It's time to stop being a workout slave to your old school workout routines and time to break away from the crowd by doing the opposite of what they are doing. The results just might surprise you.
The idea of these workout tips came to me while watching one of the classic episodes of Seinfeld, "The Bizarro Jerry" episode.
The concept behind this episode was of having a world made up of everyone's total opposite, which is based on the Bizarro World stories featured in the Superman comic books.
The Bizarro versions of Jerry, George, Kramer and Newman were called Kevin, Gene, Feldman and Vargas.
So if you are not getting results from your workouts, maybe it's time you do the opposite of what you see most people doing in the gym.
A lot of regular gym goers continue to look the same year after year despite how often they make an appearance and I am sure you don't want to look like "most" people, as over 60% of people today are obese.
For the first time, the number of overweight individuals around the world rivals the number who are underweight.
In fact a new word - "globesity" has now been coined to reflect the escalation of global obesity and the overweight!
Remember, Albert Einstein once said "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".
Think about this quote for a second and ask yourself, does this quote apply to the way I workout?
If so, it's time to stop being a workout slave to your old school workout routines and time to break away from the crowd by doing the opposite of what they are doing.
The results just might surprise you.
That also includes those people you see in the gym who are there consistently but continue to look the same year after year.
1. Quality, not Quantity- Don't fall for the cardio confusion where you think the more time you punch on a cardio machine the more fat you burn. You don't need to spend hours working out everyday to get those rock hard abs or bulging biceps. The key to effective workouts is intensity. With shorter weight training and interval cardio workouts you spend less time working and more time burning fat. High intensity workouts elevate your metabolism up to 36 hours after your workout.
2. Mirror Muscles- Most guys love training the muscles they can see in the mirror like their chest and biceps. But 50% of your muscles are on the back of your body. Muscles of your upper and lower back, hamstrings and even your triceps on the back of your arm are often neglected in favor of pumping up those mirror muscles. This contributes to overuse and imbalances in the shoulders and spine making you more susceptible to shoulder and back injuries. Do more pulling than pushing when you are in the gym and you will really be glad with what you see in the mirror.
3. Bet on Low- Betting on high might be the smart choice in a game of poker, but for better workouts, go low. Instead of following the classic "3 sets of 10 reps" routine, go bizarro and do the opposite with "10 sets of 3". This will allow you to focus on the performance and quality of your repetitions instead of fatiguing your muscles with higher reps. Most people train to improve appearance; you should train to improve performance and your appearance will improve as a result.
4. Step Away From the Machine- You don't need to workout on expensive equipment that isolates small muscles and put your body in unnatural positions all while you sit down. When you perform an exercise using machines you force your body to follow the range of motion dictated by the machine, when it should be the other way around allowing your body to control your range of motion. Besides some cable movements. which are actually closer to free weight movements than machines, stick with barbells, dumbbells and bodyweight exercises so you build functional muscles that you can use in the real world.
5. Be Flexible- I am still amazed at how many people still don't pay proper attention to warming up before their workout and stretching at the end of their workout. If you want to have healthy joints and pain free flexibility, follow a proper warmup and cooldown. Get your body primed for training with dynamic movements like bodyweight squats and pushups, then help to lower your heart rate and relax your muscles with some stretches after your workout is over. This is not something that you can afford to ignore if you want a healthy body for many years to come.
Follow these 5 tips in your next workout and if anyone asks you "what your doing?" tell them the opposite!
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Sean is a Certified Personal Trainer and a proud and busy Dad. Sean has been involved in the health and fitness industry for over 15 years and have appeared in High Performance Muscle Magazine, been on health and fitness radio shows and was selected as a sponsored athlete by one of the top supplement nutrition companies in the world. His popular Dad Fitness fat loss workouts have helped Dads around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 3 hours per week. For more information on the Dad Fitness workouts that will help you burn fat without spending hours in the gym, visit dadfitness.com.