HOLIDAY WORKOUTS

Who couldn't use a little more time around the Holidays. As if life wasn't hectic enough this time of year now you have to worry about your workout schedule fitting in. Here are some quick tips to decrease your workout time and actually get a better workout. Try combining upper and lower body movements: One great way to shorten your session while also boosting your fat burning potential is to stack an upper body with a lower body movement. This allows one part of the body to rest while the other is working, reducing the total rest time you require in the session. Try a set of push-ups and then move directly into your squats or do a set of lunges followed by a set of shoulder presses. Once both of these are completed, take 30-60 seconds to rest before doing a second round. Try an interval workout: This is probably the most effective fat burning idea ever, plus it saves a ton of time. Essentially you are combining your cardio and strength work. After warming up you will do one minute of cardio as quickly as you can handle. Usually an elliptical training is best for this as there is very little to set up. Just jump on and start striding. After the minute move to your strength exercise and do one set. This works best if you do the set to failure meaning you do as many reps as you can with the given weight. Once the set is finished go back and do another minute of cardio as quickly as you can. Keep rotating back and forth until you have completed all of your strength exercises for the day. Do Combo Movements: We never recommend doing something as silly as a biceps curl. This is such a small muscle group and will do very little for caloric burn but we don't mind seeing you combine this will another movement. Try doing a biceps curl with dumbbells and then go straight into a standing overhead should press. If you are really adventurous through in a squat. Example: -Stand with a set of dumbbells. -Now squat down into a full squat position and then return to standing position. -Now do a basic biceps curl. -At the top of the movement, transition into a standing shoulder press. -Now return to your starting position. This would be considered one rep. This is hitting three muscle groups directly but the other muscles in your body are going crazy to stabilize and support the move so this is a great way to hit many groups at once. These are just a few great examples of ways to save time in this gym during this crazy time of year. Whatever you do, don't give up on exercise just because you are busy. You may just need to change things up a bit.