Ok, so you only have your lunch hour to get to the gym do a supercharged workout, shower and get back to work? Well, the good news is it is possible to still get a great workout in a short space of time! The key is interchanging high intensity cardio and weights to maximize fat loss and toning.
With training it is definitely about quality not quantity. You don't necessarily have to workout for a long time as long as your sessions are short but intense. With the cardio side of things I would definitely focus on interval training. Interval training is alternating extremely high intensity intervals with slightly lower intensity active recovery intervals. Because you only have limited time you could do a 30-60 second sprint, followed by 30 second walk as your active recovery (using the treadmill). You can pretty much do this sort of interval training on any cardio equipment. The key is to really push yourself during the high intensity segments so that you are literally gasping for air by the end of them and only just recovering on the lower intensity before you HIIT it again! This is by far the best way to burn fat and increase your metabolism. 20 minutes of this kind of training is definitely sufficient.
In terms of weights you should be doing some kind of split so that you work different muscle groups each day. There are many different kinds of splits, but a good one would be a 4 day split such as:
Day1: Chest and Back
Day 2: Shoulders, calves and core
Day 3: Biceps and Triceps
Day 4: Legs and core
There are many different combinations of these, but the main key is to rest each muscle group long enough that it isn't still hurting next time you train it. Free weights are superior to using the machines too, cause you have to use core stability and proper posture to execute the moves, which means you are recruiting more muscle fibers. And ladies, don't worry about bulking up. We don't have enough testosterone to do that unless we are on steroids! You can go pretty heavy and it will just make your muscles harder and denser. Muscle burns fat! The more muscle you have the better!
Apart from all that, nutrition is key! Don't let anyone kid you into thinking that it isn't. Most body builders will tell you nutrition is a huge 80-90% of your success. You need to be eating to complement your exercise routine, otherwise you could be cannibalizing your own muscle, which totally defeats the purpose. Use an online calculator to figure out your requirement of protein, carbohydrate and fats so that you can devise a decent menu plan.
The biggest challenge of all will be just to stick to your new routine and get back on the band waggon if you ever fall off. Consistency is the key to success!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hi, this is a great post! Thanks..