5 Virtually Instant Ways to Improve Your Work Out

Very few people get the most out of the workouts - it only takes a few minor adjustments to how you train, and how you follow up your training to ensure that you are maximising the benefits of your work outs sessions, and that you are taking good care of your body.

1) Breathe Properly
Don't hold your breath while you're working out - to get the most out of your exercises take full breaths and breathe out when exerting (or hitting), and breathe in on the release. Learn to take full, complete breaths (by breathing from the diaphragm rather than just the top of your chest). This will help you to get the most oxygen possible to your muscles, and will improve your performance. Sensei Jim will tell you exhale when you are hitting, and will show you how to breathe properly when training - we'll be posting more on this subject soon.


2) Lose the Shoes
There are quite a few reasons we train barefoot in the dojo, and it can help you when working out in the gym/at home too. Removing your shoes creates more instability, which challenges the muscles in your feet and legs more, making you burn more calories during your work out. This can also increase your range of motion.

3) Add to Your Range of Motion
This makes each exercise harder, so that you gain more from every push up, sit up, dorsal raise, tricep dip... If sit ups don't challenge you enough, slip a folded towel under the small of your back to increase the range of motion. If push ups are getting easy, raise your hands off the floor so that you can dip lower with each one. There aren't many exercises that you can't 'improve' this way - you need to constantly push and challenge yourself if you want to continue to improve.


4) Don't Let Yourself Stay in Your Comfort Zone
Most people are guilty of doing this at least once - instead of pushing further and harder, it's easy to just do what you know you can and let your fitness plateau. Don't let yourself stay in your comfort zone! I'll take push ups for example - you can make them harder by pressing your elbows tight against the body, by moving your hands closer to the middle, by doing them on one hand, by jumping up and clapping between push ups. There is no reason to let yourself do exercises that you no longer find challenging - it's counterproductive, and will often mean that you'll start getting bored because it's too easy. Always go a little out of your comfort zone - a harder push up, a higher kick, a stretch that goes a little further than last time - and you will always improve.


5) Eat Properly Before and After Your Work Out
Paying close attention to your pre and post work out meals will help you achieve your body and fitness goals faster - whether you want to lose weight, add muscle or build strength. Ideally, you should eat quality carbs within 30 mins of your workout, and protein no later than 90 mins afterwards. The recommended carb to protein ratio for post workout meals is 4:1. Chicken, fish, egg whites, bananas, yoghurt are all good additions to a post workout meal or snack.  The next blog post will look at 4 ways you can add bananas to a snack or meal!
 

Thanks to SkinnyGuyWorkoutPlan for the image.

10 Minute Workout (3)

Here's the latest in our series of 10 minute workouts! As always, remember to warm up and stretch out to ensure that you don't pull any muscles. Unlike the previous work outs, you will do a circuit of exercises instead of doing a single exercise and then moving onto the next.

16 x Push Ups with Cross Kicks

Get into the push up position and do a complete push up. Before you repeat, lift one foot off the floor and kick (slow and controlled) across to the opposite side (so you kick left with your right leg, and right with your left leg so your kicks go under your body). Make sure that your hips stay as low as possible, and you are not twisting your body or dragging your foot on the floor. It may be easier to take one hand off the floor when doing this.

After the kick, bend the  knee  on the same leg and bring it to the elbow on the same side (right knee to right elbow), then return to original push up position and then repeat the push up and the leg movement on the other side. Alternate with each push up, and ensure that you're breathing in time with the exercise (out when you push up and when  your leg moves across).

This is an extension of one of the exercises featured in 5 Simple Exercises to Better Abs.

10 x Rolling Push Ups

Stay in the push up position. Instead of simply moving up and down in a straight line, you will be moving your chest in a circle (from left, down, right and up again). So move your body weight to your left and then bend your arms down - stay down and bring your chest to the centre, and move to your right. Once your body weight is over to the right, push yourself up and then return to centre. Once complete circle is a push up. Ensure that you're doing slow, controlled movements and are doing a full push up to get the maximum benefit from this exercise.

