12 Quick Tips to Tone and Tighten For Summer
Are you in search of ways to do just this in time for your summer? How about a dozen? Here are twelve ways to lean out and loo your best in a matter of weeks.
No drastic changes necessary, and certainly no fad diets, as you most likely already know just how strongly we feel about those.
The following tips, most just simple adjustments you can make to your existing diet and exercise habits, can create drastic changes in very short periods of time if done properly.
Choose as many of these tips that fit nicely into your current daily routine, decide to stick with them, and in a matter of weeks you will see considerable changes in your body! #1 - Move Faster One great way to increase your workout intensity is to simply move faster between sets.
By limiting your rest period to 30-60 seconds instead of 90-120 seconds, for example, you ll increase the demand on both your aerobic and anaerobic systems.
You'll probably have to come down in weight lifted because you won't fully recover between sets, but you could use this technique twice a week for an efficient but effective workout.
#2 - Keep a Journal Since success leaves clues, taking notes on what works and doesn't work for you will make it that much easier to design your next shape-up program.
Keep a detailed training journal and nutrition log, noting as best as possible how each element affects your physique, workouts, energy level, mood, etc.
Having such a personalized, proven road map to follow means you 11 never have to depend on guesswork or trial and error again.
#3 - Cardio Circuit Train Besides being very time efficient, this circuit training, with a twist, will help lean you out fast.
The idea here is to actually combine your resistance training with your cardio training.
You'll work your major muscles groups and perform short bursts of cardio in between circuits, allowing you to keep your heart rate elevated throughout the workout.
A sample of this type of circuit would be the flat bench press followed by the seated cable row, then a minute or two of jumping rope; dumbbell shoulder presses, cable curls, dips, then 1-2 minutes of jogging in place; and finally, leg presses, lying leg curls and the leg extension with 1-2 minutes of bench step-ups.
Do each circuit 2-3 times and limit your rest between exercises to 30 seconds.
Try this full-body circuit 1-2 times a week, working around your other resistance or cardio training sessions to jolt your metabolism and fat-burning.
#4 - Count Calories Not what anyone probably wants to hear, but unfortunately, it is a proven way to take your body to the next level.
Sure, it can be a pain, but there is little doubt that if you are not counting calories, your daily caloric intake is off what you believe it to be by 300 calories or more each day! The theory behind energy balance and fat burning is simple! Burn more calories then you eat and you will lose weight.
However, we know it is not quite this simple as far too often people improperly choose to eat less instead of burn more.
For a simple starting point, multiply your current bodyweight by 12, 13, or 14 (choose 12 if you feel you have a slow metabolism and losing weight is very difficult, choose 13 if you feel you feel your metabolism is average and weight loss or gain comes fairly easy, and choose 14 if you feel your metabolism is quite good and you are relatively lean by nature).
Use this total as your starting point for your daily caloric intake and shoot for 40-50% protein, 20-30% carbs, and 20-30% fats.
Adjust this number by 100-200 calories daily if your body is not responding as well as you'd like.
#5 - Skip the Straight Sets Besides cutting your rest time, you can super-fatigue your muscles with advanced training techniques that work you to your limit.
A couple of popular choices are supersets (working opposing muscle groups like bi's and tri's back-to-back without rest), drop sets (taking a set of a given exercise to failure, quickly stripping some weight off and resuming again to failure) and compound sets (performing two exercises for the same bodypart back-to-back).
You won't be as strong on your movements, but then again, this isn't a power-lifter's workout.
#6 - Interval Train You are hopefully doing some cardio already, so instead of suggesting that you simply do more, we suggest you do it a different way, a slightly more efficient way.
Rather than simply walking, jogging, stepping, or pedaling for 20-60 minutes at a time, at a constant speed, while chatting away, let's try intervals and get more done in less time.
For example, let's say you are on the treadmill for this cardio session, instead of walking through your entire workout, let's walk at 3.
