“I have to exercise in the morning before my brain figures out what I’m doing.”
- Marsha Doble
You should have a “refresh” button for everything — just a click or two could give you instant improvement. Same with annoyed workouts. Maybe yours has frozen up like a gym version of Win95. You may think you have to reboot, or even upgrade. Instead, all you need are a few tweaks for a faster, more enjoyable, more effective workout.
You can do better — starting with your warmup. Most individuals warm up with a few minutes of light cycling or jogging. And that’s fine if all you plan to do in your workout is lower-body exercise. But an upper-body workout requires something that’s more in sync with your plans. Switch your warmup to jumping rope, rowing lightly, or using any cardio machine, like an elliptical trainer, that makes you pump your arms.
As for the rest of your routine — stop calling it routine. Refresh it, and yourself, with these great techniques.
1. Reverse the order of your exercises.
Your standard routine likely consists in starting out with your major lifts, and then moving toward more isolated exercises. For the next couple of sessions, try performing your isolated exercises first. This will incorporate the principle of pre-fatigue into your workout. When you move to the major lifts, you will have already used up some of your strength and you’ll have to work harder to really give your muscles a run for their money.
2. Close your eyes while exercising.
This helps you visualize the muscles you’re working, which is especially helpful for posterior muscle groups like your back, hamstrings, and butt. Likewise try closing your eyes during any exercise that involves balance, such as a one-legged squat — it challenges the neuromuscular system and helps you establish better balance. Try closing just one eye — I know it sounds weird, but it’s actually harder.
3. Do a cardio circuit.
Instead of slaving away for hours on the same machine, try breaking it up into 10-minute intervals. Go from the treadmill to the elliptical, and then to the bike. Not only will your workout seem shorter since you won’t be performing the same movement continuously, but it will also help to prevent overtraining and work a wide variety of muscles.
4. Do it, backwards.
Next time you jump on a treadmill, try facing the wall instead of the TV. Start slow and make sure you use the safety trigger if one is available. It’s indeed fun and different.
5. Start with your hamstrings.
Generally we tend to do the exercises we like first and save the ones we know we hate for last. Toward the end of a workout, we either put little effort into these exercises or just skip them entirely. Performing your workout in the opposite order can give muscles you tend to overlook (such as your hamstrings) the attention they deserve. And saving your favorites for last can help you recharge when your energy level is in decline.
6. Find a workout buddy.
Getting a friend to join you in your workouts is another great way to prevent boredom. One of the main reasons individuals skip the gym is to socialize, so this lets you do both at the same time. Just make sure you don’t become so dependent on your gym buddy that you forego working out if he can’t make it. He is there for support and company, but he shouldn’t become a need.
7. Make it a competition.
The best way to give your workouts an extra kick is to challenge a friend. Bet on who will achieve a certain goal first, such as increasing your bench press by 20 percent, running a 7-minute mile or standing on top of an exercise ball with no balancing aids. The loser has to buy dinner.
8. Stretch between sets.
Don’t stretch particularly when your muscles feel tight. Stretching the muscles you’re working not only helps them stay loose, but can also increase your range of motion, allowing you to work more muscle fibers with each additional set.
9. Seek a geographic cure.
Perhaps you have a friend who works out at a different gym and you can get the hook up on a guest pass, maybe you have to pay for a day pass. Either way go check out another gym! Even if you are happy where you are at, seeing something different can help liven things up a bit.
10. Kick it old school.
Literally. Remember when all you needed was a jump rope and a jungle gym and life was good? Go play in the park! Sure some folks might look at you funny and you will definitely need to bend your knees more, but there is always some semi-deserted playground around, so go have some fun!
11. Take a coffee break.
Whenever you draw your legs toward your midsection — reverse crunches, V-ups — you stress the lower portion of your tummy. These moves also emphasize your hip flexors, the muscles on the front of your thighs. When these muscles are involved, your abs exert less than full effort, and you end up with tight hip flexors.
