5 Tips To Crush Your Workout

From time to time we all have trouble motivating ourselves to workout. Maybe you’ve woken up at the crack of dawn to squeeze in a session before work, but all you really want is to crawl back to bed. Or perhaps you’re lethargic after a long, hard day and the sofa sounds far more appealing than the squat rack. Whatever the reason, it’s important to remember that for the majority of us our training time represents a very small portion of our day, and it’s therefore vital we’re performing at our best from start to finish. With that in mind, here’s 5 easy-to-implement tips that will ensure you’re in the right frame of mind to tackle your workout head-on.

Fill Up The Tank

You wouldn’t go on a road trip without fuel in the tank, so why would you go to the gym low on energy? If you choose to have a pre-workout meal, make sure you’re getting both carbohydrates and protein. Avoid anything too heavy though, or you’ll feel bloated and uncomfortable during your session. I personally opt for pre-workout supplements because it’s more convenient for me. I tend to stick with whey protein and creatine, but glutamine and caffeine are also popular choices. If you’re feeling lethargic, you’re not going to have a very good workout – ensuring your energy levels are high will focus your mind and your muscles.

Listen To Music

Music is a great way to get yourself in the mood to workout and keep yourself focussed during your session. Create a playlist that gets your blood pumping and you’ll be surprised at your ability to push out that extra repetition at the end of a set.

Keep Your Muscles Guessing

Following the same routine week after week can get stale very quickly. A repetitive workout doesn’t just fail to stimulate the mind, your muscles begin to recognise and adapt to the same type and intensity of activity. Throw in drop sets, supersets, and pyramids to keep them guessing. It’ll keep your routine fresh and your muscles confused, leaving them no choice but to grow.

Get Yourself a Training Partner

Find someone who is of similar strength and has similar goals to you and train together. A training partner is not only great to give a session a competitive edge, it also allows you to have a spotter, so you can attempt to lift heavier than normal safe in the knowledge that your partner has your back if you bite off more than you can chew.

Play Games With Yourself

Play mental games with yourself to help you power through the last few reps of a set. I like to conjure up an imaginary scenario that will happen if I don’t reach my target number of reps. It can be anything you like, from screwing up a presentation at work to the end of the world, whatever motivates you to give it everything you’ve got.

The next time you gear up for a session, remember that time spent not performing at your best is time wasted. Follow the tips above and you’ll be both physically and mentally prepared to crush your next workout.

Build Muscle, Not Your Ego

Too many people lift with their ego rather than their muscles. I call these people ego lifters. You know the type, they rock up to the weights room, pick up the heaviest dumbbells they can find and attempt to do bicep curls. Attempt being the operative word. Most of the time their form leaves a lot to be desired.

If you’re one of these people, know this. You might think you look good. You might think everyone else is glancing at you in the mirror because they’re in awe of your incredible strength. They’re not. They’re tutting and shaking their heads. Perhaps not literally, but they’re thinking it. They’ve already learnt the lesson you’ve yet to figure out – the only thing that’s growing is your ego.

If you want to act big and strong, join the theatre. If you want to be big and strong, listen up, we’ve got some work to do…

Lift For Yourself and No-One Else

A guy will ego lift to try to impress their friends, other guys in the gym, and cute girls. It’s not their fault, it’s an inherent desire to be better than the next guy. But the truth is you know when you’re lifting more than you can handle. Don’t concern yourself with how you compare with your fellow gym-goers, although it may sometimes feel like it, there’s nothing wrong with lifting lighter weights than them. Take a moment to let that sink in. Accepting that can be tough, I get it. I’ve been there too, and I can assure you that you will feel far better about yourself by dropping the weight, doing the exercise correctly, and using the muscles the movement is supposed to be targeting. Next time you hit the gym, leave your ego at the door.

Educate Yourself

You won’t build muscle unless you learn how to execute exercises correctly. There are a tonne of online articles that give instructions on how to complete exercises using correct form, but I recommend Bodybuilding.com’s Exercise Guide. It features a comprehensive list of exercises categorised by muscle group, and provides written instructions, images, and videos on how to do them properly.

Start Small To Get Big

If you’re going so heavy you’re forced to cheat, you’re never going to do the exercise correctly and you’re never going to progress. Start lighter, master the correct form and gradually increase the weight as your strength builds. You’ll be repping out on the same weight you originally started with in no time, only now you’ll be doing the exercise correctly and challenging your muscles in the way you should’ve been all long.

