Ten tips to help help maximise results in training and progress faster.
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Hit 10,000 steps per day
– To achieve fat loss results we must be burning calories, we must be burning more calories than we are consuming. Achieving a step target is a great way to do so. Walking is very low impact and is less stress on the body which means quicker recovery and ability to increase frequency.
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Lift weights 2-3 times per week
– Either by performing a total body weight training session 2-3 times per week or splitting the body parts up into upper and lower days. There are many benefits to lifting weights. If you are wanting to drop body fat, building muscle or both, lifting weight in the gym is a great way to burn calories, get stronger and build muscle tissue, which will help you build a stronger and healthier physique.
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Compound lifts
– Perform compound movements before isolation movements. Compound movements such as deadlifts, squats, chin ups, bench press, rows and overhead presses are multi joint exercises that work larger muscle groups, these exercises are very taxing on the body, they use up a lot of energy and need a lot of focus on technique. Focus your energy and attention on these exercises at the beginning of your workout and then on the isolation/more specific movements later on.
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Log your weights
– We’ve said it many times, how important it is to track progress. Its important to track your weights, so you understand when and where to progress. Nothing worse than forgetting what weights to lift and guessing your progression.
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Posture
– Stand tall, chest up, shoulders back, head facing forward. This is the correct posture for almost every exercise you perform in the gym
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Don’t always push to failure –
– Training at maximum intensity all of the time is a sure way to burn out and in a lot of cases REGRESS. Its understandable, the feeling you get from a hard training session can make you feel amazing. But this is not necessarily the best way to keep consistent progression, you may feel like you’re progressing, but more than likely not. Its important to progress in training each week but be sure to rest and add in regular deloads every 5-6 weeks to allow better progression long term.
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Timeless form
– Always keep good form, there is no reason to have bad technique. In some exercises it will become increasingly difficult to keep technique and this is natural, but you must try your hardest to keep good technique all of the time and you will progress much faster and prevent injury.
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Train with intensity
– Exercise Intensity is based on the amount of energy expended whilst performing exercise. Lifting weight, heavy lifting, advanced training techniques such as super sets and drop sets are all good ways to increase training intensity.
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Periodization
– Periodizing your training program is something that most people don’t do. It can be very beneficial to do so, allowing you to fit in breaks and holidays, as well as understanding when you’re going into some high volume, high intense training blocks. This helps mentally with preparing yourself as you go through training blocks, also removing the “on it, off it” mentality and can will certainly help with physical results.
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Perform exercise you enjoy
– Find something you really enjoy, that could be walking, running, lifting weights, swimming, tennis, golf, yoga, group exercise classes. We know that results come from consistency, If you are doing things you enjoy, you are more likely going to be consistent with it. Exercise and training should be fun, we should do the things we enjoy doing, especially if its in a social environment too.