So you don't have much time but you still want to make progress. As cyclists, we tend to think that short workouts aren't worth doing as our goals are to ride fast for many hours. Well here is the secret to getting the most gains from less time training. Go hard. I'm not talking about picking up the pace a bit but really going hard. Sprints, hill attacks, other tough intervals and circuit workouts that demand a huge amount of oxygen and create a lot of lactic acid. The accumulated oxygen debt will overload both the anaerobic and aerobic energy systems leading to improvements in both.
As well high intensity intervals and off the bike cross training workouts routines program spike your bodies production in growth hormone and testosterone leading to an improvement in body function without resorting to cheating. As we age these hormones decrease so spiking them up with exercise will help with fat burning, recovery and growth of new red blood cells. It literally will turn back your bodies internal clock letting your feel and perform younger. Not bad for such short workouts.
Enough of the preamble. You're reading this because you want results, so on to the workouts.
Due to the intensity of my workouts you will want to warm up at least 10 minutes before doing the workout. As you get fitter you will need a longer warm up for optimal performance but a quick one will do to reduce the chance of injury from trying to do these workouts cold.
Tabata Interval Blocks
The basic Tabata interval is becoming well known. The basic premise is 20 second hard / 10 seconds easy, repeated 8-10 times. 8 repeats is a 4 minute block.
If you are pushed for time, do a quick warm up and then 10 x 20 second hard sprints with 10 seconds easy pedalling between the reps. This is a 5 minute workout. Don't be deceived by the length. Even the fittest athlete will get a training overload if each interval is attacked at maximum effort. Due to the intensity level these are best done on an indoor bike trainer. I've done them outside and by the sixth or seventh interval I'm weaving all over the road.
If you have a little more time to work with then I recommend doing a couple of blocks. After warm up, do 8 x Tabata intervals (4 minutes) then a 4 minute recovery and do it again. Two blocks of Tabata intervals overload just about every system in the body and it only takes 12 minutes. As you get fitter you can attempt to add another set during times you want a huge training load.
20 minute Time Trials
Some of you may be familiar with 20 minute threshold repeats. These are up a level in intensity. You can do them indoors or out but if outside find a 20 minutes long hill climb for the lucky folks that live in the mountains or level terrain into a headwind. You don't want the terrain to give you a break so try to find a route that has no downhills. The rest is pretty simple. Cover as much distance as you can in 20 minutes.
A variation of these I use for my clients is a 12-15 km time trial as this takes most fit cyclists around 20 minutes. If you picked the pace right your legs will be burning but you will be just barely able to keep the pace going for the full distance. Because lactic acid is accumulating faster than your body can process it, the last 5 minutes really hurt. These will raise your aerobic capacity and improve your ability to process lactic acid. If you do time trials in competition they are really good for getting a feel for pacing as well. Go out too hard and your legs will blow up. Go out too easy and you won't be as fast as you could.
Mini Velmax Intervals
Velmax intervals are a simple but effective workout that we usually do for 25-40 repeats. In this case you will do 20 to fit in the time limit hence the mini. The intervals are pretty simple 30 seconds at 135% threshold power or 8-9 out of ten perceived exertion if you don't have a power meter. The recovery time is 30 seconds. So you go hard at the beginning of each minute and recover at 30 seconds in. Fairly easy to keep track of no matter how fatigued you get. The first few are hard but doable. Each one after that gets harder until the last few feel like your legs are going to fall off. While you have to get proper recovery between this type of workout they really bring results fast if you put an honest effort in.
Full Body Circuit Workouts
The last two workouts are not on the bike. Sometimes you find yourself without equipment but still want to get a workout in. Other times you will use these types of workouts to balance out the rest of the body. Cycling hits certain muscles hard but neglects others. If you lack muscular endurance in the core and upper body it will affect your performance on the bike. A strong core will increase your power to the pedals both seated and standing. While I'm giving you two workouts, there are almost infinite possibilities when it comes to programing cross training workouts.
To do these workouts you will need nothing more than a pair of dumb bells. For guys I recommend a set of 20 lbs and for women a set of 10 lbs. If you don't know how to do the exercises, do a Google search for "crossfit exercises" or do a search for the name of each exercise. There are YouTube.com videos of most of the exercises.
Before we get to the workouts, a few points about how to do them. Do each exercise in order and once you've gone through one circuit start over at the beginning until you have done the planned number of rounds. The aim is to get the workout done as fast as possible while maintaining good form in the exercises.
Don't rest unless you have to. This type of workout will have a lot of lactic acid and get you huffing and puffing. This is good. This type of workout leads to an increase in your bodies production of growth hormone and testosterone. For those of us over 30, levels of these hormones decrease. This increase will lead to easier fat burning, better recovery and increased performance.