Don’t Ignore Weak Areas

It’s perfectly natural for some muscles to be stronger than others, but never avoid an exercise because you’re not very good at it. This leads to muscular imbalance and can cause postural issues. Swallow your pride and do them, your weak areas won’t be weak for much longer.

Begin applying these points to your training and you’ll start to see results. It’s a great feeling when your body allows you to lift a weight you couldn’t manage the week before, and you’re never going to experience that if you continue to lift with your ego. We lift weights to improve the look and performance of our bodies, unless you start being smart about your training, you can forget about that.

8 Muscle Building Foods That Won’t Break The Bank

Building muscle can be expensive business. You’re going to need to consume more protein than you’re probably used to on a daily basis, at least 1 gram per pound of body weight to be precise. If you don’t make the right choices in the supermarket, that has the potential to put some serious meat on your checkout bill (excuse the pun). But don’t worry, you won’t need to go out and buy a week’s worth of prime steak to get what you need, here’s a run-through of some foods that your wallet, as well as your muscles, will thank you for.

Eggs

Eggs are a long-standing staple in the diet of a bodybuilder. Your average egg contains 6-7 grams of high quality protein, and is an excellent source of vitamins A, B, E and K. Eggs also boast all 8 essential amino acids needed for optimal muscle recovery.

Try This:  Whip up a breakfast omelette to kick start your day. They’re quick and easy to make, ideal in the morning when you’re pushed for time. Add mushrooms, onions, and low-fat cheese for something a little more flavoursome.

Tinned Tuna

Tuna is one of my favourites. It’s great with jacket potato, salad, pasta, or just in a simple wholemeal sandwich. A tin of tuna is packed with 30 grams of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, making it a rich and affordable source of muscle building goodness.

Try This:  If you’re like me and you can’t stand dry food, drizzle your tuna with extra virgin olive oil rather than mayonnaise. Olive oil has been proven to lower bad cholesterol, and has been associated with everything from lower rates of heart disease and colon cancer to a reduced risk of diabetes and osteoporosis.

Pollock

This white fish is generally used as a cheaper alternative to cod. One fillet contains around 25 grams of protein and next to no fat. I find they shrink when cooked, so I have 2, adding a very respectable 50 grams of protein to my meal.

Try This:  Craving The Great British Takeaway? Coat some pollock in homemade breadcrumbs and slice up some potatoes to make your own chunky chips. Alternatively, use pollock in a fish pie with peas and parsley sauce.

Chicken

One of the best known muscle building foods, chicken is so versatile and is delicious with just about anything. 100 grams of chicken breast fillet has about 30 grams of protein, and with less than 2 grams of fat it’s super lean.

Try This:  Chicken can get a bit repetitive when eaten regularly, but all it takes is some simple seasoning to give it a completely new taste! I like to cook mine up with sliced onion and fajita mix to add some spice.

Beef Mince

Beef mince is rich in protein, zinc and B vitamins. It boasts approximately 20 grams of protein per 100 grams, is reasonably priced, and great-tasting. Beef mince is great in chilli, bolognese, or as homemade patties.

Try This:  Don’t spend more buying lean, you can cook and rinse your beef mince in a colander under hot water to drain the fat.

Milk

Milk is a very convenient way to get protein, and can be used as a supplement to whole foods. 300ml of the white stuff contains around 10 grams of protein coming from casein and whey, which are two of the best proteins available. As I’m sure we all know, milk is also an excellent source of calcium.

Try This:  Choose skimmed or semi-skimmed milk over whole milk as they’re lower in fat.

Cottage Cheese

Cottage cheese is high in protein, low in fat, and rich in calcium. You’ll get 10 grams of protein from 100 grams of cottage cheese, and it provides a welcome alternative source of protein to meats and fish.

Try This:  Pile some cottage cheese on top of some oatcakes for a quick, protein-rich snack. Add chopped pineapple if you fancy something fresher.

Almonds

Almonds are a great snack to have on the go. They are full of protein, healthy fats, vitamin E, and a host of other vitamins and minerals. 100 grams will provide you with a little over 20 grams of protein.

Try This:  I find almonds a bit bland to eat on their own. Add raisins and mix in a bowl for a tasty snack you can pick at throughout the day.