0 mph to warm-up for 5 minutes, then increase the speed to 6-7 mph and run/jog for a full minute, before decreasing the speed back to 3.
0 mph for a minute to recover.
This is one interval.
Repeat this as many times as you can for a workout of anywhere from 15-30 minutes and your body will take on a whole new look in no time at all.
#7 - Watch the Clock What and how much you eat are clearly important in the fat-loss equation, but so is an often-overlooked factor: when you eat.
In fact, when you don't eat enough or often enough, your body could end up with less fuel for optimal functioning.
To make the most of your metabolism, divide your daily caloric needs into 5-6 smaller meals spaced 3-4 hours apart.
Eat a big breakfast, which can help boost your metabolism up to 10%.
Eating healthy meals every 3-4 hours after that helps keep your fat-burning furnace stoked.
This strategy will take a lot of discipline, but the rewards are well worth it.
#8 - Shake it Up Have you followed the same program for months? Simple changes in sets and reps can help you bust through a plateau and reach peak conditioning.
Not only can moving faster between sets increase intensity and burn more calories, but other changes -- like doing a few extra sets of an exercise -- can have a dramatic effect on your physique.
If you typically do 3-4 sets of a particular movement such as leg presses.
try doing 5-6 sets every now and then to mix things up.
Another effective technique is to increase your number of reps per set: If you usually do 8-10, try doing 12-15.
This will again mean you'll use a lighter weight, but you'll rest your joints from the heavier training and help build better muscle endurance.
You 11 be ready to go heavier again after a while.
Try a high-rep day for each bodypart 1-2 times a month.
#9 - Stay Balanced This one's a no-brainer: Keep an eye on your fat intake.
Though some athletes mistakenly go too low, you want to consume about 15%-20% of your total daily calories from dietary fat, mostly unsaturated sources.
Replace regular mayonnaise, salad dressing, butter, whole milk, egg yolks and cheese with light or fat-free versions.
Since fat has 9 calorie rt per gram, more than twice the calories found in gram of protein and carbs.
cutting your intake can significantly lower your calories and, thus, bodyfat levels.
#10 - Increase Your Cardio IF you aren't doing 3-4 cardio sessions per week, you should be.
These no longer have to be 45-60 minute events, but they must be done at the right intensity level in order to burn fat, without stripping off lean muscle in the process.
Getting cardio in immediately upon waking works best, prior to eating anything! If you are combining your cardio and resistance workouts, always perform your cardio after your weight training, never before! #11 - Use Compound Movements Instead of doing a lot of exercises like the dumbbell flye, lateral raise, leg extension and triceps kickback that work only the targeted muscle group, build your workouts around compound exercises like the bench press, bent-over row.
seated press and squat.
Compound movements involve many muscle groups for balance and coordination, so you'll not only be able to lift heavier weights but you'll use more energy (calories) doing it! More advanced trainers can add isolation-type movements after doing the heavier compound moves.
#12 - Use Supplementation Just about every nutritional supplementation ad running today promises overnight success.
This is unfortunate! Nothing, no diet, no training plan and certainly no nutritional, will provide immediate success in a safe, healthy manner.
Does this mean supplementation is not good or not required.
No! Absolutely the opposite is true.
Almost everyone requires some sort of nutritional supplementation, whether it is simply adding protein to their current diet, a daily multi-vitamin, additional Omegas, etc.
It is impossible to get all of the nutrients we need from diet along due to today's processing procedures.
If you are not supplementing with at the very least a good daily and Omegas, I would probably say you have a pretty significant gap in your healthy nutrition.
Obviously, we always recommend your doctor's approval before making any changes to your diet, exercise or supplementation program, but we are fairly confident most doctors today, realize the importance of filling your nutritional gaps.
The one major issue surrounding nutritional supplementation today is product quality! This coupled with questionable company integrity at times, can be cause for great concern.
