Don't wear a watch, and stop looking at your phone to see what time it is. Just exercise, exercise, exercise and take a break once in awhile. Don't finish your workout until you feel like you have exercised all you are willing to do today.
Now the first couple of workouts that you do this, you will probably work out less time than you would have hoped.
However, as you progress your workouts will get longer and longer as your endurance improves and you will eventually just lose track of time during your workouts. Music helps too, as people are more likely to lose track of time while listening to music.
Note - If you have a meeting or event you want to attend and you don't want to miss it, just set an alarm on your phone to remind you. Otherwise your goal should always be to workout as much as possible so that you forget what time it is and end up exercising more than you have ever hoped for.
eg. Lets say your goal was to exercise for a minimum 30 minutes every day. The first couple of times you might only exercise 20 or 25 minutes, but as you progress and build endurance you could eventually be working out 45 to 60 minutes or more because you keep losing track of time.
#2. Stop drinking sports drinks during workouts.
Unless you are planning to be exercising for more than 60 minutes, you don't need any sports drinks containing sugar, salt and electrolytes. The salt in the drink just makes you thirstier, causing you to drink even more. Plus your body doesn't really need all that extra salt and sugar.
If you want to hydrate while you workout, your best bet is water. Just plain normal water.
Plus if your goal is weight loss, the sugar is counterproductive to your goal.
Want to learn more? Watch the following video from CBC Marketplace:
#3. Alternate between strength and speed and endurance.
Pick two of the following and then choose an exercise that focuses on those two aspects, with one of them being your primary goal:
- Strength
- Speed
- Endurance
So for example you might choose Speed and Endurance, in which case a good exercise is sprinting for as long as you can and then take a break.
Then if Endurance is your primary goal, you pick a different combo to focus on, such as Strength and Endurance, in which case you climb stairs or a hill (lifting your own body weight as you climb). You don't have to go quickly since your primary goal is to build endurance, but you should keep climbing until it is time for a break.
Then you switch back to sprinting.
So if Strength was your primary goal you then choose two exercises that emphasize Strength/Speed and Strength/Endurance.
And if Speed is your primary goal then you choose two exercises for Speed/Strength and Speed/Endurance.
Alternating between the two exercises allows you to effectively do Interval Training. You can also change it up and do 4 different exercises, different combinations, etc.
#4. Exercise on a near empty stomach.
If your goal is weight loss, you want to be exercising on a near empty stomach. Not completely empty obviously. The more you exercise, the more fat you burn.
You want to avoid exercising on a completely empty stomach because you will just get exhausted in a hurry.
Exercising on a full stomach can give you stomach cramps and make you want to take a break and relax, so you can digest properly.
Thus timing your workout when you are not quite hungry yet garners the best results, as you have the energy to workout but won't become exhausted too quickly.
#5. Eat after a workout.
Afterwards your workout you want to eat a balanced meal that has low carbs and more protein. Lots of veggies is good too. The more intense the workout, the healthier you want your meal to be so you are getting plenty of protein (building blocks for muscle tissue) and plenty of veggies (mortar for the building blocks), and the small amount of carbs will replenish your energy levels.
#6. Vary the intensity of your workouts based on your mood.
- Angry or frustrated? Do a very intense workout focuses on speed.
- Stressed or worried? Do a slower and more relaxing workout that focuses on endurance.
- Sad or depressed? Do the exercises you enjoy the most, emphasis on fun.
- Happy? Do the exercises you find to be the most challenging.
The advantages of varying your workouts based on your mood means you have better mental health, but it also allows you to use your emotions to fuel your exercise routine on happy or angry days.
#7. Make a workout plan / list / schedule.
This way you know in advance what you are doing today. This way you can focus on the tasks on the list and not get distracted.
Get bored of your workout plan? Spice it up a bit with new exercises.
#8. Mix body-weight exercises with cardio.
This allows you to get more out of your workout by adding things that build muscle too.
Classic Examples of Body-Weight Exercises
- Situps
- Chinups
- Pushups
- Stair Climb
#9. New to exercising? Focus on endurance first.
If you don't regularly exercise, your primary goals should never be strength or speed. Building your endurance should always be #1 for a beginner. Focus on easy exercises that you can do for long periods of time.
When you later become ready for a challenge, see #3 further above.
#10. Fight the urge to stop.
Want to stop exercising? Just keep going. Think of mental reasons why you should just keep exercising. Don't stop exercising unless you have a legit reason for taking a break, like hunger, exhaustion, the need to urinate, etc.
The better you get at fighting the urge to stop, the greater your results will be over the long term because your endurance will improve a little bit each time you refuse to stop.
Every time you think of an excuse to stop, deliberately think of a different reason why you should keep going.
Happy Exercising!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments containing links will be marked as spam and not approved. We moderate EVERY comment. Unmoderated comments are hidden until approved.
If you want better quality advertising, consider product reviews instead.