Workout 1
3 rounds
20 Thrusters
20 Sumo Deadlift Highpulls
20 Burpees
Workout 2
3 rounds
10 Manmakers with Dumbbells
20 Dumbbell Swings
30 Bodyweight Squats
When you first do the above workouts, work at your own pace. Give yourself at least 48 hours between workouts. Try to better your time each time you do them. These are tough but effective. Depending on your fitness level these can be done is as little 6 minutes.
Overview
By making each minute count and overloading the system, you can get great results with very little time spent training. As a cyclist if you focus on quality over the winter with a longer, moderate ride once or twice a week you will see a big improvement by the time spring comes around. The lack of time is just an excuse.
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
The 10 Essentials For Amazing Weight Lifting Workout Routines
Bodybuilding is a lot more than just lifting up some heavy weights. Good weight lifting workout routines consists of several different aspects. If you want to build yourself a nice body, your weight lifting workout routines need to have proper nutrition, daily cardio workouts, plenty of water throughout the day, nutrition, and a good amount of rest between each of your workout days.
Warm-up
To start off, your workout needs to have some sort of cardio warm-up and little bit of light stretching before you do any of the heavy lifting. It doesn't have to be anything intense; all you have to do is about five minutes of running on the treadmill and then about five additional minutes of stretching. This essential to get your blood flowing and to prevent any injuries from occurring when you're doing your weight lifting.
Another type of warm-up you should include in your bodybuilding program is warming up with your main exercise. After you do your cardio stretching, you need to warm up your muscle groups, and the best way to do that is by doing light versions of one of your weight lifting exercises. For example let's say you wanted to do upper body workouts for the day and your main exercise is going to be the bench press. Your first set should be 50% of your normal weight for 10 repetitions. In your next rep should be 60% for six reps. And then keep on doing something similar for about three more sets. If you look at the end of this article, you'll see a sample workout session where I'll be describing this in more detail.
Don't try to work on your muscles in the same day; spread them throughout the week
Good weight lifting workout routines need to have a certain focus on each day of the workout. You should be grouping some your larger muscle groups together on each of the days. For example, on Monday, you should do triceps, chest, and shoulders; on Wednesday you should do biceps and back; and on Friday, you should do legs and abs. By working out each year muscle groups one time per week you'll give them enough time to repair themselves and grow.
One common newbie mistake is overtraining. They workout the same muscles more than once per week, which sometimes doesn't allow the muscles to repair. Remember that muscle growth doesn't happen during the workout itself. Muscles only grow in mass when they repair themselves and have a proper amount of rest in between each your workouts. The more time you give your muscles to rest in between your workouts, the more time they will to have to repair and grow.
Workout until exhaustion for each of your days
Your muscles are only going to build if push yourself. With each new weekly should be pushing yourself by either increasing your weight slightly (2.5 or 5 pounds) or by increasing your reps by 2 to 4. For weight lifting to be effective, you have to keep on working until your muscles are exhausted. Exhaustion is defined as when your muscles can no longer do an exercise properly. Keep in mind that you should always use proper form and to use steady movements in order reduce the risks of injury.
Repetitions
If you're using the correct amount of weight, you should only be doing about 8 to 12 reps per set when you're working on your muscles. 8 is a pretty good number, and if you reach 12 then you should probably grab some heavier weights. If you go any higher than 12 then you're less likely to build muscle mass and more likely to tone it.
Sets
A proper weight lifting workout routine should have about 4 to 7 sets for each exercise (this is assuming that you have approximately 4-6 different exercises for the day; if you have many more exercises, then you'll want to reduce the amount of sets per exercise so that you don't completely drain yourself before you complete the workout). It shouldn't take you hours in order to finish your weight lifting workout routines; in fact, they should only take you one hour to finish. Write down what you are able to perform so that you can keep track of your progress.
Resting period in between each set
After you finish each of your sets, you need a resting period. For the best time efficiency, your resting period should be about 60 seconds to 90 seconds. If you feel that you need to rest longer for the next set, then do so.
Water
Drinking water during a workout is essential. Need to keep your body hydrated because if your body is just even slightly dehydrated this could be a drop in your performance. If you drink enough water before during and after the workout, then you'll feel to get the most out of your weight lifting efforts.
Nutrition
Diet is another important element of your weight lifting workout routines. To give your muscles enough energy for the workout, you should be eating high glycemic carbohydrate foods right before the workout. For example, a fruit would be good before the workout. Including some protein in your workout will also help control your blood sugar levels.