As well as the above, there are obviously a number of other foods that are great for building muscle. Unfortunately, I couldn’t include them all and have opted to list the ones that I personally eat on a weekly basis.

How do you like to enjoy the foods above? Perhaps there’s something missing from the list you think should be there? Let me know in the comments below.

Get Your Cardio Done in 20 Minutes

Getting motivated to do cardio can sometimes be tough. When you consider what most people’s idea of cardio consists of, it’s not hard to see why – slugging away on a stationary bike, elliptical or treadmill at a moderate pace for 45 minutes hardly gets the juices flowing in anticipation. But why has this become the widely accepted approach to cardio for most people? Let me explain…

The ‘Fat Burning Zone’

Once-upon-a-time, the thinking was that you had to exercise continuously for at least 20 minutes in a range between 60-80% of your maximum heart rate before your body started to burn fat. This heart rate range was labelled the Fat Burning Zone. Take a look at the labels on the cardio machines at your gym, there’s usually a table showing the correlation between age and what the values of 60% and 80% of your maximum heart rate should be. The mere presence of this information on the machine reinforces to the user that if they want to burn fat, they’re doing the right thing by keeping their heart rate within these boundaries. Actually, if fat loss is indeed your primary consideration, a moderate level of intensity isn’t the most efficient approach to shedding the pounds.

Does That Mean It’s A Myth?

If you Google the term now, you’ll see plenty of links saying the Fat Burning Zone is a myth. In my opinion, it depends which way you look at it. Yes, you will burn fat when exercising for at least 20 minutes at a moderate pace. That part’s true. However, this approach is not the optimum approach to burning fat, and I think that’s where the confusion lies. The name suggests that this is the zone to burn fat, and if you’re not in in it, you’re not going to burn fat as efficiently as if you were. This is wrong. It’s been proven, perhaps more logically, that your body expands more energy at higher intensities, which in turn burns more calories. It is this that ultimately dictates how much fat you burn.

What Does That Mean For My Workout?

Now we’ve figured out the most efficient way to burn fat is by exercising at high intensities, intervals consisting of short, sharp bursts of all-out effort are the order of the day. More specifically, you should look to apply a method of training called HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).

Putting It Into Practice

HIIT can be applied to just about any piece of cardio equipment in the gym, and I’ve had great workouts on the stationary bike, elliptical and rowing machine doing this. If you like getting outside though, your best results are going to come from sprinting. All you need is some open space and a spare pair of lungs. Ok, so the lungs may be a little extreme, but you get where I’m going with this – it’s tough. I simply sprint until I’m out of breath, walk until I feel like I can sprint again, and repeat. I don’t have a running track or park nearby, so I make do with footpaths. Don’t get too fussy about sprinting exact distances either, just pick an object in front of you like a lamppost or rubbish bin and sprint to it.

How Long Should I Do It?

If you’re just starting out with HIIT, you’ll want to ease yourself in. Always start with a warm-up and stretch (particularly if you’re sprinting) and start with a 10 minute workout. The duration of your on-period (exercise) versus your off-period (rest) is up to you, but I’d suggest starting with a ratio of 1:2. So, for a 30 second burst, that’s 30 seconds work and 1 minute rest. As you get fitter you can bring it up to 1:1 or even 2:1 and simultaneously increase the duration of your workout from the initial 10 minutes. All that doesn’t sound like a lot, but it will be. I personally wouldn’t do HIIT for more than about 20 minutes, but if you feel like you need to, I don’t recommend going longer than 30 minutes.

So, with HIIT we’ve found an approach that allows us to get great results in a short period of time. Sounds perfect doesn’t it? It is, but only if you’re prepared to work. HIIT is tough, and if you want to get the most out of it you should be busting your ass during your on-period. You’re only working for short periods at a time, so there’s no excuse not to give it everything you’ve got. If you do that, you’re going to need every second of your recovery time before you’re ready to go again.

But don’t let my scaremongering deter you. If you’re serious about fat loss, you won’t find anything that’s more efficient at achieving this than HIIT.

5 Compound Exercises You NEED In Your Training Programme

Regardless of your goals in the weights room, there are some exercises you can’t ignore. These are known as compound exercises.

Compound, You Say?

A compound exercise is a movement that recruits multiple muscle groups as well as joints, ligaments and tendons. They are excellent ways to improve all round upper and lower body strength, and should make up the core components of your weight training programme.

