Exercise Like An Expert in Ten Easy Step, Part 2

You won’t be an expert, but you can exercise like an expert if you keep ten steps in mind. Here’s the second part of the list that I posted earlier this week.

There are 10 easy steps you can follow to make your workouts as efficient and as effective as possible. The first 5 steps are;

1) Concentrate on body weight exercises

2) Push, pull, squat, lunge, bend, reach, rotate and brace in every workout

3) Quality over quantity

4) Buy mini-bands

5) Recovery is key Here in part 2 of the story, I will give you the second 5 steps.

6) Variety is the spice of working out – Never workout everyday on a regular basis or on successive days, and never do the same workout more than one time per week. The word “routine” should refer to the days you train and not to your workouts. I know people who do the same workouts every time they go to the gym. If you don’t change things up your body will stop responding to the exercises.

7) Stay off of machines – You don’t go through life strapped into a machine so don’t exercise on them. Walking on a treadmill, using an elliptical machine, leg press, seated chest press or using any other piece of exercise equipment is inefficient and way less than effective. Exercises done on machines are inferior to the “real” exercise equivalent. If you are sitting down you aren’t really exercising.

8) Sprint and do agility drills, don’t jog – Distance running is the most destructive, counter-productive exercise that you can do. So don’t do it. Humans are the only animals that run more than 100 yards. Most species are smart enough to stop running, if they can’t catch what they are chasing, after 100 yards. So work on sprinting and do some basic agility drills. You will strengthen your body and improve your fitness level in the most meaningful, purposeful way possible.

9) Do dynamic flexibility to warm-up and static stretches for cool down – The value of dynamic flexibility exercises, especially when performed during warm-up period, has been validated by legitimate research. Research also indicates that static stretching is most-effective when used after exercise as a cool down activity.

10) Subscribe to a professional journal – Forget the mainstream health and fitness magazines, as they are worthless. The National Strength and Conditioning Association and the American College of Sports Medicine provide a variety of publications that educate and enlighten. You won’t read nonsense about how to lose weight quickly or how to get six-pack abs, you’ll get real information that will make an appreciable difference in your life and gain access to research that you will never get in a magazine.