Ultra-FIT magazine

Performed on a treadmill or a rower, this descending pyramid interval workout gets faster as the work periods get shorter…Cheeky!

Run/Row 2000 meters
Rest 3 minutes
Run/Row 1500 meters
Rest 2 minutes
Run/Row 1000 meters
Rest 1 minute
Run/Row 500 meters
Collapse!

Try to increase your pace on each interval. Take it easy (ish) for the first one and build up from there.

If you intend to start a new fitness regime, it may be useful to find out exactly where you are starting in terms of your current levels of strength, muscular endurance and cardiovascular fitness. This provides you with an idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are so you can design a tailor-made programme based on your physiological needs and also gives you some useful measures that you can monitor over the coming year to assess the success of your training programme.

I have selected a battery of tests to assess your all-round fitness so it’s important you do them all. However, if you have a particular interest in one area, for example cardiovascular fitness, feel free to focus on that particular test. General exercises should be looking to perform equally well in all the tests.

Warm ups

Because fitness tests are challenging, it is essential you warm up properly. Perform a few minutes of cardio followed by some dynamic stretches then practice the techniques of each test at a low level of intensity. Only attempt the test once you are ready. Also, if you want to score as well as possible, perform different tests on different days and make sure you are as well rested as possible. It is not a good idea to attempt a maximal speed 1.5 mile run the day after a hard leg workout!

Strength

Strength, commonly expressed as your one repetition maximum or 1RM for short, is all about exerting maximal effort and lifting the heaviest weight you can safely manage. You can measure the strength of just about any muscle or muscle group but in terms of function, your ability to pick heavy objects off the floor and lift them overhead are key tasks excellent measures of strength. For this reason, your strength tests are the deadlift and barbell overhead press.

For the purposes of these tests, a beginner has been training specifically for strength for six to nine months, an intermediate for more than eighteen months and advanced for twenty four months or more. All weights have been adjusted to the nearest 2.5kg as this is commonly the lowest increment available.

If you don’t fancy trying an all out 1RM test, you can predict your 1RM using this simple calculation:

Weight lifted x maximum repetitions performed x 0.0333 + weight lifted = estimated 1RM
For accuracy, try to max out using 10 reps or less.

For example; 45kgs x 7 repetitions = 315 x 0.0333 = 10.49 + 45 = 55.48kgs (round up or down to nearest 2.5/5kg to find your estimated 1RM)

Deadlifts
For instructions on how to perform the deadlift see my “Technique Master Class” article elsewhere in this issue.

Barbell Overhead Press
Place a barbell at mid-chest height in a squat rack. Grasp the bar with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip. With your elbows below your hands and your wrists straight, unrack the bar and take a small step backwards. The bar should be resting across the fronts of your shoulders. Inhale and, with your legs completely straight, push the bar up and overhead to arms’ length. The rep only counts if you lock the bar out and hold it steady for a second or so. Lower the bar back down and re-rack it. Do not lean back when performing this movement as this places an inordinate amount of stress on your lower back. Any backward lean should be only enough to allow the bar to pass in front of your head without hitting you in the nose or chin.

1RM Deadlift – Men
Body Weight	Beginner	Intermediate	Advanced
147 lbs/66.8kg	176lbs/80kg	269.5lbs/122.5kg	379.5lbs/172.5kg
165 lbs/75kg	195.2lbs/87.5kg	291.5lbs/132.5kg	407lbs/185kg
180 lbs/81.8kg	209lbs/95kg	313.5lbs/142.5kg	434.5lbs/197.5kg
198lbs+/90kg+	225.5lbs/102.5kg	330lbs/150kg	456.5lbs207.5kg
1RM Deadlift – Women
Body Weight	Beginner	Intermediate	Advanced
114lbs/51.8kg	93.5lbs/42.5kg	143lbs/65kg	198lbs/90kg
123lbs/55.9kg	99lbs/45kg	148.5lbs/67.5kg	209lbs/95kg
132lbs/60kgs	104.5lbs/47.5kg	159.5lbs/72.5kg	220lbs/100kg
148lbs+/67.3kg+	115.5lbs/52.5kg	176lbs/80kg	242/110kg