Before we dive in, let’s get something straight – compound exercises aren’t supposed to be easy, and require both physical and mental strength to complete on a regular basis. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, stop reading now.

Still here? Good. Let’s get to it.

Deadlift

The art of picking something heavy up off the ground and lowering it back down. The deadlift primarily hits your lower back, but you’ll feel it various muscles in your upper back, legs and forearms. If you can get hold of one, I’d recommend using a support belt, it’ll help stabilise your back which is very important when you start to lift the heavier weights.

Bench Press

The bench press is a great exercise to improve your upper body strength, predominantly targeting your pectorals. If you can find yourself a spotter, I would suggest avoiding resistance machines and instead use free weights in order to recruit your stabiliser muscles. If you don’t have a spotter though, you may be better off using something like the smith machine, which will allow you to do a semi-assisted press. If you’re stacking lots of weight on a barbell and lifting without a spotter, you risk having an altercation with the weights. There’s only going to be one winner if that happens, and it ain’t you.

Squat

Most people dread leg day, and squats are a big part of that. They’re tough, and if you go heavy enough and train intensely enough they’ll probably make you a little nauseous. However, you can’t escape the fact they’re a damn good exercise, and will work all of the major muscle groups in your legs. Primarily used muscles are your quads, hamstrings and glutes.

Clean and Press

A superb exercise that recruits both lower and upper body muscle groups. This movement will hit your shoulders more than anything else, but the clean phase of the movement is essentially a deadlift. It will also bring your core into play by stabilising your body for the pressing phase.

Bent Over Row

Rowing is an excellent movement for your upper body. Your latissimus dorsi, or lats for short, are going to take the biggest hit. You’ll also be recruiting your shoulders and forearms. The row can be done using resistance machines that generally prop you up in the seated position, but to get the most benefit I would suggest using a barbell in a bent over stance. I find bending too far over puts unwanted stress on my back, so I position myself at angle of around 45 degrees which feels far more natural for me.

And that’s that. I’ve said this above but it bears repeating, these movements are not supposed to be easy. You will be sore for a couple of days after doing these exercises, but fear not, that’s perfectly normal.

A lot of people skip compound exercises when they train (particularly deadlifts and squats) as they just can’t motivate themselves to do them. I used to be one of those people, but I soon realised that thinking about doing them was a hell of a lot worse than actually doing them!

Take it from me, if you want any kind of sustainable progress you can’t ignore compound exercises. So man up, get your head down and get them done. Your body will thank you for it.

5 Muscle Building Basics

For a lot of us, putting some meat on our bones is at the top of our agenda when we hit the gym. With that in mind, let’s look at some quick-fire muscle building basics you’ll need to be aware of if you don’t want all your hard work pumping iron to go to waste.

Lift Heavy

To get big you have to lift big. Your muscles won’t grow unless you force them to. Try lifting a weight with which you can just about squeeze out 8 repetitions. The last repetition should be a fight for your life. Do 3 sets like this and your muscles will be begging for mercy!

Train With Intensity

What you get out of your training will depend on how much you put in. Too many people seem more concerned with their social life than their workout at the gym. If you’re lifting heavy, aim for no more than 45-60 seconds rest between sets, and be in and out of the gym in 45-60 minutes.

Eat Like A King

To build muscle you need to consume more calories. But don’t reach for that takeaway pizza menu too fast, the types of food you consume is just as important as the volume. All that heavy lifting is going to take its toll on your muscles, so protein is going to be your new best friend. Shoot for at least 1g of protein per pound of body weight. Depending on your training routine and appetite, you may look to go bigger.

Invest In Supplementation

Supplementation provides a quick, convenient and generally cost-effective option to meet your nutritional requirements. I consider whey protein powder a staple in my diet, and would recommend it to anyone serious about building muscle. If you’re in the UK, I’d suggest MyProtein.com. Good quality products, reasonable prices and, in my experience, excellent customer service.

Rest Up

Some people will have you believe that you should train for 2 hours a day, 7 days a week. Don’t listen to them. If you do that you’re going to be tired, grumpy, and will above all be at huge risk of overtraining and injury. Nobody knows your body better than you do. If it’s telling you it needs rest, listen to it.

So, there you have it, 5 uncomplicated muscle building basics that will have you well on your way to packing on the pounds! This is by no means a comprehensive overview of the do’s and don’ts in your quest to transform your body, but certainly represents some of the key principles you’ll have to abide by if you want to see positive results.