It constantly amazes me when I am discussing training with new clients or just people I meet when I am out and about. What is it that keeps people that do make the effort to train regularly return to the same exercises or methods over and over again. I am not talking about doing squats, deadlifts, kettlbell swings, pull ups, press ups etc over and over again as there is massive benefit in doing these movements. What I refer to is the fact that so many people do the exact same weight, reps, exercises, time, no weights, no cardio, intensity etc in all their sessions.
Take a client of mine that came to me having only done walking as a means of exericse. Doing the same route in the same time over and over again at first might produce some fat loss results as long as the diet improves but over time my client realised that doing this was not the smart way to train as there was no ‘toning’ or increased muscle strengthening and fat loss happening. Afer a few weeks of varied training she is now feeling more energetic, lower body fat, improved fitness and loves the type of exercise she is doing. In each session (either one to one or my group sessions) we do a full body workout but again the important thing here is that the movements vary from session to session. Here is an example of what we did to finish out her last session -
I tend to put in movments I know she can do from home with her two kettlebells (8kg and 12kg) so she can feel comfortable hitting workouts at home in just 15-20mins max.
Another example of this is a client I have worked with for over a year now and I can still manage to keep the sessions varied from week to week. In the video below she does a three exercise work complex using rowing, glute ham raise sit ups and an explosive med ball toss. A few minutes before this she did the skipping ladder workout above but used press ups instead of kettlebell swings as I wanted her to do the med ball toss after and the movement pattern is too similar so did not want her tired for that exercise.
In each of these examples I am showing you should get an idea as to how you can vary your workouts from session to session. Do not feel like you have to do a single exercise, rest 2mins then repeat. The rest repeat approach is fine when you goal is to build maximum strength (which I also with with both of these clients) but should not be the only way in which you organise your training. This is even more true when your goal is to maximize fat loss.
When your primary goal is fat loss using metcons (metabolic conditioning), couplet/triplet work complexes, intervals, tabata etc will all have a bigger effect or bang for your buck as long as your diet is staying on track. Both of the above clients have children and limited time to train so the priority must be given to keeping the sessions varied, intensity, time limited (15-20mins or less) and progressive strength increases.
Take the following video of a workout I did this week – 85kg power cleans and ring dips for 12,9,6,3reps. This was all done in less than 6mins. After this I did 10mins of rowing intervals -1.15mins easy row (sub 2.05/500m) and 45secs hard row (1.45 or lower/500m) x 5 rounds. That’s a total work time of less than 20mins and if you take in warm-ups etc you are looking at 30mins for the entire session. In this workout I can get more ‘work’ done in less time than the average individual and for many people that want to drop body fat I would recommend you keep this as a goal i.e. can you get more work done in your sessions rather than spending more time training? This is NOT to say that you should not do some steady pace cardio i.e. long easy walk, jog, bike, row when you can, but when you have limited time to train then the last thing I would put in would be more slow paced sessions.
The message here is -
1. Keep your training varied using different exercises, rep ranges, sets, metcons etc
2. Keep aiming to get stronger
3. Proper training is not reserved for the elite – the clients featured in the videos are just like you but maybe they are more consistent and have a better plan of action than you?
4. Do exercise that works – pilates, power plates, ab crunches etc are not going to make a blind bit of difference when your primary goal is fat loss. Do the stuff that counts and if you don’t know what counts then you need to go see a proper trainer.
5. Make your training fun!
The final point is vital. When did training get so bloody serious? Your training program sucks if you have no plan, you are doing the same thing all the time, there is no progress happening and you feel it’s a means to an end.
I hate this, I hate this! The people on the tv ad made it look so much easier and fun
Exercise is something you enjoy because it makes you feel and look great and I find variety, challenges and a good plan of action makes it the highlight of your and all my clients day.
Tags: amazing fat loss, body transformation, burn fat, Crossfit, Dominic Munnelly, dominic munnelly personal trainer, faster fat loss, fat loss program, personal training, the transformation catalyst, training program
October 14, 2010 at 11:39 am |
Food for thought as always Dominic, point 5 is especially vital !