 

1RM Barbell Overhead Press – Men
Body Weight	Beginner	Intermediate	Advanced
147 lbs/66.8kg	82.5lbs/37.5kg	121lbs/55kg	137.5/62.5kg
165 lbs/75kg	88lbs/40kg	126.5lbs/57.5kg	154lbs/70kg
180 lbs/81.8kg	93.5lbs/42.5kg	137.5lbs/62.5kg	165lbs/75kg
198lbs+/90kg+	99lbs/45kg	143lbs/65kg	170.5lbs/77.5kg
1RM Barbell Overhead Press – Women
Body Weight	Beginner	Intermediate	Advanced
114lbs/51.8kg	38.5lbs/17.5kg	55lbs/25kg	77lbs/35kg
123lbs/55.9kg	44lbs/20kg	60.5lbs/27.5kg	82.5lbs/37.5kg
132lbs/60kg	49.5lbs/22.5kg	66lbs/30kg	88lbs/40kg
148lbs+/67.3kg+	55lbs/25kg	71.5lbs/32.5kg	93.5lbs/42.5kg

Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance is your ability to generate a relatively low amount of force for an extended period of time. Having great muscular endurance makes you more fatigue resistant which is an important factor in sport and day to day physical activities. Two of the most commonly used tests for muscular endurance are press ups and bent-legged sit ups. Both tests are used by the military and law enforcement as well as personal trainers and other fitness professionals.

As with all types of testing, it is essential that your results are repeatable so make sure you use correct technique every time you perform these tests.  A change in technique may produce a false result so make sure you follow the instructions for each exercise to the letter!

 

Press Ups – maximal repetitions

Press ups may be the most commonly performed exercise on the planet but they are also one of the most poorly performed. For this test to be accurate, it is essential you perform each repetition properly.

Men – Place your hands on the floor, shoulder-width apart. Walk your feet back until your heels, hips and shoulders form a straight line. Without piking your hips or arching/rounding your back, bend your arms and lower your chest until it lightly touches the floor. Extend your arms and push up so your elbows are extended. That’s one rep – keep going until you can no longer continue. Make a note of your score and compare to the chart below.

Men

 

Women – there is nothing to stop you performing full press ups but the chart below is designed specifically for women and the use of three-quarter press ups. Place your hands on the floor and then walk your feet back until your heels, hips and shoulders form a straight line. Bend your legs and place your knees on the floor. Your knees, hips and shoulders should now form a line and your feet should be resting lightly on the floor. Bend your arms and lower your chest to the floor and then push back up to full arm extension. Perform as many reps as you can and then compare your score to the chart below.

Women

 

 

 

One minute Sit-ups Test

The one minute sit-ups test assesses abdominal and hip flexor muscular endurance. This is a slightly controversial test as it requires you to anchor your feet which is something generally frowned upon in personal training circles. The argument against anchoring your feet is that doing so increases hip flexor activity and takes tension off of the abdominals. While this is true, this is an endurance test and not a conditioning exercise and anchoring your feet will allow you to perform the exercise using better technique than would otherwise be possible. That being said, the increased hip flexor activity can be problematic for lower back pain sufferers so if you are in the least bit worried about lower back problems, I suggest avoiding this particular test.

Men and Women

There are no gender-specific differences for performing sit-ups. Lie on your back with your legs bent and your feet flat on the floor. Have a training partner hold your feet down or place them under an immovable object. Lie back and put your hands against the side of your head. Sit up until your elbows touch your knees and then lie back until your elbows touch the floor. This constitutes one repetition. Do as many repetitions as you can in 60 seconds and then compare your results to the appropriate table below.

Men

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women

Aerobic Fitness

Aerobic fitness is your ability to take in, transport and utilize oxygen and is commonly expressed as your VO2 max. While there are lots of ways to estimate your VO2 max, they are all either very complicated, require sophisticated equipment and/or testing protocols or are nothing better than an educated guess. Rather than bog you down with science, I have selected the Cooper 1.5 (2.4km) mile walk/run test as it is accessible and the results are easy to interpret.

