19 ingenious fitness tips from people living in sports

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Recommendations from some of America's most creative coaches will help you fix your mistakes and try some interesting techniques used by stars, powerlifters, speed geniuses and tech titans.

1. Measure your capabilities

Sometimes you need to check on yourself. A fitness test works better than trying to challenge yourself or measure your progress in some way.

Regular checks bring you closer to the right path and help you overcome the urge to stop or give up.

Here is one of McDonald's favorite tests that you can do anywhere.

Set a timer and complete 100 burpees. First push up, then stand up and jump out, lifting off the floor at least 10 centimeters.

Repeat the test once a week and try to shorten the execution time at least a little each time.

2. Prepare your muscles for pulling up

To prepare for the pull-up, hang on the bar for 30 seconds with a tight abs.

Then try to do the same, but with your arms bent at a 90-degree angle. When you manage to do 3 sets of 30 seconds each, you can try to pull up.

3. Choose the right pace

Run 25 minutes at a relaxed pace to warm up. Then speed up a little every two minutes. Increase the pace gradually, so that you run fast enough for 40 minutes.

After 45 minutes, run at maximum pace while you have strength. After that - 5 minutes of running at a calm pace. Repeat this workout every week.

4. Try different methods

Alvin is obsessed with new training techniques and fitness equipment developments. His innovations are always quite effective. No matter how he changes his clients' workouts, their results always improve. Here's what he recommends.

Don't follow the clock

Interval training is always done on time - you do the exercise and then you rest.

Cosgrove prefers heart rate training. You work until your heart rate is 85% of your maximum and then rest until your heart rate drops to 65%.

The more intervals you can do in 10 minutes, the better your results.

Shift the load from the center

Imagine doing the Farmer's Walk exercise with 18 kg dumbbells.

Easy, huh? Now try walking with one 36-pound dumbbell in one hand. Shifting the weight to one side increases the load, especially on the core muscles.

Try this principle with lunges, strides, squats, and most upper body exercises.

Wake up your muscles

When you lift the sandbag, the weight shifts. Your central nervous system has to react faster to tune your muscles.

This burns more calories and turns any exercise into a workout for your core muscles. No sandbag? Use a TRX trainer or.

5. Improve the rear view

Glute Lab is a four-car garage that has evolved into a hybrid of a hardcore gym and science lab. Bret Contreras uses stabilometric platforms to assess strength, electromyography and ultrasound to understand what's going on in the muscles, and video capture technology to investigate movement.

He made several discoveries.

Pay attention to squats and hips while lying down

Contreras's research showed that squats pump the lower muscle fibers in the buttocks, and during the pelvic lifts, both the lower and upper fibers are worked out. To get the best results, both exercises should be done.

In addition, these exercises provide all-round development. Contreras recently discovered that squats can improve vertical jumping and that pelvic lift can increase running speed.

Trust your feelings

Using electromyography to measure muscle stimulation, Contreras found big differences in how exercise affects people. He claims that his clients often tell themselves which exercise is most beneficial because they feel it.

Trust your instincts and listen to your body. If you feel like squats will help you build muscle better by turning your feet outward, chances are it is.

6. To build muscle, do deadlifts with the correct weight

Jason trains top athletes, including Men’s Health cover models Matt Damon and John Krasinski. To increase strength, they do slow repetitions of the deadlift with heavy weights.

Every few weeks, they do a grueling workout: they hang 50 to 70% of the weight they can lift on the bar and do three sets with as many reps as possible.

7. Run a sprint on a treadmill

You can arrange high-speed races not only at the stadium, but also at. Gradually add the speed and grade of the treadmill until you reach a pace that you can only sustain for 20-30 seconds. Then reduce the pace to a quiet run or walk for 1-3 minutes, then repeat from the beginning. In your first workout, do no more than 2-4 of these sprints. Gradually bring their number to 8-12.

8. Let the group motivate you

There are many specialized studios for group yoga, cycling, jogging, boxing and dance classes. What are the benefits of group training? In company. The group motivates you to do better.

Music is also of great importance. Find a soundtrack that inspires you and suits your workouts, and you will train harder and better.

9. Exercise hard, but not too often

If you are under 35, three intense workouts per week are enough. If more, two will suffice.

Challenge yourself on interval training days, and do all exercises at an easy pace during recovery sessions.

10. Exercise Gently With Free Weights

Sometimes working with free weights doesn't feel right. To fix this, you need to listen to your body.

