Time to Maximize Your Workout!
Ready to say “screw everything, I want to take my workout to the next level”!?
The secret to workout success is taking on new approaches with your training and getting out of your comfort zone every little while. As the fitness industry evolves, so too does our understanding of how to do things right. If you can stay on top of the information, you have a much better chance of reaching your goals.
I developed this blog to help you maximize your workout by reviewing some of the best fitness tips and strategies known to man and woman! The key here is to take steps and make changes so you can get into a momentum where you feel really damn good about yourself. Let’s get on with it…
6 Killer Strategies to Maximize Your Workout
1. Adopt a Whole Foods Diet
There’s little denying the role of a healthy diet in your workout success. It serves as the foundation for everything you do, and it fuels not only your lean muscle growth, but also your fat-burning capacity and your energy level.
So before you do anything else, I want you to clean up your diet and go whole foods as much as possible. A whole foods diet simply means eating less processed foods and going for natural, whole ingredients. By doing so, you’ll increase the overall nutritional value of the food you eat, and that means better support for your workouts and training.
To get started, check out my Cleaning Eating Principles to Live By. I guarantee this is the best way to boost your energy and get more out of every exercise.
2. Make Protein a Priority
The other key diet-related factor is protein. Protein is essential for building lean muscle mass, whether it’s animal or plant based protein. And even if you don’t want to bulk up, protein will still contribute to the building of lean muscle, which will give you a more toned physique.
It’s been suggested that you need about 1 gram of protein for every pound of body mass daily. Try a time released protein supplement like Optimum 100% Natural Casein Protein – it will maximize absorption, and give you better results than your average protein powder plus it’s not full of sugars, especially artificial ones.
3. Introduce Interval Training to Your Routine
Whatever you’re doing, you need to kick it up a notch if you want to see success. One of the most effective strategies is interval training. What this means is alternating between high and low intensity in short bursts, working up a serious sweat in a short period of time. You’ll burn a ton of calories and challenge your muscles in a whole new way.
Try Tabata Interval Training here, or just try to get more intense overall. Whether it’s intervals or just taking shorter rest periods, you’ve got to increase your output at the gym.
4. Get Creative and Change It Up
In addition to getting more intense, you also want to change things up on a regular basis. Adding variety to your workout will keep your muscles and body responsive and help you overcome plateaus. Here are a few simple ways to get creative and add some variety to your routine:
- Increase or decrease your number of reps (and weight).
- Increase the number of sets per exercise.
- Add supersets, by alternating sets of opposing exercises.
- Try pyramid sets, by consecutively decreasing weight and working to muscle failure.
- Vary the speed of your exercises.
- Change the grip on barbells and machines by either widening or narrowing.
- Add one new exercise to every workout.
For more ways to change things up, read my article on Muscle Confusion Workout Routines here.
5. Save Time for Stretching
While stretching before a workout can actually weaken your muscles for lifting, stretching afterwards is essential to maximizing your gains. Studies have shown up to a 30% gain in lean muscle growth by stretching alone. It can also prevent injury and help improve recovery time, meaning you can get back at it faster than before.
Check out my 7 Essential Stretches You Can’t Live Without, or invest in a set of these STRETCH BANDS for home use.
6. Rest, Recover, and Repeat
Stretching is the first step to improving recovery, but you’ve got to do a little more than just that. Recovery time is necessary to allow your muscles to heal and rebuild, which is where the real gains are in muscle are made. Without sufficient time, you won’t see maximum gains, and you’ll make yourself prone to injury over time.
The first step to improving your recovery is to simply get a good night’s sleep, especially after a hard workout day.
But the next big thing that can really boost recovery and maximize your workout success is a solid recovery supplement. Protein is important, first and foremost, but amino acids and creatine can also play a huge role. Here are some supplements I recommend. All of these can be taken together for the best results possible:
- Evlution Nutrition: BCAA Energy, a blended formula to help you workout better by supplying you with the amino acids your muscles need.
- Optimum Glutamine, helps you recover from your sore muscles quicker.
- Kre-a-fem or Muscle Pharm Creatine, creatine helps boost muscle endurance and also helps with faster recovery.
Like I said, try any one of these strategies, or go full force with everything on this list. If you want to maximize your workout efforts and see ultimate results, this guide will get you there faster!
Have any questions or feedback about my Ultimate Guide to Maximize Your Workout? Please leave a comment below…