Good, healthy and high quality supplementation can not only make a significant difference in your ability to lean out in time for summer, but more importantly, ensure a healthier body and daily function.
No drastic changes necessary, and certainly no fad diets, as you most likely already know just how strongly we feel about those.
The following tips, most just simple adjustments you can make to your existing diet and exercise habits, can create drastic changes in very short periods of time if done properly.
Choose as many of these tips that fit nicely into your current daily routine, decide to stick with them, and in a matter of weeks you will see considerable changes in your body! #1 - Move Faster One great way to increase your workout intensity is to simply move faster between sets.
By limiting your rest period to 30-60 seconds instead of 90-120 seconds, for example, you ll increase the demand on both your aerobic and anaerobic systems.
You'll probably have to come down in weight lifted because you won't fully recover between sets, but you could use this technique twice a week for an efficient but effective workout.
#2 - Keep a Journal Since success leaves clues, taking notes on what works and doesn't work for you will make it that much easier to design your next shape-up program.
Keep a detailed training journal and nutrition log, noting as best as possible how each element affects your physique, workouts, energy level, mood, etc.
Having such a personalized, proven road map to follow means you 11 never have to depend on guesswork or trial and error again.
#3 - Cardio Circuit Train Besides being very time efficient, this circuit training, with a twist, will help lean you out fast.
The idea here is to actually combine your resistance training with your cardio training.
You'll work your major muscles groups and perform short bursts of cardio in between circuits, allowing you to keep your heart rate elevated throughout the workout.
A sample of this type of circuit would be the flat bench press followed by the seated cable row, then a minute or two of jumping rope; dumbbell shoulder presses, cable curls, dips, then 1-2 minutes of jogging in place; and finally, leg presses, lying leg curls and the leg extension with 1-2 minutes of bench step-ups.
Do each circuit 2-3 times and limit your rest between exercises to 30 seconds.
Try this full-body circuit 1-2 times a week, working around your other resistance or cardio training sessions to jolt your metabolism and fat-burning.
#4 - Count Calories Not what anyone probably wants to hear, but unfortunately, it is a proven way to take your body to the next level.
Sure, it can be a pain, but there is little doubt that if you are not counting calories, your daily caloric intake is off what you believe it to be by 300 calories or more each day! The theory behind energy balance and fat burning is simple! Burn more calories then you eat and you will lose weight.
However, we know it is not quite this simple as far too often people improperly choose to eat less instead of burn more.
For a simple starting point, multiply your current bodyweight by 12, 13, or 14 (choose 12 if you feel you have a slow metabolism and losing weight is very difficult, choose 13 if you feel you feel your metabolism is average and weight loss or gain comes fairly easy, and choose 14 if you feel your metabolism is quite good and you are relatively lean by nature).
Use this total as your starting point for your daily caloric intake and shoot for 40-50% protein, 20-30% carbs, and 20-30% fats.
Adjust this number by 100-200 calories daily if your body is not responding as well as you'd like.
#5 - Skip the Straight Sets Besides cutting your rest time, you can super-fatigue your muscles with advanced training techniques that work you to your limit.
A couple of popular choices are supersets (working opposing muscle groups like bi's and tri's back-to-back without rest), drop sets (taking a set of a given exercise to failure, quickly stripping some weight off and resuming again to failure) and compound sets (performing two exercises for the same bodypart back-to-back).
You won't be as strong on your movements, but then again, this isn't a power-lifter's workout.
#6 - Interval Train You are hopefully doing some cardio already, so instead of suggesting that you simply do more, we suggest you do it a different way, a slightly more efficient way.
Rather than simply walking, jogging, stepping, or pedaling for 20-60 minutes at a time, at a constant speed, while chatting away, let's try intervals and get more done in less time.
For example, let's say you are on the treadmill for this cardio session, instead of walking through your entire workout, let's walk at 3.
0 mph to warm-up for 5 minutes, then increase the speed to 6-7 mph and run/jog for a full minute, before decreasing the speed back to 3.
