To Your Health
November, 2009 (Vol. 03, Issue 11) |
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3. Timed Workouts
This is a similar concept to interval training, except the "bursts" of exercise are longer and you're doing only one particular exercise at a time, rather than performing a whole-body workout all at once.
The purpose is essentially the same: to maximize the benefits of a resistance training program by creating maximum metabolic disturbance. That means you burn body fat by keeping your heart rate constantly elevated while training. Your metabolism never reaches an equilibrium set-point due to the alteration in timing.
Use a stopwatch to keep track of how long you take between sets of exercises and rest periods. Focusing on the stopwatch time keeps your intensity level from waning as the workout progresses. Rich suggests "lifting heavy weight with proper form and keeping the time under tension to 40-60 seconds on each exercise. Take a minimum rest between exercises; no more than 20 seconds."
Example exercises (biceps workout) include dumbbell biceps curls (sets of 10 repetitions, each followed by 20 seconds of rest), straight bar curls (sets of 10 repetitions, each followed by 20 seconds of rest; and rope cable curls (sets of 10 repetitions, each followed by 20 seconds of rest.
4. Body-Weight Super-Set Training
Intensify your weight training by adding "super sets" of body-weight training to truly engage your muscles. Talk about intensity and variety! This is the ticket for you. Super-setting is a technique in which you take an exercise targeted for a specific muscle group and immediately perform a similar exercise with no rest. With this technique, you don't use weights or machines for the second exercise. This is a time-efficient, intensive way to maximize strength and lean muscle development. Best of all, you can use this principle for any workout.
Example exercises: 1) Chest Combination: flat bench dumbbell presses (15 repetitions), super-setted with wide grip push-ups (25 repetitions). Back combination: machine pulldowns (15 repetitions), super-setted with body-weight pull-ups (maximum number of repetitions you can perform).
5. Recovery and Regeneration
Working out breaks your muscles down and in order for them to heal properly you must give your body adequate rest. Without recovery time you risk overtraining. Too much exercise limits your progress and your body becomes catabolic, meaning it begins to degenerate. Eventual loss of lean muscle mass and bone density occurs. How can your body thrive, when you do not allow proper healing? No amount of exercise will positively affect your body if you are in a state of overtraining.
Rich believes this is the biggest mistake most people make when undertaking a training program: "You want to make sure that you give your muscles a minimum of 48 hours to recover before you work them out again. Serious weight training creates microtrauma; tiny tears and strains in your muscles and connective tissues. To ensure that you are not damaging your body, it is recommended to weight train no more than three times in a seven-day period." Incorporate regeneration programs such as active isolated rope stretching and myofascial foam rolling techniques on rest days for accelerated recovery.
