Make Your Workouts More Effective

Appetizer
Simple tweaks to your workout routine can make exercise time much more effective

Main Course
If you want to get results but spend as little time in the gym as possible, you need to boost the effectiveness of your routine. Use these tips to slim down your waistline without having to become a gym rat.

Rest In Between Sets - During weight training, that “weak” feeling you get when you feel your muscle giving up on the very last repetition of a set is caused by the buildup of lactic acid. Lactic acid gets flushed from your muscle very quickly after you complete a set, so it is important to jump right into the next set as soon as you can. Resting for less than a minute will increase the amount of strain on your muscle throughout the set, helping you to achieve the lean, toned look you want a lot more quickly.

Warm Up – A lot of people are under the impression that warming up before your workout is time wasted. So instead of getting loose and raising their heart rate for the upcoming workout, they will just go into the workout at a hundred miles an hour. But you should take those extra few minutes in the beginning of the workout to warm up your body. You’ll end up with a more effective workout overall.

Think Positive Thoughts – A study at Harvard University in 2007 examined two groups of people who performed the exact same amount of exercise. One group was told that what they were doing was very effective exercise, while the other group was not. Believe it or not, the group that was told that it was effective lost more weight. So when you go into your workout, really believe that what you are doing is good for you. After your workout, congratulate yourself on how well you did. These kinds of good thoughts might just show up in your slimmed waistline after time!

Dessert
Of course, the best way I’ve found to make workouts more effective for my clients is to make exercise time as pleasant a possible for them. When exercise is enjoyable, the time you spend sweating really flies by, and you may even discover that you look forward to your next workout. Not sure how to make your workout more fun? Try listening to up-beat motivating music while doing cardio or working out with a partner who doesn’t mind chatting a little bit between sets.