After-Workout Nutrition
Within one hour immediately after your workout, you should be consuming protein and good carbohydrates. Liquid whey protein and high glycemic carbohydrates absorb quickly, so they're the best things to eat/drink right after your workout. This is also an important time to consume a lot of calories; your muscles need calories in order to repair themselves and grow.
Protein
As I said before, your body needs protein (especially after the workout) as part of its weight lifting workout routines in order to repair itself. To get the protein absorbed into the body as quickly as possible, many bodybuilders bring along protein shakes or protein powders with liquid to drink right after the workout is done.
You should try and avoid eating fatty foods during the 1 hour after your workout, because they will slow down your body's absorption of essential nutrients.
Sample Routines
Do all of your sets until your muscles fail. Write down your progress, so that you can push yourself the next week and beat the previous week's. Remember to increase your weights and/or reps each week.
Warm-Up
- 5 minutes of running/jogging
- 1st set of an exercise: 50% of normal weight, 10 reps
- 2nd set of an exercise: 60% of normal weight, 6 reps
- 3rd set of an exercise: 70% of normal weight, 4 reps
- 4th set of an exercise: 80% of normal weight, 2 reps
- 5th set of an exercise: 90% of normal weight, 1 rep
Remember, as I said before in the article, you should aim for 8-12 reps and about 4-7 sets for good weight lifting workout routines. 1 hour is enough time to work out your muscles; spending hours at the gym isn't necessary! If you feel that you can push yourself, then increase your sets!
Monday (Chest, shoulder, triceps)
- Warm up
- Flat Barbell Bench Press
- Incline Dumbbell Press
- Lateral Raises
- Barbell Shoulder Press
- Bench Dips
- Triceps Pull downs
Wednesday (Back and biceps)
- Warm-up
- Dead lifts
- Standing Barbell Curls
- Seated Dumbbell Curls
- Wrist Curls
Friday (Legs and abs)
- Warm-up
- Squats
- Leg Curls
- Calf Raises
- Abdominal Crunches
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3323344
Warm-up
To start off, your workout needs to have some sort of cardio warm-up and little bit of light stretching before you do any of the heavy lifting. It doesn't have to be anything intense; all you have to do is about five minutes of running on the treadmill and then about five additional minutes of stretching. This essential to get your blood flowing and to prevent any injuries from occurring when you're doing your weight lifting.
Another type of warm-up you should include in your bodybuilding program is warming up with your main exercise. After you do your cardio stretching, you need to warm up your muscle groups, and the best way to do that is by doing light versions of one of your weight lifting exercises. For example let's say you wanted to do upper body workouts for the day and your main exercise is going to be the bench press. Your first set should be 50% of your normal weight for 10 repetitions. In your next rep should be 60% for six reps. And then keep on doing something similar for about three more sets. If you look at the end of this article, you'll see a sample workout session where I'll be describing this in more detail.
Don't try to work on your muscles in the same day; spread them throughout the week
Good weight lifting workout routines need to have a certain focus on each day of the workout. You should be grouping some your larger muscle groups together on each of the days. For example, on Monday, you should do triceps, chest, and shoulders; on Wednesday you should do biceps and back; and on Friday, you should do legs and abs. By working out each year muscle groups one time per week you'll give them enough time to repair themselves and grow.
One common newbie mistake is overtraining. They workout the same muscles more than once per week, which sometimes doesn't allow the muscles to repair. Remember that muscle growth doesn't happen during the workout itself. Muscles only grow in mass when they repair themselves and have a proper amount of rest in between each your workouts. The more time you give your muscles to rest in between your workouts, the more time they will to have to repair and grow.
Workout until exhaustion for each of your days
Your muscles are only going to build if push yourself. With each new weekly should be pushing yourself by either increasing your weight slightly (2.5 or 5 pounds) or by increasing your reps by 2 to 4. For weight lifting to be effective, you have to keep on working until your muscles are exhausted. Exhaustion is defined as when your muscles can no longer do an exercise properly. Keep in mind that you should always use proper form and to use steady movements in order reduce the risks of injury.
Repetitions
If you're using the correct amount of weight, you should only be doing about 8 to 12 reps per set when you're working on your muscles. 8 is a pretty good number, and if you reach 12 then you should probably grab some heavier weights. If you go any higher than 12 then you're less likely to build muscle mass and more likely to tone it.
Sets
A proper weight lifting workout routine should have about 4 to 7 sets for each exercise (this is assuming that you have approximately 4-6 different exercises for the day; if you have many more exercises, then you'll want to reduce the amount of sets per exercise so that you don't completely drain yourself before you complete the workout). It shouldn't take you hours in order to finish your weight lifting workout routines; in fact, they should only take you one hour to finish. Write down what you are able to perform so that you can keep track of your progress.