The Cooper 1.5mile/2.4km walk/run test is very simple. Using a treadmill, track or flat measure course, walk/run as fast as you can and note your completion time. Compare your time to the tables below. Treat this test as a time trial – your aim is to cross the finish line totally spent and confident you couldn’t have gone any faster.

 

Now you know exactly how fit you are and what, if any, are your areas of weakness. Repeat these tests in three months time and assess your progress. Ideally, if your programme is doing its job and your diet and lifestyle factors such as sleep and rest are in order, you should see a marked increase in your performance. If you don’t see much in the way of an increase, you may need to revisit your workout and design a new one or choose one of the great workouts published in ultra-FIT.

Training systems are recognized set/rep/exercise combinations that are designed to increase the intensity of your workouts. Often associated with bodybuilding and other “hardcore” exercisers, training systems can take your fitness to a new higher level. But, be warned, training systems are TOUGH! Expect to feel sore a few days after using a new training system. Each month I’ll be introducing a training system and provide you with example workouts for you to try. This month is all about – Integrated Circuit Training or ICT for short.

The vast majority of training systems are designed to increase strength or muscle mass. They aren’t normally associated with increased cardiovascular fitness, anaerobic conditioning or serious fat loss. ICT workouts change all that!

Integrated Cardio Circuits describe the combination of traditional circuit training and/or strength exercises with intense bouts of cardio which results in a challenging but simple workout that can dramatically improve your aerobic and anaerobic fitness while making you lean and indefatigable. This approach to fitness has been championed by the military, law enforcement, MMA fighters and by CrossFit and is reputedly the type of exercise the actors in movies such as 300 use to get in such phenomenal shape in a very short space of time.

The reason ICT workouts are so effective is that they challenge your body’s energy systems in a variety of ways simultaneously. Imagine running a 400 meter sprint and then, on crossing the line, you drop down into a set of press ups. Your heart will be pounding, your lungs heaving and then you ask your chest and arm muscles to power you through a set of press ups! Needless to say, the metabolic expense of this type of workout is huge which is one of the reasons that ICT workouts can strip body fat faster than a hungry Amazonian piranha fish after a starvation diet!

In addition to fat burning, ICT workouts adhere to the chaos principle. This simply means that if you throw enough varied and intense stimuli at your body during the same workout, it has no choice but to adapt and adapt quickly in an attempt to protect itself from subsequent workouts. This means that ICT workouts are the closet to full contact MMA combat that most of us will ever come.

Integrated Cardio Circuits are not for beginners but if you are intermediate or advanced fitness participant, you will probably enjoy this type of workout. Due to the intensity of this type of workout, most Integrated Cardio Circuits are quite short, 20 minutes or so being quite typical. Do not let the brevity of these workouts fool you though – the lack of exercise duration is more than made up for by the intensity of the workout.

It’s easy enough to create your own ICT workouts. Simply perform a bout of high intensity cardio for 2-3 minutes and then perform 3-5 strength training or bodyweight exercises straight after. Keep the reps moderate to high and select exercises you can generally perform with perfect form. If your technique breaks down during a normal workout, it will break down more during an ICT workout so stick with exercises you can do “in your sleep”. Perform three to five sets of your ICT sequence and you are done for the day. Remember, ICT is intense so think short, sharp workouts rather than long easy/moderate ones. If you are still going after 20-30 minutes, you haven’t been working hard enough!

Here are some example ICT workouts to get you started. Remember to warm up properly beforehand and also moderate the distances, times and repetitions according to your personal fitness levels…

ICT Workout One

1. Run 1000 meters
2. 20 pull ups
3. 30 press ups
4. 40 squats
5. Cycle 5000 meters
6. 40 squats
7. 30 press ups
8. 20 pull ups
9. Row 1000 meters

Storm through the above list from start to finish as fast as possible. Don’t worry if you can’t complete all the prescribed reps in a single set; simply chip away until you hit the repetition goal. Once you have completed all the reps for an exercise, move onto the next. Go as fast as you can but never at the expense of good exercise technique. Treat each block of cardio as a standalone time trial and then try to “hang on” for the resistance exercises.

