How to Boost the Effectiveness of Each Workout
Christopher William Combs
Most exercisers know how frustrating it is to feel like you are making no progress in the gym. Besides feeling like you are just wasting the money on you gym membership, it is just discouraging to see nothing change in either your weight or appearance week after week. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to increase the amount of time you exercise each week. The problem usually is in how your approach each workout. Follow these certain easy steps make exercise time as effective as it possibly can be.
Only Rest for a Minute In Between Each Set - Do you ever wonder why exactly it is that you muscle starts burning when you work it really hard? That feeling is the build up of lactic acid. When lactic acid builds up faster than you body can remove it, you experience muscle failure. When you stop lifting weights, it is removed from your muscle extremely quickly. That’s why you are able to start lifting another set shortly afterwards. But it important to remember that the more stress you put on the muscle, the more you encourage it to grow.
Warm Up Beforehand – I see it all the time in my personal training practice: people simply dive into sprinting at full speed on the treadmill or lifting huge amounts of weight shortly after they hit the gym, not even bothering with a little five minute warm up. It’s a huge mistake to think of warming up as a waste of time. By doing something as simple as light cardio for a couple minutes, you increase your blood flow and loosen your joints. By increasing your heart rate, you push blood and essential nutrients into your muscles, making them much more prepared to effectively lift weights. Warming up can even make your workouts safer, as being more limber makes you much less prone to cramping and injury,
Think Positive Thoughts – Believe it or not, but if you think that every workout that you do isn’t getting you any results, it will actually be less effective. Harvard University conducted a study in 2007 about the connection between attitude and weight loss. They observed two groups that got the same amount of physical activity. One group was told that what they were doing was very effective exercise, while the other one was told that is wasn’t effective at all. The group that believed it was effective actually burned more calories. So try to stay upbeat and really tell yourself that you are going to give it your all every time that you step into the gym.
Listen to Music - This is particularly effective if you are doing repetitive cardio. If while working on the treadmill or elliptical all you can think of is how bored or uncomfortable you are, you are much more likely to put in less effort or even quit early. But if you listen to some of your favorite music on your MP3 or CD player, you can focus your attention to something more positive.
About the author: Expert fitness trainer Christopher William McCombs runs Fitness Boot Camp in Irvine California. He is radically different in his approach to losing fat. He is also a Fitness Marketing expert and helps fitness trainers all over the county to increase their revenue.
