!
Chase Hill, Fitness Expert/Trainer, Fitness Model, and Motivation Coach. And, I really just want to help others become greater, every single day of their life. Get connected with Chase through Facebook.
Be Intentional
Time is probably the most important and inclusive. It's not just how much time I have to work out during the week, or the time of day for workouts, but also how much time I allow for rest between exercise sessions and even between sets. I consider all of this at the end of each week for the next week since my schedule can change from week to week.
By efficiency of workouts I am referring to the types of exercises and techniques I will choose based on my time allotted and exercise form. I also consider the number of sets and repetitions for each exercise so I can get the most out of each workout whether it be a quick 25-30 minute session or an hour. For example, I may super set on a 30 minute day or I may use progressive resistance and allow more rest time between sets on a day where I have an hour to train.
Another very important step to maximize your workouts is consideration of your personal strengths and weaknesses. A bodybuilder may focus on his proportions and look to increase part of his body that is lagging; I see the same importance here but more than just that. I look at all aspects of my physical state to get the most out of my workouts and my time for the week.
For instance, if my cardiovascular conditioning is regressing, I will put a little more emphasis on it from one week to the next. I will do the same for each element of my fitness and health. If I am more stressed at work, I may do some yoga or tai chi that week and try and center myself because I understand if I hit the weights to “blow off some steam” I may overextend myself and get an injury which is not going to maximize anything.
Anthony F. Ferrara, B.S., ACSM-CPT, IFA-Senior Instructor,
Athletic Trainer/Exercise Physiologist, Author “The True Ethics Of Training”. Connect with Anthony through
LinkedIn.
Comments
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