ICT Workout Two

50 bodyweight squats
Run 500 meters
40 bodyweight squats
Run 400 meters
30 bodyweight squats
Run 300 meters
20 bodyweight squats
Run 200 meters
10 bodyweight squats
Run 100 meters

By the time you have finished you will have performed 150 squats and run 1500 meters. Make a note of your time and try to beat it next time. Alternatively, for a longer and more demanding workout perform 5 laps of the following against the clock:

• 50 bodyweight squats
• Run 500 meters

At the end of this workout you will have performed 250 squats and run 2500 meters.

Whichever option you chose, you can be assured of a great lower body and cardio workout. Running after squatting means your thighs will get ever more tired as the workout progresses. This will produce a feeling not dissimilar to trying to run after cycling – a triathletes’ nightmare. There is no way to avoid this so just set your treadmill speed and get on with it!

ICT Workout Three

Repeat the following sequence 3-5 times, resting 60-90 seconds between laps. Use a lighter weight than normal to allow for the fact that you will be fatigued after the rowing.

1.       Row 500 meters

2.       15 reps of squats

3.       15 reps of bench press

4.       15 reps of deadlifts

5.       15 reps medicine ball slams

ICT is an exercise cure-all and ideal for when you need to get a lot done in a short time. While not ideal for developing strength or muscle size, ICT is very effective for increasing all round conditioning, improving muscular endurance and dropping body fat quickly.

 

Todays workout requires nothing more than a single kettlebell, a few meters of space and the ability to count!

After your warm up, perform three to five laps of the following sequence. Do not rest between exercises but take 1-2 minutes after the burpees at the end.

• 50 bodyweight only squats – thighs down to parallel people!
• 40 lunges – that s 20 on each leg
• 30 two-handed kettlebell swings -  drive with the hips and keep your lower back tightly arched
• 20 press ups – chest to the floor, core held tight
• 10 burpees – press up and jump are optional

Each lap should take between three to five minutes to complete.

Squat Pyramid

Perform a 3 set pyramid of each of the following squat variations. The last weight of your 1st pyramid should be the starting weight for your second pyramid and your last weight of your second pyramid should be the first weight of your third. Don’t worry – we’ve provided an example sets, reps and weights…

1) Overhead Squats
12 x 25kg
10 x 30kg
8 x 35kg

2) Front Squats
12 x 35kg
10 x 40kg
8 x 45kg

3) Back Squats
12 x 45kg
10 x 50kg
8 x 55kg

Have a good stretch after you have finished this workout and expect some sore legs tomorrow!

For details onm how to perform these exercise, please visit http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/ThighWt.html

 

 

A deck of playing cards can make for an unusual but effective addition to your exercise arsenal. Popularised by legendary American wrestling coach Karl Gotch, using a deck of cards adds a degree of randomness to your workouts that means that every training session is different. This can be of great benefit if you are involved in chaotic sports such as rugby, football or boxing where the demands of competition fluctuate wildly or, if like many exercisers, you simply get bored easily and prefer not to repeat the same workout twice.

The Deck of Cards Workout is simple. Using a normal deck of playing cards allocate an exercise to each suit. For example:

Hearts = squats
Diamonds = press ups
Spades = lunges
Clubs = crunches

Starting with the well-shuffled deck placed face down, turn over the top card and perform the prescribed number of reps for that exercise. Using the exercises suggested above, if you turn over the 8 of diamonds, you would perform 8 press ups. Then, with minimal rest, turn over the next card and do that exercise and so on until each card has been turned over.

There are a couple of options regarding the picture cards. You could allocate a set number of repetitions to all picture cards, for example 12 or assign a numerical value to each one, for example:

Kings – 15
Queens – 13
Jacks – 11

Adjust these figures up or down according to your fitness levels.