16 x Lunges

Stand up straight with your arms down by your sides. Take a step forward and bend the front knee so that your back knee also bends towards the floor - stop when the front knee is at 90 degrees. Straighten, and return to the original position to repeat with the other leg. Repeat 16 times.


Repeat this set of exercises 4 times.


The next 10 minute work out will be the last in this series - hope you enjoyed them! If you missed the last two 10 minute workouts, you can find them here and here.

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10 Minute Workout (1)

Here's the first in a series of 10 minute work outs. These workouts are intense, and you won't need any equipment that you don't already have in the house (so you might occasionally need a chair or a door!). In addition to the tabata training , these are a great way to get a quick workout in on non-training days.

So here it is:

Warm up and stretch prior to exercising. Ensure that you do stretching before and after the work out to avoid injury and keep your muscles supple.

30 x hamstring raises on a chair
Lie on the floor with your feet up on a chair. Raise your body (keep your arms by your sides) so that the soles of your feet are flat on the seat of the chair, then slowly push down with your feet and arch your back until you're supported by your feet and your shoulders. Make sure all of your movements are slow and controlled to avoid injury and to get the most out of this exercise. If you want to make it harder, rest the heels of your feet on the chair instead of the whole sole of the foot. Do the 30 in 3 sets of 10 - make sure you're constantly moving throughout the reps and are engaging your glutes and abs throughout.

60 x obligue crunches
Lie on your side with your legs bent slightly. Put your hands either side of your head with your fingertips touching your temples, and raise your shoulder off the floor as high as you can, ensuring that it's a smooth, controlled movement throughout. Do 30 on each side, in 3 sets of 10.

30 x rotating push up
Get into the standard push up position and bend your arms until your chest and nose are as close to the floor as you can get them, while keeping your body straight, and then push up (completing a standard push up). While you're up in push up position, extend one hand out to your side and then twist so that it is pointing up at the ceiling, while still at a 90 degree angle from your body. Once you've done that, resume press up position and repeat on the other side. Repeat 30 times in 3 sets of 10.

60 x walking lunges
Step forward with your right foot into a lunge position (with your right knee behind your right foot, back straight, toes pointing straight ahead). Then step forwards with your left foot so that you're in the lunge position with your left leg in front. The aim of this exercise is to walk without letting your legs straighten out (therefore performing lunges). When you take a step forwards, make sure that you're bending both knees and that your knee is pointing towards your big toe. Don't let your knees extend beyond your feet. Repeat 60 times in 3 sets of 20 reps.

Thanks to DFMillington for the image. 

Push Up Masterclass - 5 Push Ups You Should Add to Your Routine

We've put together this Push Up Masterclass for those of you doing the Push Up Challenge, and everyone else that just wants to add some variety to their work outs and train different muscle groups. While the basic idea is the same (rest on your hands and feet and lift your own bodyweight), these exercises put more strain on different muscle groups.




The Classic

We all know this one - hands shoulder-width apart, legs and body straight with your feet together. There are quite a few variations on this if standard push ups are getting easy or if you want a change:
- Press your elbows against your sides
- Move your hands closer to the centre
- Only rest on one leg

Once you can do all of those, it may be time to try one-handed press ups. See the exercise below if you prefer to build up to it!


Monkey Push Up

Put your feet together and sit upright on your heels with your knees apart. Then, put your hands on the floor in front of you (with your arms in between your knees) and bend your elbows to press down and push all the way back up to the original sitting position. The push up itself will need some speed to get you back to the original positions.


Shoulder Push Up

This is something that a lot of beginners tend to do, which (ironically) is actually harder than the Classic push up. Start off in Classic position, but bend your body at the hips at a 90-100 degree angle (it may be easier to do this with your feet apart). Press down and push up, keeping the bend in your body and your legs straight. This push up is fantastic for your shoulders.