Resting period in between each set
After you finish each of your sets, you need a resting period. For the best time efficiency, your resting period should be about 60 seconds to 90 seconds. If you feel that you need to rest longer for the next set, then do so.
Water
Drinking water during a workout is essential. Need to keep your body hydrated because if your body is just even slightly dehydrated this could be a drop in your performance. If you drink enough water before during and after the workout, then you'll feel to get the most out of your weight lifting efforts.
Nutrition
Diet is another important element of your weight lifting workout routines. To give your muscles enough energy for the workout, you should be eating high glycemic carbohydrate foods right before the workout. For example, a fruit would be good before the workout. Including some protein in your workout will also help control your blood sugar levels.
After-Workout Nutrition
Within one hour immediately after your workout, you should be consuming protein and good carbohydrates. Liquid whey protein and high glycemic carbohydrates absorb quickly, so they're the best things to eat/drink right after your workout. This is also an important time to consume a lot of calories; your muscles need calories in order to repair themselves and grow.
Protein
As I said before, your body needs protein (especially after the workout) as part of its weight lifting workout routines in order to repair itself. To get the protein absorbed into the body as quickly as possible, many bodybuilders bring along protein shakes or protein powders with liquid to drink right after the workout is done.
You should try and avoid eating fatty foods during the 1 hour after your workout, because they will slow down your body's absorption of essential nutrients.
Sample Routines
Do all of your sets until your muscles fail. Write down your progress, so that you can push yourself the next week and beat the previous week's. Remember to increase your weights and/or reps each week.
Warm-Up
- 5 minutes of running/jogging
- 1st set of an exercise: 50% of normal weight, 10 reps
- 2nd set of an exercise: 60% of normal weight, 6 reps
- 3rd set of an exercise: 70% of normal weight, 4 reps
- 4th set of an exercise: 80% of normal weight, 2 reps
- 5th set of an exercise: 90% of normal weight, 1 rep
Remember, as I said before in the article, you should aim for 8-12 reps and about 4-7 sets for good weight lifting workout routines. 1 hour is enough time to work out your muscles; spending hours at the gym isn't necessary! If you feel that you can push yourself, then increase your sets!
Monday (Chest, shoulder, triceps)
- Warm up
- Flat Barbell Bench Press
- Incline Dumbbell Press
- Lateral Raises
- Barbell Shoulder Press
- Bench Dips
- Triceps Pull downs
Wednesday (Back and biceps)
- Warm-up
- Dead lifts
- Standing Barbell Curls
- Seated Dumbbell Curls
- Wrist Curls
Friday (Legs and abs)
- Warm-up
- Squats
- Leg Curls
- Calf Raises
- Abdominal Crunches
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3323344
Winning Workouts With Maidens
Workouts are a crucial part to handicapping horses. The condition that a horse is in prior to the race can be the deciding factor of the horse being in the money. In maiden horse racing you do not get a lot of data to go from so then the workouts play even a bigger factor. Here are some tips for using horse racing workouts to your advantage in cashing in maiden tickets.
First of all there are 2 types of workouts breezing and handily. Breezing means the horse is working under no pressure at all but is in stride and not galloping. Handily means the horse is being urged by the jockey but not under pressure and stress of racing conditions.
If a horse is 48 breezing then it should be at 46 handily and 44-45 in an actual race. Of course this is true only of a horse that has been working on a regular basis.
If a horses workouts are 50-50-50 respectively in the last 3 breezing and competition is 44-45 in an acual race even deduction 3 to 4 seconds in racing conditions this horse will be more likely unable to keep up.
Be on the lookout for workouts not showed or call ins
If a horse is making the first start of the year and has been working out at comparable distances his chances go way up. A horse who is making his first start must have at least one official workout routines program too. There are workouts that the clockers miss or do not record correctly which is important to catch. This happens a lot when trainers are calling in their workouts.
Most Drf will have a sheet where additional workouts are posted. If they are posted a few days before racing see if they are valid. If its just one or two posted on the same day its important to question their validity and how trustworthy the trainer is.
If a horse has not started in last 30 days it needs an official workout posted. If are looking at a horse that ran 119 1/5 in 6 furlongs with not a lot of pressure but it shows a workout time of 118 2/5 a workout with no pressure. This raises red flags as the horse could not even run her supposed time. Use this information later to see the trainer might not be trustworthy.
Finding out if horse can finish
One of the hardest things to figure out is if first time starters can last. Many solid 2 year olds can work 3 furlongs from the gate but its lasting 5 to 6 furlongs that separates the men from the boys. When looking at workouts your looking at horses that can finish out. If they don't have proper conditioning the horse can empty out and fall short.