Play the Joker for fitness

Jokers can be removed from the pack entirely or left in to provide extra exercises. If you leave the jokers in, you could allocate something like run 500 meters or 20 burpees or even use the joker to signify a 60 second rest. Personally I like to make sure the Joker is a real challenge to add some extra intensity to the workout and for some reason my pack has three of them! However, whilst a challenge is good, making the Joker so tough that you fail to complete the workout would be a mistake so be conservative and remember what seemed quite doable in the planning stage can turn into something bordering on the impossible mid-way though your workout!

Once you have decided on your exercises, repetition scheme and jokers simply start your stopwatch and storm through the exercises as fast as you can. The clock keeps ticking while you rest so try to keep your breaks to a minimum.  As the cards come out in a random order, sometimes you’ll get a good run of dissimilar cards but from time to time you’ll think you must be playing poker and you’ll get runs of suits or lots of high cards in a row. Tough! That’s the beauty of this workout – you never quite know what you are going to get and that randomness is part of not just the fun but also the training effect.

The Deck of Cards Workout lends itself very well to body weight or minimal equipment exercises. This keeps the transitions fast and the pace of the workout high. You can, however, use weight training exercises as I’ve detailed below in workout five.

These are some of my favourite Deck of Cards Workouts to help get you started with this great training method. Feel free to use them as they are or mix elements from the different workouts to create your own unique training session. If you come up with a particularly good one, why not share it via our Facebook page or website?

1)      Black cards = push ups, Red cards = bodyweight squats, Jokers = run 500 meters/skipping 300 rope turns. This is my favourite “no frills” Deck of Cards workout that never fails to deliver an awesome training session!

2)      Hearts = Burpees, Diamonds = jumping jacks (x 2), Spades = rubber band high pulls, Clubs = sit ups, Jokers = 60 second planks. For this workout, when performing jumping jacks, complete double the number of repetitions indicated by the card e.g. 9 of diamonds = 18 jumping jacks etc.

3)      Hearts = skipping (x 10), Diamonds = body rows, Spades = burpees, Clubs = dips, Jokers = row 500 meters. For this workout, when skipping, perform 10 turns of the rope for every number of Hearts i.e. 7 of Hearts = 70 turns of the rope etc.

4)      Hearts = step ups, Diamonds = sandbag/Powerbag clean and push press, Spades = chin ups, Clubs = crunches, Jokers = skipping 200 rope turns skipping.

5)      Hearts = barbell squats, Diamonds = barbell deadlifts, Spades = body rows, Clubs = bench press, Jokers = 60 seconds of twisting sit ups. For this workout, use around 60% of your one repetition maximum (1RM). It may be necessary to perform the reps rest/pause style i.e. if unable to perform all of the reps when a high card is revealed then do as many of the reps as possible, rest briefly and then continue with the set.

The ultra-FIT Cards and Dice Workout

We’ve provided you with (12?) exercise cards that you can use in conjunction with some dice to create your very own randomized workouts. The fitter you are, the more dice you should use.

Beginners – 2 dice
Intermediate – 3 dice
Advanced – 4 dice
Elite – 5 dice

You could also use a dice with more than 6 sides. These are commonly used in role-playing games such as Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons. Some have as many as 20 sides. Simply roll the dice and perform that number of repetitions. Sometimes you’ll roll low numbers and sometimes high – that’s the luck of the dice! You can combine the cards and dice in a number of ways:

1) Work through the (12?) deck and throw the dice each time you turn over a new card. Run through the deck once, twice or as many times as your current fitness level allows.

2) Pick four cards – an upper body card, a lower body card, a core card and a cardio card. Throw the dice and then perform that many repetitions of each exercise before throwing again. Continue until you have completed as many laps as desired or for a set time.

3) Throw the dice once and perform that many repetitions of each of the (12?) cards. On completion, throw again and repeat. This method works best if you set a total training time, e.g. 20 minutes and try to complete as many laps as possible in the allotted time.

4) Arrange the cards face up in their groups – upper body, lower body, cardio and core. Throw the dice and perform all of the upper body exercises. Throw the dice again and perform all the lower body exercises. Continue until you have completed all four groups. Repeat as desired.

