Alright Kiddos it’s time to start taking your workout program seriously and start really pushing yourself. How are you ever gone see results if you continue to do the same old same old, lulling through your workout? No wonder you still are teetering at the same weight for the past three months. You gotta challenge yourself! Get the muscles screaming, your body sweating and your lungs burning. Now don’t get me wrong we definitely don’t want you over-exerting yourself, causing yourself unnecessary pain, or passing out from sheer exhaustion. But let’s just admit that when you leave the gym you aren’t all that wiped out, and most likely you could push yourself a lot harder.
Being an optimistic San Diego fitness trainer most of my clients fight me when it comes to what they are capable of. Let’s face it a lot of it is mind over matter. When you put your mind to it you could push out a couple more reps, run for another minute, or hold that wall sit for 30 more seconds. My clients are always amazed at what they can achieve with a little encouragement. I would never give my clients something I didn’t feel they were capable of. Pushing yourself just that much harder is going to give you the extra advantage and get you that much closer to your goals.
Here are a few tips of how to make your workout a little more challenging:
The Elliptical–
No bubble heads. For heaven’s sake put some resistance on it so you aren’t bobbing up and down. There should be enough resistance to keep a fluid motion above 5.5 mph.
Shoot for intervals. Most ellipticals have pre-programmed settings, choose hill or regular intervals.
With increased resistance incorporate your upper body focusing on pulling and pushing.
The Stair Stepper–
The handles are there for balance not for you to support your weight. Pick a speed that you can comfortably maintain, a speed you would take climbing your stairs at home or work. Keep your shoulders back and abs engaged, stand tall, you will get wiped out in half the time, I promise.
The Indoor Bike–
Don’t be afraid of cranking up the resistance. If your wheels are spinning so much that you look like the road runner than you aren’t getting much of a workout. You should be averaging 60-80 rpm(revolutions per minute) when climbing a hill, and 80-110 when you have a slight incline or flat surface.
Stay seated on the bike as long as possible when climbing a hill and you will make your legs work that much harder and incinerate calories.
Running–
Change up your routes and the speed at which you run. By changing routes you incorporate different types of terrain to challenge yourself. Also try increasing speed and going a shorter distance and the next time decreasing speed and try going for longer.
Run tall. Shoulders back, butt tucked under will help with creating longer strides allowing you to run more efficiently and for a longer time.
Weight Training–
Get red faced. Towards the end of your set (8-15 reps) you should feel spent, like you can barely lift that last rep, if you aren’t then increase that weight!
No time for chit chat. You should not rest for any longer than 1 minute between sets. I recommend doing a circuit of 2-5 exercises working different muscles so your muscles have sufficient time to rest without you stopping at any time. So the heart rate stays elevated and you burn more calories. Ex. Go from chest press to squats to pull-ups.
Use Compound Exercises. Use exercises that use a couple different muscle groups to burn more calories during a set. Ex. Deadlifts, Push-ups, Dips, Clean and Jerks etc.
Hope these tips help, now go out there and get’em tiger! If you find you are lacking the motivation and drive to push yourself through your own workouts maybe it’s time to work with a San Diego fitness trainer such as myself to get you to your fitness goals.
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