Bored of Your Workouts? This is How To Fix It
Getting bored of your work out?
Want to really make your blood pump?
Here’s 5 Tips & Tricks that will take your work out to the next level!
Advanced overload techniques are the secret weapon that will make your muscles pump and your heart jump out of your chest. When trying to burn fat or gain muscle its all about time under tension and going above and beyond with your work out. Seriously….. you think walking on the tread mill for 30 mins is going to get you the best results? Let's put your Lululemon tights to the test and try some of these in your next work out.
1. Super setting
Most of you will be familiar with super setting, doing 2 exercises back-to-back without rest. Not only is this efficient, but it can really make your muscle work and keep that heart rate high so you can burn fat faster and increase your cardiovascular system. The fitter you are, the more fat you can burn! You can team this up with the same muscle group or something different depending on your program!
2. Partials
What the heck is a partial? You may have heard the term “21’s” if not, nevermind, I'll explain now. Imagine that your range of motion is divided in to 2 halves, top and bottom. Let's use the leg press as an example. Start at the top with your knees locked out and do 7 reps halfway then 7 reps from the bottom of your range to the middle and then all the way to the top and back down to the bottom. Because you have different stopping and starting points this will separate your focus in to different parts of the legs. You must make sure your weights are light with this as it does get hard!
3. Drop Sets
This is where we see the load (weight) of an exercise start high and the reps low. After each set you drop the weight and increase the number reps. You can do this to your own configuration and set your own challenges. Lets use bench press as an example. Start with 100kg and do 2 reps, then change it to 80kgs for 4 reps. Then reduce the weight again to 60kg for 6 reps, then 40kg for 8 reps and finally 20kg for 10 reps. Do this with as little rest between sets and get someone to help you rack off the weights to get the best results. This will fatigue you and help with strength & size building. Make sure you warm up before doing this too! A way you can warm up is to do a pyramid set (start light with high reps, then slowly increase the weight and decrease the reps, then do your drop set). This can take a fair bit of time during your session, but its great to challenge yourself.
4. Super slow
We’re stronger on our eccentric phase (the easy part of a rep) so what we can do is slow the pace down. Making an exercise last longer puts extended contraction through the muscles and results in more lactic acid build up which helps us fire up our muscles and burn fat, plus helps us condition our bodies to help improve in a functional movement you may need in sports or other activities! Another pretty neat trick you can do is make it a plyometric exercise. Here is another example! When doing something like a squat you can do down for about 5 seconds and then explode out of it. This creates a connection between your muscle and brain and every time you do this it becomes stronger and more explosive. Just imagine a conversation you have with someone for the first time, its usually a bit slow and stuttered, but over time as you get to know them you can blab on about crap for hours. This is you + plyometrics. So controlling your tempo and explosion can really help improve stability, power and burn a boat load of fat!
5. Holds
Don’t think you have done enough or you still have a bit in the tank? Once you have done half a rep and you’re at the weakest/hardest point try holding it for a few seconds, or alternatively at the end of a set. This just increases your time under tension and yet again pumps the blood in to the muscle and creates lactic acid, either your best friend or worst enemy depending on how much you like pain, also known as the burnnnnnn. This example will feature a seated row, I like to do this trick with my clients. Ok, example time. Once they get to their last rep I get them to hold the handle of the cable into their stomach and keep it there for 10 seconds, and then because I'm mean I actually try and pull the weight away from them and they have to keep holding it until the time has elapsed. So try this without me first and enjoy.
In conclusion, these aren't something that you’re going to do every training session, just a way to spice up the relationship you have with weights, and the thing is you can play with it a bit and combine them together. Try doing a super set, drop set with a super slow hold partial. If you want to learn more ways to enhance your results in the gym, or want to follow my training program check out our Get Lean Guides.
I would love to see what you come up with, video and tag us on instagram. @eatrunlift.me #eatrunlift