Suggested exercises assuming 12 cards.

Upper body – Press ups, Dips, Body rows

Lower body – Squats, Lunges, Squat Jumps

Core – Bent leg sit ups, crunches, bicycle crunches

Cardio – Jumping jacks, Burpees, Alternate leg squat thrusts

 

 

 

 

This issue’s No-Frills workout came about because I wanted to create a standardised gym challenge that could be performed almost anywhere and that would provide not just a great stimulus for improved fitness but also present an opportunity for competition, albeit against myself! The aim of the workout is to complete all the exercises and repetitions in the order they are written in the fastest time possible. Transitions (moving from one exercise to another) are included in your overall finishing time and if you need to rest during or between sets, the clock keeps on ticking!

The up and down again Pyramid workout

All you need for this workout is a treadmill, a mat, a pull up bar a skipping rope and s stop watch. If you prefer, this workout could also be performed outside providing you have an accurate way of measuring out 500 meters.

Begin the workout by spending three to five minutes warming up. Perform some light cardio, dynamic stretches and joint mobility exercises and then a few reps of each exercise by way of practice and preparation.

Run 500 meters

10 chin ups

20 burpees

30 bent leg sit ups

40 jump rope double unders

50 squats

40 jump rope double unders

30 bent leg sit ups

20 burpees

10 chin ups

Run 500 meters

As with any competitive event, this workout has a few rules…

• Your time starts when you begin the first run and finishes when you complete the last run
• Chin ups – performed under or overhand as preferred; your chin MUST touch the bar at the top of the movement and you must achieve full arm extension at the bottom. Kipping is NOT permitted (*see note below)
• Burpees are to include both a jump and a press up (**see ruling exception below)
• Sit ups are performed with bent knees and your hands must remain in contact with your temples. For a repetition to count, your elbows must touch your knees and feet must NOT be anchored but still remain on the floor
• Double unders – rope must pass cleanly under your feet twice per jump to count. If you can’t do double unders, you can substitute tuck jumps
• For the runs, set the treadmill at 5% incline – no holding on to the handrails
• Squats – feet shoulder-width apart and hands clasped under your chin. Squat down until your elbows touch your knees and then stand upright between reps

*If you are unable to perform chin ups, feel free to substitute lat pull downs using a demanding but manageable weight or body rows.

**If a full burpee (including press up and jump) is too much for you, simply leave out one or both of these elements

A word of caution…

Being competitive is one thing but often, when an element of competition is introduced, exercise technique can become questionable at best and injurious at worse. To get the most from this workout you should endeavour to perform the listed exercises as quickly as you can but only while using good form. No matter how well intentioned you efforts, if you perform exercises with poor form you significantly increase your risk of injury. If in doubt, slow down a little to prevent any mishaps.

If you enjoyed this workout, and I hope you did, why not post your finishing time on our facebook page?

 

 

 

Rowing is a great workout,  interval training is a great fat burner and this workout combines the two!

Name: Broken 5000 Meter Rowing Challenge
Duration: Against the Clock
Equipment: Rowing machine
Method: Row the following intervals. Increase your pace slightly for each interval and finish with an all out sprint! 

• 2,000 meters (e.g. 2.10 per 500 meter) 
• Rest 3 minutes 
• 1,500 meters (e.g. 2.00 per 500 meters)  
• Rest 2 minutes 
• 1,000 meters (e.g. 1.55 per 500 meters) 
• Rest 1 minute 
• 500 meters (e.g. 1.50 per 500 meters)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s workout is a straight forward race against the clock consisting of both cardio and endurance exercises. If you can’t complete all of the repetitions in a single set, feel free to chip away by performing a few repetitions at a time until all the reps are completed and then move on. Remember, the clock is ticking so try to keep your rest periods to a minimum!

