When it’s 25 degrees below freezing, it’s hard to believe that Memorial Day Weekend (the unofficial first day of summer) is only 86 days away. Feeling and looking your best makes beach and pool time much more enjoyable. And being proactive about your fitness keeps you from being tempted to do something dangerous or unsustainable.
1. Use combination moves. These exercises are great for total body toning and revving up your metabolism, working nearly all the muscles in your body at once. The most effective combo moves combine an upper-body and a lower-body movement. Two examples are squat to row and split squat to overhead.
2. Drink half your body weight in ounces. This will help curb your appetite, allow for more workout intensity and improve your recovery. Often people confuse thirst for hunger. Proper hydration allows you to cool off more efficiently during exercise, which delays fatigue. Proper hydration also improves circulation, enhancing recovery and results.
3. Non-competing pairs. Structure your workouts for maximum time efficiency and effectiveness with non-competing pairs of exercises. Upper- and lower-body exercises make great pairs. An example of this are push-ups and deadlifts. The push-ups will tax your upper body, and while those muscles are recovering you can work your butt and thighs with the deadlift. This allows for local muscle recovery for maximum safety and intensity in minimal time.
4. Eat about three times per day. Fewer meals lead to a healthier metabolism and a better regulated appetite. Eating lots of small meals actually makes you hungrier and less satisfied with what you’ve eaten, even when the calories are the same.
5. Use power moves. Fast, explosive movements stimulate your metabolism in ways that slower exercise can’t. For most people starting out, this means throwing or slamming a medicine ball. These moves are easy to learn, very safe and require you to get your entire body involved to do them well.
A best-selling author and fitness expert with 16 years of experience, Josef Brandenburg owns The Body You Want club in Georgetown. Information about his 14-Day Personal Training Experience may be found at TheBodyYouWant.com.
