Find a New Fitness Routine To Re-energize Your Workout
Find your inner athlete
If you’re suffering from the summer doldrums with your fitness routine, it’s time to break out something new.
Whether it’s training for a new competition, or adding a new routine to the mix, don’t let yourself get bogged down with the same dreary 5K after 5K. Do something different and you’ll find yourself inspired to keep fit.
You don’t have to be an Olympic-level athlete to do these routines, but perhaps watching the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio will inspire you to create an entirely new workout for yourself.
Mindful martial arts
Have you ever considered martial arts training as a new workout? If so, don’t miss out on the trend toward mindful martial arts. Many leading edge trainers are incorporating mindfulness into their workouts. Not just in yoga, but in bootcamps and martial arts. Judy Kuan, a NASM certified personal trainer and corrective exercise specialist said, “I've had clients ask for mindful martial arts workouts, where I take traditional kicking, punching, and blocking movements from martial arts and slow them way down. The slower speed helps cultivate focus, balance and strength.”
Posture workouts beyond Pilates
Pilates has been the go-to for anyone seeking to work on posture and back-related issues. Kuan said, “I've seen more and more trainers and instructors specifically add components to their workouts that address posture - rather than just focus on strength, power, and speed. I think this trend has been driven by the fitness industry's awareness that too many instructors and trainers providing bodyweight workouts were focusing on ‘push’ movements versus ‘pull’ movements, which can lead to that hunched posture due to overly-tight shoulders and weak mid-back muscles. Also, with back pain a continued issue for 80% of the adult population, clients are now aware of the benefits of focusing on posture to help prevent and alleviate back pain as well.”
Smart, progressive calisthenic/body weight workouts
John Ford, ACSM health and fitness specialist, said, “I love lifting and there are definitely gains and certain visual results that I’ve gotten through lifting that I couldn’t have gotten otherwise. But I’ve become obsessed over the last year of integrating high level calisthenics into my workout. Surprisingly, a lot of the exercises have reduced the impact and stress on my joints, making playing my favorite sports a lot easier. I definitely suggest working with a trainer at first to ensure you don’t get injured and can setup a program to progress to the more difficult movements. I think the cool things people have been doing with trainers is a main reason you’re seeing a lot more open spaces designed into gym floors with corresponding equipment for these movements and cross-training exercises.”
Revamped cardio with enhanced fat burning
With this workout, you will burn more direct fat while gaining lean muscle mass and bringing your cardio routine to a whole new level in 20 minutes alone, compared to running at a medium or low intensity, according to celebrity fitness trainer and two-time World Boxing Champion Danny Musico. Faster, more explosive interval training is the most effective way to train for any sport and is the best workout for overall fat trimming and conditioning.
- Training Starts With Discipline, Proper Sleep, Diet And Hydration: Before you begin any workout, pop open a can of Celsius, a healthy energy drink designed to aid in weight loss and increase performance while working out. Celsius is the perfect motivator for those exercise sessions that have been pushed off for months. Backed by multiple published university studies, drinking Celsius before exercise has been proven to help burn up to 93% more body fat and burn 100 calories and more per serving.
- Start With Cardio: Find yourself your best staircase and hit it hard, running up and down, doing lunge climbs and stair jumps. Take on as many steps as you can at a time in a climb.
- Pull Ups/Chin Ups: If you’re working out at home, get a pull up bar installed in your doorway, that way you can't avoid working your arms with this hard hitting exercise.
- Wall Sits: Prop yourself in a seated position leaning against the wall and challenge yourself against the time. If you have a stability ball you can do explosive wall squats by placing the ball between you and the wall and have dumbbells in your hands for added difficulty.
- Back to Cardio: Challenge yourself with intervals of high knee runs in place, starting with going all out 30 second bursts and build on time and number of sets.
- Jump Rope: Find a flat surface and do 30 second to 3 minute intervals. This activity is best when wearing a good shock absorbing running shoe.
- Burpees: No one truly enjoys these, but the pros know they’re a necessity. Do burpees as fast as you can for sets of 12 to 15.
- Planks: The challenge is to hold planks as long as you can without losing proper form. Stop when your form is no longer perfect, so you don’t injure yourself.
- Floor Crunches: Go to your stomach and crunch without pulling on your neck or letting momentum take over.
- Jumping Jacks Into Push Up Drill: Go for 30 seconds of speed jumping jacks as fast as you can without losing proper form right into 30 seconds of proper form push ups, take 30 seconds for rest and repeat.
- Shadow Box Punching Drill: Make an imaginary square in front of you and punch like a piston through that square for 30 sec speed drills without dropping your hands out of the square and build on time. Your shoulders and arms will beg for mercy.