Run 1000 meters
20 chin ups
30 press ups
40 squats
Cycle 5000 meters
40 squats
30 press ups
20 chin ups
Row 1000 meters

Record your time and try to beat it next time you do this workout…

If you always do what you have always done, you’ll always get what you always got. Despite bordering on being a tongue-twister, this truism explains why many exercisers fail to make satisfactory progress in their fitness training. Your body is a master adapter and the workout that once left you sore and tired is now, as far as your body is concerned, no longer a trigger for fitness or strength gains. Whilst there is no disputing that our bodies are truly amazing, they can also be just plain lazy! To get fitter, stronger, leaner or faster, you need to continually push your body to higher levels of intensity.

Any new training programme will illicit an increase in fitness – for between four to six weeks. However, once your body has laid down new capillaries to deliver more blood to your muscles or increased the size and number of energy producing mitochondria cells or made your muscle fibres bigger and stronger, it will quite happily just maintain your current levels of fitness until you increase the demands of your workout again. Progression is KEY in continually improving fitness and strength.

So with that in mind, here are 10 suggestions for flipping your current workout on its head to promote a new surge in fitness development. Apply a few of these strategies to your current workout and then, next month, apply a few more. Continually altering the elements of your workout is one of many ways to ensure your fitness stays out of the ruts and is always climbing to new heights.

1. 1.       Perform Single Limb Exercises
   With the exception of a few lunges, you probably don’t spend much time performing single limb exercises and yet, ironically, almost all of our daily activities and virtually every sport uses single limb movements. With the exception of rowing, weight lifting and diving, the majority of sporting endeavours involve single leg ground contact and yet very few people perform single limb exercises. Try performing more single leg squats, single arm dumbbell presses, one-arm kettlebell swings and other single limb exercises. They will enhance your balance, address any left to right muscle imbalances you might have and also challenge your core muscles.

 

1. 2.       Increase your Speed
   Most regular runners and cyclists have a “training pace” that feels comfortable. Whenever they head out to train, they fall into this pace and seldom vary from it. Chances are this is their Long Slow Distance pace, LSD for short, and equates to around 60 to 70 percent of their maximum heart rate. The response you experience from exercise is specific to the type of training you do – this is one of the undeniable laws of exercise prescription. This means that long, slow distance training teaches you to run a long way, slowly! If you want to train your body to run, row or cycle faster you need to increase your speed. Break the habit of exercising at your “training pace” and purposely work at a faster speed than is comfortable. Picking up the pace will initially necessitate shorter workouts but that’s okay; a few weeks down the line you’ll find you can run faster AND longer. Remember, if you cruise, you lose!

 

1. 3.       Don’t isolate, integrate!
   Leg extensions, calf raises, crunches and triceps kickbacks are all fine, effective exercises but each one is designed you isolate your muscles from the rest of your body. This is okay if you are trying to spot-gain or tone specific areas of your body but if you want to work in the “real world” where muscles never work alone but always in synergy with the rest of your body, it’s time to drop-kick the isolation exercises and bring on the compound exercises. There are over 600 muscles in the human body and of those 600; virtually each one can be trained by using just six exercises. Build your workouts around squats, bench presses, lat pull downs (or better still, pull ups), deadlifts, overhead presses and bent over rows. Anything else you add is just icing on the cake. The result of focusing on these “key lifts”? A strong, functional and well balanced body that looks good and works well.

 

1. 4.       Focus on your Rear First
   Most guys and many girls focus on the muscles they can see in the mirror, specifically the arms, chest and abs. These muscles ARE important but the muscles you CANT see are just as vital. To make sure you put sufficient emphasis on the muscles on the back of your body, do them first in both your workout week and in each individual training session. Emphasising the upper back, lower back, glutes and hamstrings will promote spinal health, posture and performance. A couple of months of rear-body focus may result in less back and shoulder pain and also increased fat burning because bigger muscles result in an increased metabolic rate.

