Getting in a structured workout routine can be tough if you’re life is as hectic as mine.
I’ve a wife, baby, martial arts studio, a contract to a premier fitness company, online and personal training commitments and am a partner in a fledgling security training & services company.
So when you tell me “I’ve no time, man” Guess what my response is?
No, go on, guess.
You got it in one. Time is not an excuse. An irregular schedule is not an excuse. You just need a little knowledge and a sprinkling of imagination. The knowledge I can give you, the imagination, well that’s your own business.
Here’s the knowledge.
Balance pushing and pulling exercises, if anything, emphasise the pulling. For example press ups and bodyweight rows. If we pull more than we push we may just undue the postural imbalances caused by long days sat at a computer/in the car/on the sofa. Plus if you’re a fighter you’ll need a strong back, it allows for better grappling and stabilises the shoulder for more powerful punches. Yes, a stronger back will up your punching power.
Use full body core drills. Planks rule, as do bridges. But if you really want to get strong, incorporate core work into the upper body drills, try U-Push ups and spiderman crawls, add a knee lift to your pull ups
Work the legs. Plenty of squats, vary the style from workout to workout and don’t forget the single leg work. Every man that ever joined a gym joined to build big arms and forgot about their legs. Squat, lunge, jump and/or sprint. No chick will ever dig chicken legs. And girls, you have to go full range, forget these silly half squat things your aerobics instructor showed you.
Use full body conditioning drills.
If time is really short, circuit the drills. It allows for maximum impact in minimal time. eg: Pull ups x5, Push ups x 10, Squats x 20, Plank x 30sec, repeat as many times as possible in your given time frame.
Stick to the big guns. I see women doing the most useless isolation drills in the name of “toning” It doesn’t work, especially if you’re short on time. Now these drills do have their place, usually in a rehab program, certainly not as part of the main workout. So get up from the side lying leg lift and instead do a single leg deadlift, quit the fire hydrants and replace with burpees.
Try to train 3-5 times per week, but don’t worry if you miss a session. Vary the intensity, some days go balls out, other days chill a little emphasise strength on some days, conditioning others. Likewise vary the exercises, press ups one day, hindu push ups the next. This way you’ll keep making the progress without over using any particular movement pattern.
Avoid failure, unless you know you’ll not be training again for a while. There’s no point in burning out on squats if you plan on doing Pistols the next day.
Don’t be afraid to split your workouts into mini workouts. Eg in the morning work upper body for 10 minutes, later that day you may find half an hour to work the lower body. Maybe you can do 5 minutes of Hindu push ups before breakfast, 2 minutes of bridge at lunch and 10 minutes of squats after work.
Apart from that, do what you like, just as long as you do.
Hit the comments button and let me know your stories.
Regards Dave Hedges www.wildgeesema.com / wildgeesema.blogspot.com dave@wildgeesema.com +353 87 672 6090 subscribe to our newsletter simply send a blank email to: newsletter-subscribe@wildgeesema.com