Your dream body doesn’t have to be a dream. It is achievable! In fact, achieving it may be easier than you think. Every day, we are learning more and more about health, fitness, and nutrition, giving is a clearer picture regarding exactly what it takes to achieve that dream body, even if you are in your 30s, 40s, 50s, or beyond. Achieve great results requires two things: a great diet and an excellent workout routine. To get you on track with the diet, we recommend checking out sites like TheMindBodyBlog.com, who can provide you with everything you need to start shedding pounds quickly!
The next step once you start shedding pounds is it begin building that dream body. To help you accomplish that, we are going to share 4 of our favorite workout tips.
1. High Intensity Interval Training
As it turns out, long, meandering, endless runs are not the best way to shed pounds OR build muscle. Instead, focus on high-intensity interval training. High intensity interval training involves working out extremely hard for a brief amount of time, at or near max effort, then taking a period of rest. You can adopt this model with many different types of workouts. With a run, you might sprint your absolute fastest for 1 minute before walking for 6-8 minutes. After you rest up with the walk, you sprint again. This is high intensity interval training. The benefits are numerous.
Not only will this type of training burn more calories, it will boost your metabolism for the rest of the day. It is also much more effective at building muscle (which has a higher caloric demand than fat) than a long, low intensity workout.
2. Compound Exercise
When you work out, are you isolating and focusing on one muscle at a time, or are you during exercise that utilize your entire body? The odds are you are doing the former rather than the latter. Probably, because that is what you have been told to do by by a poorly informed trainer. It is time to stop isolating muscles and it is time to start adopting compound exercises. After all, in real life, when do you ever do somethings that utilize just one muscle? How about… never!
Compound exercise are exercise that use multiple muscle groups in coordination with one another. Three of the most effective compound exercises are the three classic powerlifting moves: squat, deadlift, and benchpress. You may not realize this, but exercises like these actually engage and strain your core just as much (if not more so) than core-focused exercises. Exercises like this are not only more efficient, they are also more effective. They help to improve intermuscular coordination, while amplifying dynamic flexibility, and building muscle throughout your body.
3. Create A Routine… Then Break It!
When it comes to working out, consistency is important. You simply can’t expect to get results if you just scatter a few pushups and situps throughout your month. No. You need consistent and intentionally with your routine. You need to commit time to working out. A few hours a week is enough as long as you stick with it. Make your workouts part of your regular daily routine, and soon they will feel like habit. And that… is when you need to break your routine!!
Must Read: Cardio and Weight Training – What’s The Best Combination?
Well, maybe not right then, but soon. It is important to periodically expose your body to different types of workouts because of how quickly the human body can adapt to stimulus. While you can always add weights and reps, it is more effective to add variety. Generally, it is a good idea to shift your workout routine a few times a year. This has the added benefit of making you a knowledge seeker when it comes to working out because in a few months, you will have to have something new to break your routine! Don’t feel overwhelmed by this though. Take your time and do your research but don’t get lost.
4. Adopt Active Exercising
Living in the gym can get really boring which can have the side effect of killing your motivation to work out. For this reason, to adopt active exercising. Go rock climbing, hiking, swimming, kayaking, mountain biking, or whatever your heart desires. Not only will you be getting a great workout, you will be having fun too! You may even end up finding a new hobby you love.