0 mph for a minute to recover.
This is one interval.
Repeat this as many times as you can for a workout of anywhere from 15-30 minutes and your body will take on a whole new look in no time at all.
#7 - Watch the Clock What and how much you eat are clearly important in the fat-loss equation, but so is an often-overlooked factor: when you eat.
In fact, when you don't eat enough or often enough, your body could end up with less fuel for optimal functioning.
To make the most of your metabolism, divide your daily caloric needs into 5-6 smaller meals spaced 3-4 hours apart.
Eat a big breakfast, which can help boost your metabolism up to 10%.
Eating healthy meals every 3-4 hours after that helps keep your fat-burning furnace stoked.
This strategy will take a lot of discipline, but the rewards are well worth it.
#8 - Shake it Up Have you followed the same program for months? Simple changes in sets and reps can help you bust through a plateau and reach peak conditioning.
Not only can moving faster between sets increase intensity and burn more calories, but other changes -- like doing a few extra sets of an exercise -- can have a dramatic effect on your physique.
If you typically do 3-4 sets of a particular movement such as leg presses.
try doing 5-6 sets every now and then to mix things up.
Another effective technique is to increase your number of reps per set: If you usually do 8-10, try doing 12-15.
This will again mean you'll use a lighter weight, but you'll rest your joints from the heavier training and help build better muscle endurance.
You 11 be ready to go heavier again after a while.
Try a high-rep day for each bodypart 1-2 times a month.
#9 - Stay Balanced This one's a no-brainer: Keep an eye on your fat intake.
Though some athletes mistakenly go too low, you want to consume about 15%-20% of your total daily calories from dietary fat, mostly unsaturated sources.
Replace regular mayonnaise, salad dressing, butter, whole milk, egg yolks and cheese with light or fat-free versions.
Since fat has 9 calorie rt per gram, more than twice the calories found in gram of protein and carbs.
cutting your intake can significantly lower your calories and, thus, bodyfat levels.
#10 - Increase Your Cardio IF you aren't doing 3-4 cardio sessions per week, you should be.
These no longer have to be 45-60 minute events, but they must be done at the right intensity level in order to burn fat, without stripping off lean muscle in the process.
Getting cardio in immediately upon waking works best, prior to eating anything! If you are combining your cardio and resistance workouts, always perform your cardio after your weight training, never before! #11 - Use Compound Movements Instead of doing a lot of exercises like the dumbbell flye, lateral raise, leg extension and triceps kickback that work only the targeted muscle group, build your workouts around compound exercises like the bench press, bent-over row.
seated press and squat.
Compound movements involve many muscle groups for balance and coordination, so you'll not only be able to lift heavier weights but you'll use more energy (calories) doing it! More advanced trainers can add isolation-type movements after doing the heavier compound moves.
#12 - Use Supplementation Just about every nutritional supplementation ad running today promises overnight success.
This is unfortunate! Nothing, no diet, no training plan and certainly no nutritional, will provide immediate success in a safe, healthy manner.
Does this mean supplementation is not good or not required.
No! Absolutely the opposite is true.
Almost everyone requires some sort of nutritional supplementation, whether it is simply adding protein to their current diet, a daily multi-vitamin, additional Omegas, etc.
It is impossible to get all of the nutrients we need from diet along due to today's processing procedures.
If you are not supplementing with at the very least a good daily and Omegas, I would probably say you have a pretty significant gap in your healthy nutrition.
Obviously, we always recommend your doctor's approval before making any changes to your diet, exercise or supplementation program, but we are fairly confident most doctors today, realize the importance of filling your nutritional gaps.
The one major issue surrounding nutritional supplementation today is product quality! This coupled with questionable company integrity at times, can be cause for great concern.
Good, healthy and high quality supplementation can not only make a significant difference in your ability to lean out in time for summer, but more importantly, ensure a healthier body and daily function.
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