Over the years, I've cultivated a solid foundation that is instrumental for achieving great fitness results. I'm also proud to admit that I have made plenty of errors and a learned from them.. In this post, I will share my top utmost tips that I've gathered and encountered through out the years of working out. I'll be sharing tips that comes from my own experience and what worked for me. Some of them might seem repetitive to you and probably have read it somewhere but genuinely speaking, this compilation can make or break your workout routine.
While I was working out the other day, I saw a personal trainer training a client and slightly observed the routine. It was apparent that the client was out of shape and was trying to get in to shape through the personal trainer's guidance. This leads me to the first tip.
10. 70/30 approach.
The 70/30 approach means that 70% of your focus should be towards your nutrition and only 30% on training. I have found over the years that working out and doing all these physical activities would only amount to nothing if you're not taking care of the nutritional aspect. The first thing to remember is, you're in the gym to either burn calories and/or break down your muscles. Most of your time will be spent recovering and feeding your body. In addition, in order to make the most of your workouts, you have to feed it properly. "You are what you eat" is what I live by. I find that eating healthy gives me a better workout since knowing that I fed my body right gives me a great sense of psychological empowerment.
9. Be one with your body.
When you first walk in the gym, ignore everyone and don't be intimidated by your surroundings. All your "outside" issues should be left outside and shouldn't be a concern or interfere with your workout. Once you've done that, then it's time to workout and this is where the "mind and muscle connection" philosophy comes in. Being one with your body means that you'll have to feel every rep of every set of your workout. I see people lifting heavy and sometimes lifting with a sloppy form, but is this really beneficial? Lift it right and make every repetition count. Feel the weights that your lifting in the specific muscle that you're working on. Before you even start your workout, make this the first rule and by doing this, your workout will become smoother and you'll be in rhythm.
8. Challenge your muscles.
Always keep in mind that you're in the gym to workout and you're here solely for that purpose alone. With that in mind, allocate 100% of your energy towards that and do whatever it takes to make the most out of it. When I tell people that you have to lift heavy, people often asks in return, "define what's heavy?". My answer to that question is, any weight that you can do a maximum of 6-8 reps is considered heavy. In my book, 8-15 is considered intermediate and anything above that is anything but challenging. To me, challenging your muscles means making a sound effort in order to stimulate it to failure. Make it work and make it work hard.
7. Increased intensity.
Another approach to keep your muscle challenged is to intensify your workouts. Give your muscles something that it has never received before such as less rest in between sets. Anything that will keep the muscle's blood flowing is good and keeping it in the state prevents it from going "cold", therefore will only slow you down. Learn how to punish it beyond its threshold but know its limitations as of what it can withstand to avoid any injuries. There are several techniques to increase your workout intensity and one of which that I've already mentioned is to shorten your rests in between sets. I prefer a maximum of 1 minute rests but 1.5 minute for heavy lifts. Another favorite of mine is called "drop sets" in which you perform another exercise right after an exercise with no rest in between.
6. Do warm ups.
Before jumping into your working set, you should do at least some movements or exercise that will loosen up your muscle joints. Warming up your muscles first ensures that it's fully warmed up and ready to roll with punishments ahead. This aids in avoiding any potential injury and to check that your form is correct. I use warm up in beginning of a workout as a self-check on how strong I am on a given that and how much I can lift. A lot of people would do a 5-10 minute walk on the thread mill but in my case, I usually perform 2-3 very light sets which is enough to get my muscles warmed up and ready.
5. Variety is the key.
I find that working out can be exhausting and boring if done the same way every time. This is probably one of the major reason that people stop working out. If you find yourself getting bored or doesn't have the same enthusiasm to step back in the gym, chances are, your workout routine itself is boring. Make each workout productive but at the same time, find a perfect balance and make it fun. Instead of thinking about your workout as something hard and as a excruciatingly painful experience, spice it up a little. Do something different every time instead of performing the same exercises or number of sets. Fine tune your workout and don't think that you'll be lifting heavy weights (unless that's what you love doing) each and every time. Another thing is, by adding variety, you also keep your muscles guessing and in return giving you better gains.
4. Control the weights and don't let it control you.
If you want to gain muscles, you have to lift heavy and with that in mind, you have to be proactive in your approach to lifting. You have to look at the weights dead in the eye and tell yourself that you own it. Attack the weights with intensity in mind and let your mind take over. When lifting heavy weights or just lifting in plain general, most of the force required to perform the exercise comes primarily from your mind. Your mind is very powerful and it is the main driving force behind your whole workout. Lift the weights in a controlled manner and just own it.
3. Listen to your body.
There are times when you just need to give your body a break or rest. It's OK to take the day off to recuperate and your body will tell you that. Just don't make it a habit to make it an excuse not to come to the gym though, but in essence, you're doing it for a good cause. Your body can only do so much and you have to know your limitations and when to take a day off. I usually take a week off once or twice a year, or once in a while skip a scheduled workout altogether. This is OK and it is not something to stress over. The key here is to be dedicated towards your goal but at the same time, being smart and knowing your body's strengths as well as its weaknesses.
2. Train with a goal in mind.
In order to be successful, you have to set up a goal first in your mind on what you want to ultimately achieve. Whether your goal is to just maintain your current weight, or lose weight, or gain muscles, you have to instill your mind with what you want to get out of all this. If you don't do this, you really don't have a solid backbone and foundation on where you're heading. Having this in our mind ensures that we're sticking to the plan at hand and we follow through in order to achieve it. Failing to do this and you're only bound to fail.
1. Be consistent.
One of the golden rules when it comes to success is to be consistent. Building a great body requires primarily a solid goal in mind but the main key ingredient is to be consistent. Success can only be attained through persistence, dedication and consistency and without it, you're bound to fail. There's a saying that the pyramid wasn't built in one day, and similarly, building your body requires serious amount of work every day, week after week, and year after year. You can't expect to be successful unless you stay inline with your goal and what you want to accomplish. It's either you do it or not do it at all is what I live by. If you're not going to put all your heart and dedication towards your goal, might as well do something else and you'll be better off than wasting your time.
In conclusion, once you adhere to use some of my approach, you will find your workouts to be more productive than ever before. You will treat your workouts a single but a solid step towards achieving great fitness results. If you take care of your body, your body in turn will take care of you.
- Dennis