Wednesday, March 2, 2011

10 Workout Tips from Your Peronal Trainer

I've selected the top 10 workout tips that I recommend to my clients, for you, free of charge!

1) Select a workout program that best suits your needs and goals. Everyone has different fitness goals, so your workout program, and schedule should meet those needs/goals. If someone tells you should only be doing endurance training, but you only want to improve your cardiorespiratory capacity...Tell them to shut up.

2) Stretch AFTER your workout only. Do not stretch before, or during your workout out. To warm up, jog. You can confuse the muscle, and even cause injury. If your muscles are feeling soar or tight, shake it out to get the blood flowing. If you're doing resistance training it's not a good idea to ask your muscle to elongate by stretching, when you are asking to contract by weights lifting at the exact same time. Hello muscle damage here we come!

3) Workout your core every time you exercise. Your abdominal muscles are very resilient and strong so they can be worked every day if you want to, or can. Try to complete 2-5 minutes of ab and core exercises each day. Plank and crunches are perfect.

4) Mix up your Cardio. I've said this time and time again. If you hate cardio, mix it up. Don't work the treadmill each time. Try something new. Break up your 30 minutes into 2x 15 minutes. It's ok. Just as long as you get your 30 minutes.

5) Incorporate Resistance Training to your weekly exercise. This is the only way you will build lean muscle mass, and avoid being "Skinny Fat", or just fat. Period.

6) Breath. Don't forget to breath. It's so important, and will actually give you more energy as the oxygen is transferred to your muscles.

7) Work Alternating Muscle Groups. Perform exercises that incorporate more than one muscle group at at time. Or work more than two main muscles groups per day. For example; work your back & chest, but add in some leg work. Try push ups, and pull ups, and planks. All these exercises use multiple muscle groups giving you an even more effective workout.

8) Remember to push yourself, and progress. Don't get lazy. If you find yourself slacking off, pick up again and talk to yourself. Mind over matter! Track your weights, and what you do. This way you can see and visualize your progression.

9) Stay motivated. Do whatever you can to keep your motivation going. Try a new gym, get a workout buddy, get a personal trainer, go to a group fitness class. Anything you can do to keep your workouts fun, fresh, and exciting. It will make the whole fitness and weight loss experience much more enjoyable. Trust me!

10) Be realistic about your goals. 10 pounds in a month....Sure! 20 lbs, maybe not. Set realistic goals for yourself. Goals that you know you can achieve. Because if you set yourself up for too difficult of a challenge, and if you happen to fail, you will be totally discouraged, and that's not what fitness is about.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you. Is there a limit of how much water one can intake while exercising? Should I drink before, during or after a run? And how much?
    ALM.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Andy,

    That's a very good question. Thanks for bringing this up.
    You can essentially drink as much water as you want. Drink water before, during and after workouts. You should always have a water bottle with you when exercising to prevent dehydration and fatigue.

    I would recommend around 500 ml - 800 ml of water for the duration of your workout routine, for about 1-1.5 hrs of exercise. BUT if you're working harder, and sweating harder you might want to drink more.

    ReplyDelete

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