Make Your Workouts More Effective With Simple Changes
Get-Fit Guy explains how simple changes to your exercise routine can make a world of difference in your fitness levels and athletic performance.
Ben Greenfield
It’s amazing how simple changes in the positioning of your body during an exercise can drastically alter the intensity of the exercise and your response to the workout. This can be particularly useful if you don’t have much time to exercise, or if you don’t have access to a gym.
For example, if I don’t have much time to do a full workout session, I know that I can be far more effective doing push-ups with a weighted backpack or with one leg raised in the air as compared to traditional push-ups.
A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research proved this effect. The study examined the effect of suspension training on muscle activation during performance of variations of the abdominal plank exercises. All participants in the study completed 2 repetitions each of 4 different plank exercises – including a floor-based plank and planks with arms suspended (e.g. arms on a suspension trainer like a TRX and feet on the floor), feet suspended, or feet and arms both suspended (again using a TRX Suspension System).
All planks were performed for a total of 3 seconds while muscle activation was measured. Amazingly, there was no significant difference between having your arms suspended vs. the seemingly far more difficult exercise of having both your arms and legs suspended. The researchers also pointed out that you could achieve the same muscle activation of having your arms suspended by simple getting into a plank position with your forearms or destabilize further by putting the arms on top of a foam roller or exercise ball!
So based on all this, I have a simple challenge for you this week: Choose ONE exercise that you normally do and figure out a way to make it harder! Let me know what happens in Comments or at Facebook GetFitGuy.
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.