Technique #1 - Minimize your rest.
Have you ever seen people spend hours in a gym pumping out their reps and then sitting down to rest? I’m a busy mom and all I can think is “ain’t nobody got time for that!!” I’ve got stuff to do and places to be!!! I need to get my workout done FAST!
Minimizing rest is a technique used in High-Intensity Interval Training such as Tabata. The idea is that you push hard for 20 seconds and only have 10 seconds of rest (sometimes referred to as negative rest). This pushes your body, maximizes your metabolism and allows you to burn tons of calories AFTER your workout.
A study done by Dr Martin Gibala (a physiologist at Canada’s McMaster University and a leading researcher on HIIT training), found that three-minute intervals on a stationary bike with 30 seconds of intense pedalling followed by a brief rest, repeated five or six times – led to the same muscle-cell adaptations as a bike ride lasting an hour and a half to two hours!!
Minimizing your rest and maximizing your intensity WORKS!
Technique #2 - Mix Cardio with Weight Training
Utilizing a circuit pattern which alternates strength exercises with cardio exercises increases the impact of your workout. It is not time effective to spend a half hour on steady-state cardio (i.e. running on a treadmill) followed by a half hour of strength training.
Combining cardio and weights together will give you maximum results with minimum time. For example, follow your jumping jacks with a set of deadlifts or sprints with a set of push ups. Your heart will be pounding and your muscles will be fatigued.
A 12-week Skidmore College study found that exercisers who did a high-intensity total-body strength routine combined with cardio lost more than 4 times as much belly fat, compared with cardio-only exercisers.
Another report in the Journal of Sports Science found that aerobic (cardio) training combined with strength training was much more effective at decreasing fat compared to just aerobic training.
Technique #3 - Perform Multi-Muscle Exercises
Instead of doing a set of standing bicep curls or a set of tricep kickbacks, combine those exercises with a squat or lunge. According to Tom Holland, author of “Beat the Gym”, this adds a balance and stability component, making it a functional move as well.”
This style of training has a high energy expenditure which burns a lot of calories and fat. It increases lean muscle tissue, improves core strength and helps maintain your joint health through a full range of motion.
Technique #4 - Add Plyometrics
According to Wikipedia, Plyometrics means "jump training". It can be anything that looks like a hop, skip or jump. For example, jump squats, jumping lunges, jumping jacks, one-legged hops, plyo push ups and Burpees are all plyometric movements.
They're one of the most effective ways to torch calories and burn serious fat. Plus, it is an innate behaviour to humans. Look in the school yard and you’ll see tons of plyometric exercises going on :)
Plyometric movements are a multi-muscle exercise and combine strength training with cardiovascular training. This makes them effective at torching calories and helping with weight loss.
Use one or all 4 of these techniques to save time in your workouts and get better results!!
All 4 of these techniques are used at NC Fitness studio. The workouts that I put together include cardio AND strength training. We do multi-muscle exercises in every workout. We always minimize rest (that’s why our workouts are only 30 minutes) and we utilize plyometrics.
The advantage of working out at my studio is that I can always modify your workout. You may not be able to do jumping lunges, but you can do another exercise equally as effective. It’s like having a personal trainer but without the expense AND you get the energy and motivation from working out in a group!!
For a free trial pass email me at Natasha@NCFitness.ca