Let's say you have a leg day. Try reaching your toes first. Stop when you feel tension.

After that, try doing bodyweight squats, and then stretch to your legs again. Did you manage to lean lower? If not, reschedule the barbell squat to another day.

11. Try a squat that won't ruin

Try a double kettlebell squat.

During these squats, it is almost impossible to spoil the technique. The lower back is in an excellent position, the quads, glutes and abs are well pumped.

12. Monitor your workouts

The best day to relax comes when you most want to go to workout. Instead, take a walk or do something around the house. This will prove that you are in control of your training program, not you.

13. Choose a clear goal and strive for it

Choose an adventure that challenges you, such as rafting down a mountain river, then get ready for it in the gym.

You will gain experience that will help you in life, and your training will have a purpose.

14. Find your limit with a simple test

Rotator cuff injuries are often associated with insufficient pulling strength.

A simple test for athletes: You should lift the same weight during your pull-ups as you would during the bench press. For example, if you weigh 80 kilograms, and you do bench press with a weight of 100 kilograms, you need to pull up with a weight of 20 kilograms.

15. Use a mantra to deal with discomfort

You can work harder if you learn to overcome the discomfort. This is the key to physical change.

Ben teaches his athletes to use a mantra - something short and positive, something that they can repeat to themselves during difficult times.

Bergeron himself uses this mantra: "This is what it costs."

16. Don't go to expensive gyms

You can get stronger in a cheap gym too. They do not have new exercise machines, infrared saunas and water coolers, but even there you can become stronger and more resilient.

Dumbbells are everywhere. You can do a lot of exercises with them: deep squats with one dumbbell on your chest, reverse lunges, squats in a lunge, deadlift on one leg, overhead dumbbell press, pull to the stomach and bench press.

On the Smith machine, you can do pull-ups with your feet on the floor. Using different handles, you can pull the upper block to the chest and pull to the abdomen.

17. Make a gym at home

John converted his suburban garage into the Westridge Barbell Club and, with a few followers, is doing high-intensity workouts there with basic equipment.

He once had a lot more equipment, even a pair of Nautilus biceps and triceps machines. But after the move, he realized how little a home gym really needed.

Start small

John cut his equipment down to one 28kg kettlebell.

“This was my personal home gym,” he says. "I could do bench presses, kettlebell swings, squats, snatch and many other exercises, including training with my body weight."

Start with one shell that you can do all of these exercises with.

Refill your gym gradually

Before buying new equipment, consider what exercises you can do with it.

John first used a press roller he bought for $ 4. After that, he switched to TRX loops. You can purchase, for example, a chin-up rack or a pancake bar.

Don't waste your money

Rich people buy expensive exercise machines and never use them. A good home gym starts small and grows over time.

Cardio equipment is a waste of money. People rarely use them, and a good walk is much better and cheaper.

18. Turn your workout into a game

There are hundreds of gyms in NYC, but Throwback Fitness has the best rated gyms in town. Their secret is that they try to distract clients from the fact of training by using team exercises and competitive elements.

It helps you work harder and get great results.

Fight yourself

As a competition for one person, you can use a circuit workout consisting of push-ups, crunches and squats with your body weight.

Do two more repetitions for each circle - 2, 4, 6, and so on. The workout continues for 5 minutes. Rest - 1 minute.

After resting, start with the number of reps that you managed to do, but now reduce the reps - 12, 10, 8, and so on to two. Your goal is to get back to two reps in less than five minutes.

Too easy? Then increase your workout time to 10 minutes.

Compete with your friends

Each group at Throwback Fitness includes 6 to 16 people. Participants are divided into groups and compete with each other. One of the favorite gym competition games is the TBF Cup.

In this game, teams compete in throwing balls into the net. To gain access to the ball, the team needs to make a circle of four burpees, eight push-ups, and twelve crunches. The faster you make a circle, the more attempts to throw the ball will be. The team that has more balls in the net at the end of the training session wins.

19. Find your club

Maybe elite fitness clubs with air conditioning, modern fitness equipment and protein shakes at the exit are suitable for you.

Or do you still prefer an old gym like Doug's Gym, where there are only barbells, dumbbells and kettlebells from the equipment, and where, it seems, nothing has changed since the first gyms appeared.

Doug, 58, healthy and strong, inspires young people with his example. He squats and lunges with a 22-pound kettlebell in each hand.

Doug is living proof that the gym isn't really that important to staying in top shape. More importantly, you do a few days a week where you feel comfortable.