Burn fat and improve your levels of conditioning without doing a single bit of cardio!

Knowing how to switch your workouts up is vitally important for long term results. Everyone is human, everyone gets bored or can lack motivation. Having a variety of fitness tools in your toolbox is very handy for these times where you just need to shake things up a little bit. Whilst its important to push through plateaus and push yourself to go to the gym when you don’t feel like it, sometimes you just need a new challenge to get you hungry for success again. Here’s a few ways you can design a solid workout using nothing but resistance training!

 

Try out strongman style training

Exercises such as sled pushing/pulling, atlas balls and tire deadlifts can be adapted into a challenging and effective workout. If you haven’t got a sled, a mat with weights on it works well, zercher squats can be used for atlas balls and you can use a rack pull for the tire deadlifts. These exercises will get your heart rate up and get you breathing heavily!

Circuit training

Circuit training has been used for years to get fitness enthusiasts into better shape, and for good reason! They boost your metabolism, burn loads of calories during the session and show you what a hard workout is! With the rise in popularity of bodyweight HIIT training, circuit training in the traditional sense has taken a bit of a back seat. Try using 4-6 compound resistance exercises in a circuit fashion and watch the fat melt off! Exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press and barbell rows are all great exercises giving an effective total body workout.

Giant Sets

Have you ever completed 4-8 resistance exercises back to back without rest? If the answer is yes then you know where I’m coming from, if its no then I invite you to try it! It gives a great burn and if can be done in so many ways. For example you could aim for a total body workout or focus on one muscle group to get a ‘pump’. You can literally do anything you like with it and the conditioning you can get out of it is awesome!

Don’t sit down all day

Ok, so this may border along the lines of cardio (maybe) but sitting down all day is one of the major factors in the obesity levels in modern society. Simple things like standing up every 30 mins, getting up to change the T.V channel or taking the stairs all add upp to non-specific conditioning levels. You’d be surprised how this translates into your gym/sport conditioning (check out our blog on marginal gains here)

 

For exercise demonstrations, check out our FREE app (click the picture below) to view videos, pictures and exercise cues for over 250 exercises!

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D.N.A S&C

6 Reasons To Listen To Music When You Workout

Everyone has music that they absolutely love listening to. Whether it’s keeping up to date with the latest chart toppers or listening to some classics from way back when, there’s no denying that music can move you emotionally. This can then translate into your workouts and help push yourself further! Here’s 6 reasons to listen to music when you workout!

It can up your effort

Recent studies have found that athletes worked harder when listening to faster tempo music, compared to slower tempo. It has been found that songs between 120 and 140 beats per minute (bpm) have the optimum effect on the outcome of workout intensity.

Music can get you in ‘the zone’

Ever had someone tell you they’re getting in ‘the zone’ before a workout or a set by listening to a song. Everyone has that go-to song that gets them in ‘the zone’. We associate certain songs with memories, we then relate these songs to the context we originally heard them. This has scientifically been shown to improve physical performance.

Music Makes Exercising More Fun

Another great reason to listen to music while exercising is that it can make working out a lot more enjoyable. Exercising is not always fun, especially cardio. Some people see it as a chore. This is where choosing the correct playlist can help you find exercising a lot more fun, and it makes it a lot easier to motivate yourself to go down the gym.

Diverts the mind from fatigue

Research has found that music can improve performance by drawing your attention away from feelings of fatigue and pain when engaged in endurance activities such as running, cycling, or swimming. It has been shown to increase exercise efficiency and postpone exercise fatigue.

A good beat can help you stick to a steady pace

The rhythm of your music can impact the pace of your workout by stimulating the motor area of the brain to direct the body when to move. When performing exercise such as running, cycling etc. It is good to have a steady beat like club and house music, but when performing weights try to have a song that has lyrics over the top to distract you from putting a tempo on your reps and possibly affecting form.

Choosing the right music

Not everyone has the same music taste, like pumping electro beats during your workout. However, a general configuration can still be found to improve performance.

• First of all, it’s a good idea to think about which type of workout you’re about to perform. Choose a type of song where the rhythm and tempo link with the exercises.
• Scientific research suggests that some activities, especially those that are characterized by repetitiveness such as warm-ups, stretching, circuit and weight training are particularly suitable to perform while listening to accompanying music.

 

For exercise demonstrations, check out our FREE app (click the picture below) to view videos, pictures and exercise cues for over 250 exercises!

If you liked the blog, comment, share and subscribe to our mailing list on our website for more quality information every week.

D.N.A S&C