4 Instant (Well, Almost Instant) Exercise Hacks For Better Results In
The Gym.
By
Eugene Thong CSCS
..................................................................................
One
unique comfort food that my brother-in-law makes on our snowboard trips
is instant ramen (chicken-flavored, of course) with an egg or two
cracked into it (a la egg drop soup).
Now, as a trainer, you’d think I’d be horrified by the thought of
instant, processed anything, but I can tell you from personal experience
that a bowl of this stuff is a nearly perfect post-snowboarding tonic:
It’s hot, multi-textured, satisfying, and contains quickly assimilated
carbohydrates and protein – great for
replenishing and rebuilding muscle tissue. And, lest I
forget to mention – it takes a mere 3 minutes to make (5, if you count
waiting for the water to boil).
Wow, I can’t believe I just defended instant ramen. Quick - check
outside your window for airborne swine and locust swarms.
What does this have to
do with your workout and getting better results in the gym? It’s
this: A quick modification that takes my brother-in-law all of 5 seconds
not only improves his enjoyment of the dish multi-fold, it elevates the
meal from mere subsistence food to almost healthy (well, not
quite, but it makes it a lot better for you than just straight ramen).
In a nod to my
brother-in-law’s creative spirit, here are four near-instant tweaks you
can use to improve the quality of your workouts:
Choose
a squat stance that suits you
Forget about what you
read in the fitness magazines about different stances working different
muscles. “Want ballerina-like legs? Well, widen your stance
so it feels like you’re dislocating your hips, then point your toes out
like you’re auditioning for Ballet Russe.” Oh boy.
Scientifically
speaking, is there any truth to the notion that different angles work
different muscles? Yes, but only slightly. Changing the
angle will place more stress on a different part of the muscle, but
whether or not you’ll get any benefit you can see is doubtful – as in,
you won’t (not to mention that you’ll be subjecting your joints
to that additional stress as well).
And keep in mind that
the gals in the American Ballet Theatre are getting paid to subject
their joints to ligament-straining stresses (and have about 15 years of
practice in doing so).
Don’t do this unless your last name is Baryshnikov.
http://www.ballet.co.uk/
Do yourself a favor
and use the squat stance that allows you to use the most force (aka the
most-efficient stance): Stand with your feet a smidge wider than
shoulder-width apart. Next, bend your knees a little bit.
Make sure your knees are directly over your ankles. Look down at
your legs and feet now. Are they in line with one another?
If not, turn your toes out so they line up with the direction your
knees are pointed in.
Click the link for the
Squat Form Checklist
Congratulations,
you’re now in the best possible squat stance for you.
Make the exercise machines more like free weights
Exercise machines get
a bad rap because most folks approach them like George and Astro from
the Jetsons – they expect the machines to do the work. Next time
you crawl into a chest press machine, don’t just sit there and let your
arms push, completely disconnected to your body. Make sure your
feet are firmly pressed into the floor; feel the energy from the
ground-up.
Tighten your abdominals; make your core rigid. Pull your
shoulders down, locking them in tight to your torso. Start a rep;
note how much stronger you feel.
What you’re doing here
is using your body the way it was meant to be used – the dreaded
buzzword, “functionally” – as opposed to in isolation. By using
your whole body to perform movements, you produce more force, are
capable of using more weight, and, accordingly, get better results.
It’s instructive to note that I don’t mean tighten every single muscle
in your body every rep – only engage those muscles that will actually
translate to improved ability to lift.
“Just the muscles that help you lift, guys.”
[pic -
http://www.willisms.com]
Got it? Good –
now apply this to each and every machine-based exercise you do.
Give yourself a deadline
Translation: Don’t
waste time in the gym. If I had to catalog the time spent by
the average gym-goer, it would look something like this:
Okay, so I’m
exaggerating here – but you get the picture.
Trim the fat from your
routine: Take less rest between exercises, eliminate mid-workout banter
with your training partner, wait until you’re done with your workout to
visit the water fountain (you won’t shrivel up and completely dehydrate
in a half-hour, trust me).
The best way to do
hold yourself to this is to set a time limit for your workouts.
You should start with the 30 minute deadline we discuss in our
Parkinson’s Law Hack article. It’s Spartan, but it works.
By limiting the time spent in the gym, you’ll be more inclined to get
the work done and less inclined to sit around and dread your next set.
Do what you hate first
This hack is
simplicity itself: Start with your least-favorite exercise, and work
backwards from there, finishing with your favorite move. There’s
more to this strategy than mere psychological trickery, however.
There’s usually a
reason you hate an exercise, and it’s likely because you aren’t good at
it and/or because it exposes a weakness of yours. Whether you’re
avoiding it due to lack of technical proficiency or mastery, it should
be addressed. Best to tackle it at the beginning of your workout,
when both your concentration and your energy levels are at their
fullest.
Just listen to what
this guy has to say about weaknesses:
“My
attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a
weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.”
[pic –
http://www.onlinesports.com ]
Be like Mike.
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