Lizard Push Up


This push up involves walking forwards, so ensure you have enough room to do so. Start in the Classic position, and move your right hand and your left leg forwards (bend the leg outwards to do so, but ensure that your foot is just going forwards), move forwards into your new position and press down with your right leg still outstretched and your left hand still lower down (so you haven't 'finished' the step yet), push up, then move the other hand and foot forwards and repeat. If you have trouble, just imagine a lizard walking.

One-Handed Push Up

One-Handed Push Ups are generally the preserve of the incredibly strong and balanced, but there is a good way to work up to them. Start in the Classic position, but put your knees on the floor and slightly apart - bend your knees at 90 degrees. Put one hand on your hip, and the other in the centre in front of you, press down and push up. Always ensure that you do equal amounts on both hands.


Always stretch and warm up properly before exercising, even if you are only doing a few push ups!


If you want to build your strength and stability, and incorporate new exercises into your workouts, visit one of our classes. More information can be found on http://www.ultimatekickboxing.co.uk/ .

Push ups

If you're serious about increasing strength and endurance, push ups are a fantastic way to help. A lot of students have trouble performing press ups when they start, but with consistent training, they're fairly easy to learn.

If you train for 3 days a week, for 6 weeks, most people will be able to work up to doing 50-100 consecutive press ups. The most important part is to maintain good form - sagging bodies and half-press ups will not help you build strength - and to exercise often.

This work out is based on a person being able to perform 10-20 good, consecutive press ups.

Week 1:
For days 1 and 2, do a 10 min warm up (try our tabata warm up to do it in 4 if you're short of time) and then complete 5 sets of push ups.
Set 1 - 10
Set 2 - 12
Set 3 - 7
Set 4 - 7
Set 5 - as many as you can do (at least 12)

On day 3, add 2 push ups to each set.

Week 2:
With week 1 behind you, you've alread started building strength and increasing your endurance. Throughout the 6 weeks, ensure that you're maintaining good form, but don't hesitate if you need to take slightly longer breaks in between sets.

For days 1 and 2, warm up again and complete the following sets:
Set 1: 14
Set 2: 16
Set 3: 12
Set 4: 12
Set 5: as many as you can (at least 17)

On day 3, add 3 to each set again.

Week 3:
Half way! By this point you should be feeling a difference. Don't slip up though, and make sure that you are doing 5 sets 3 times a week.

On days 1 and 2, warm up again:
Set 1: 20
Set 2: 25
Set 3: 15
Set 4: 15
Set 5: as many as you can (at least 25)

On day 3, increase the set values:
Set 1; 22
Set 2: 30
Set 3: 20
Set 4: 20
Set 5: as many as you can (at least 28)

Week 4:
Week 4 is where you begin to really push yourself every single day - unlike the first 3 weeks, the set values increase every day.

Day 1:
Set 1: 21
Set 2: 25
Set 3: 21
Set 4: 21
Set 5: as many as you can (at least 32)

Day 2:
Set 1: 25
Set 2: 29
Set 3: 25
Set 4: 25
Set 5: as many as you can (at least 36)

Day 3:
Set 1: 29
Set 2: 33
Set 3: 29
Set 4: 29
Set 5: as many as you can (at least 40)

Week 5:
To continue pushing yourself, now we've increased the number of sets but decreased the set values slightly - you'll be able to do more press ups but over a slightly longer period, with more rest.

On day 1 and 2, complete the following sets:
Set 1: 19
Set 2: 29
Set 3: 22
Set 4: 22
Set 5: 18
Set 6: 18
Set 7: 22
Set 8: as many as you can (try for at least 50)

On day 3, increase all the set values by 2.

Week 6:
We've included a total structure change on week 6, which will take you up to 100 press ups with breaks in between the sets.

Increase the number of press ups by 1 in each set, until you're at 10, and then work back down. Your set values will be 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. However, by this point and due to the new values, you should be taking much shorter breaks. Try doing the same number of sit ups instead of resting.

Congratulations - if you just did that, you just completed 100 press ups. Why not test yourself on day 4 of week 6 to see if you're up to 100?

And if you need inspiration, have a look at this guy.