Overcome this tendency by pretending there’s a cup of coffee resting just below your belly button. Before bringing your legs up each time, imagine tilting that cup toward your legs first. This redirects your body positioning, so the effort stays concentrated on the lower abs.
12. Change your inclination.
Instead of performing three sets of dumbbell presses followed by three sets of incline presses, mix the two exercises. Start with one set of chest presses on a flat bench. Then raise the bench one notch from the flat position — to about twenty degrees — for your second set. Continue raising the angle one notch per set, stopping at the notch before vertical. This lets you exhaust more muscle fibers by working your chest through five or six different angles instead of just the basic two. You’ll actually end up doing fewer sets, so you’ll save time, too.
13. Stop and go.
Rather than raising and lowering the weight in one continuous motion, pause for a second about halfway up, continue the movement, and then pause again about halfway down. In a set of eight to twelve repetitions, you’ll add only an extra 16 to 24 seconds to each set, but you’ll be able to exhaust your muscles faster using less weight. This tactic works great with shoulder presses, lateral raises, and bent-over lateral raises.
14. Spread ‘em.
Alternate your hand spacing with each set of barbell curls, rather than keeping them placed at shoulder width for all you repetitions. Spreading your hands a few inches farther out empathizes more of the inner portion of your biceps, while bringing your hands in a few inches builds more of the outer part. Or, try switching from the standard shoulder-width grip on a barbell to an angled position with an EZ-curl bar.
15. Get twisted.
During the regular single-arm dumbbell row, your palm faces in as you raise and lower the weight along the side of your chest. To get more out of the move, rotate your wrist inward 180 degrees as you lower the dumbbell so that your thumb ends up pointing behind you when your arm is completely straight. This rotation helps adduct the scapula, working the back through a fuller range of motion for added strength and size.
16. Lower the weight with one leg.
Your muscles are much stronger during the eccentric phase of an exercise — when the weight is being lowered. With leg presses, leg curls, and leg extensions, consider the “two up, one down” option. Try pressing or curling the weight up with both legs, then slowly lowering the weight back down using only one leg. This lets you work your muscles even harder in the same amount of time without constantly needing to change the weight.
17. Run the rack.
Save time on the last dumbbell exercise in your workout. Instead of doing three sets of shoulder presses, biceps curls, or any dumbbell move, start with a weight that’s about 50 percent of what you usually use to do 10-12 repetitions. Perform the exercise six times, then quickly grab the weight that’s one increment heavier.
Continue working your way up in weight until you finally find one that you can’t lift six times using proper technique. Then reverse this process by grabbing a slightly lighter weight and completing as many repetitions as possible, even if you can only manage a few. Keep moving down the rack until you’re left using the lightest set of dumbbells possible.
18. Take a break.
Sometimes, boredom at the gym simply means that it’s time for a break. Overtraining is a serious issue with heavy exercisers, and it is one of the major reasons why people fail to make gains over time. Lack of motivation is a strong signal that overtraining may be setting in.
If you think this might be the case, take a good look at your past six months of training. If you have not taken at least one full week off to rest, it is probably time for you to do so. Practice leisure activities geared solely toward enjoyment during this time, and by the end of the week, you will likely be counting down the hours until your next gym visit.
With the wide variety of options available to you, there is no reason for you to lack the desire to keep up your fitness level.
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What To Do When You SUCK
October 31, 2007
Hey great tips. Although I tend to switch out the exercises or do all machines one day and no machines the next. And try swapping mp3 players with someone else at the gym for the day.
November 1, 2007
Great post! Making things fun and changing them up are definite keys. About your #7 suggestion: Make it a competition… I have started a website called introPLAY, where you can track your workouts (in 90 sports and activities) and set up exercise challenges (called introLEAGUES) with friends. Set up a league, make teams and score points for each workout.
We are still pre-beta but we’d love to get individuals who want to motivate to exercise to check it out and give us feedback! Thanks!
February 27, 2008
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