 

1. 5.       Train for Strength
   High repetition training, as seen in muscular endurance workouts and group exercise classes such as Bodypump, is an effective way to increase your general fitness but if this is your main modality of exercise, you are missing out on a whole host of benefits by not upping the weights and moving into the strength training zone. Strength training, as opposed to muscular endurance and hypertrophy training, increases your functional performance, bone mass, neuromuscular connections, ligament and tendon strength. To break into strength, gradually increase the weights you are lifting and reduce the repetitions until you are performing multiple sets of five reps. As the weights go up, so must your recovery periods between sets – rest around two to four minutes between maximal efforts. Focus on the key exercises mentioned in point three above and strive to add more weight to the bar week by week. Don’t worry – training this way won’t make female exercisers “big and bulky”. Women lack the necessary bodybuilding hormone testosterone for this to happen. Strength training will, however, make your muscles rock-hard and help you burn lots more calories even at rest.

 

1. 6.       Don’t Split your Body Parts
   For some reason I can’t comprehend, many trainers and exercisers are under the misapprehension that whole body workouts are for beginners and women only and that “real” weight training requires a split routine. While there is nothing wrong with split routines for bodybuilding, for the other 99.9 percent of the exercising population, whole body workouts are where it’s at. Whole body workout burn more calories, treat your body as a single synergistic unit, trigger a greater release of anabolic hormones and allow for a greater training frequency per muscle group. If you are currently training using a split routine, try whole body workouts for a few weeks. If nothing else, it will teach you to be selective with your exercise choices as you’ll only have time to perform big, compound exercises that provide maximum “bang for your buck”.

 

1. 7.       Get outside!
   So many exercises drive to the gym, get in the lift to the changing rooms and then hop on a treadmill for a vigorous walk or jog! While the convenience of indoor training is undeniable, being solely reliant on the gym for your exercise means you are missing out on a host of potential benefits. Uneven surfaces, random inclines and obstacles combined with sunshine and fresh air trump artificial lighting and recycled conditioned air every time. The gym is essential if you want to lift weights or enjoy group exercise classes but if you want to run or cycle, doing it out of doors in the real world is far more beneficial to your body, your health and, dare I say your spirit. Watch out for traffic though…!

 

1. 8.       Master your bodyweight
   Like whole body workouts discussed in point six above, for some reason, bodyweight exercises are generally thought of as the reserve of beginners. Trainers are often guilty of prescribing the latest and greatest freeweight or kettlebell exercises to clients who can’t perform press ups, pull ups, dips and squats properly. This is an injury waiting to happen. Bodyweight exercises teach you to master your body safely. They place minimal stress on your joints, teach inter-joint and inter-muscle coordination, develop muscular endurance and can be performed just about anywhere. Compare the number of muscles involved in the press up to the bench press; press ups are essentially a full body exercise where YOU are the bar, the bench AND the barbell! If you always lift weights, consider a month of bodyweight training as an alternative. If you need convincing, just check out the physiques of the average gymnast…that’s bodyweight training all the way.

 

1. 9.       Buddy Up!
   I like training on my own. I have my own “training rhythm” that has developed over many years and I know how to motivate myself to perform well when I train. That being said, on the rare occasions I do find someone compatible to train with, I am always surprised to find that, while I thought I was training as hard as I could, in actuality I was being a bit conservative. Having someone else around for moral support means I can often find an extra rep or two that, alone, I wouldn’t have performed. If you usually train alone, try to find a like-minded and similarly conditioned training partner; even if it’s only for the occasional workout. It’ll take your workouts to a new level.

 

1. 10.   Train Early
   Most exercisers head to the gym after work. You only have to look at the number of people in the group exercise classes or queuing for the spinning bikes to see that the early evening is the most popular time to exercise. There is absolutely nothing wrong with an early evening workout; in fact some authorities suggest that hormonally and body temperature-wise, this is probably the best time to get the most out of your training. However, there are a number of benefits to early morning training that cannot be disputed and may make all the difference to your fitness aspirations. First thing in the morning, your blood glucose levels are slightly low as you have been fasting for eight to twelve hours. This means your body is primed for fat burning. Studies suggest that cardio performed in a fasted state results in a greater utilization of fat for energy. Also, exercise performed early in the morning, especially high intensity exercise, spikes your insulin sensitivity and metabolic rate much more than training sessions performed later in the day. This also leads to greater fat loss. Finally, making exercise your first priority of the day means that the hard part of your day is done and everything else is plain sailing. I love that feeling!