All have similar workout sheet and close speeds
When looking at the workout list and you see 5 or more horses finish very close to the same quick time then it might be more of the track conditions than actual ability of the horse.
This can be conceiving when you see a horse wit a fast bullet but put too much value on it. If it worked on a day and many of the horses clocked the same close quick speed in the workout sheet its not something that should be regarded highly.
Good workout bad trainer
Most handicappers shy away from maiden races due to the lack of information to go on. If you can key in on a few good points there lies some gold in these races.
The competition at Monmouth is always better than at Pimlico. Pay good attention to the adjusted times and compare that to today's race and what most of the horses times are. When you see many bullet workouts dig a little deeper and make sure they are backed by a good trainer. If you just go off the workouts it could fall under the bad trainer good workout category. Workouts cannot be trusted in general when you have a bad or unheard of trainer.
Great workout + bad training = losses
Working at one track and running at another
A cheap horse that impressed at one track then moves to another track for whatever reason comes up flat. They become accustomed to one track and when brought to a different one with different surface and atmosphere they have trouble adjusting.
Track comments of workouts are often only effective when the horse runs at the track he is comfortable on.
Race to close to workout
A workout does and will take a lot out of any animal and unless gets proper rest the horse will not have time to recooperate.
Be very cautious of good workouts just a few days within the race. It has been proven many times that the workouts took too much out of the horse and it did not have sufficient time to rest.
Good trainers know this: Workouts closer than two days to the date of the race and any longer than 3 furlongs in distance stay away from.
Comparing workouts
When reviewing all the workouts for a particular track and day take note if you ever see a list of horses and one or two of them have stand out speeds. Many times these superior workouts fuel the two horses that posted them to a few upcoming victories.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5837461
First of all there are 2 types of workouts breezing and handily. Breezing means the horse is working under no pressure at all but is in stride and not galloping. Handily means the horse is being urged by the jockey but not under pressure and stress of racing conditions.
If a horse is 48 breezing then it should be at 46 handily and 44-45 in an actual race. Of course this is true only of a horse that has been working on a regular basis.
If a horses workouts are 50-50-50 respectively in the last 3 breezing and competition is 44-45 in an acual race even deduction 3 to 4 seconds in racing conditions this horse will be more likely unable to keep up.
Be on the lookout for workouts not showed or call ins
If a horse is making the first start of the year and has been working out at comparable distances his chances go way up. A horse who is making his first start must have at least one official workout routines program too. There are workouts that the clockers miss or do not record correctly which is important to catch. This happens a lot when trainers are calling in their workouts.
Most Drf will have a sheet where additional workouts are posted. If they are posted a few days before racing see if they are valid. If its just one or two posted on the same day its important to question their validity and how trustworthy the trainer is.
If a horse has not started in last 30 days it needs an official workout posted. If are looking at a horse that ran 119 1/5 in 6 furlongs with not a lot of pressure but it shows a workout time of 118 2/5 a workout with no pressure. This raises red flags as the horse could not even run her supposed time. Use this information later to see the trainer might not be trustworthy.
Finding out if horse can finish
One of the hardest things to figure out is if first time starters can last. Many solid 2 year olds can work 3 furlongs from the gate but its lasting 5 to 6 furlongs that separates the men from the boys. When looking at workouts your looking at horses that can finish out. If they don't have proper conditioning the horse can empty out and fall short.
All have similar workout sheet and close speeds
When looking at the workout list and you see 5 or more horses finish very close to the same quick time then it might be more of the track conditions than actual ability of the horse.
This can be conceiving when you see a horse wit a fast bullet but put too much value on it. If it worked on a day and many of the horses clocked the same close quick speed in the workout sheet its not something that should be regarded highly.
Good workout bad trainer
Most handicappers shy away from maiden races due to the lack of information to go on. If you can key in on a few good points there lies some gold in these races.
The competition at Monmouth is always better than at Pimlico. Pay good attention to the adjusted times and compare that to today's race and what most of the horses times are. When you see many bullet workouts dig a little deeper and make sure they are backed by a good trainer. If you just go off the workouts it could fall under the bad trainer good workout category. Workouts cannot be trusted in general when you have a bad or unheard of trainer.
Great workout + bad training = losses
Working at one track and running at another
A cheap horse that impressed at one track then moves to another track for whatever reason comes up flat. They become accustomed to one track and when brought to a different one with different surface and atmosphere they have trouble adjusting.
Track comments of workouts are often only effective when the horse runs at the track he is comfortable on.
Race to close to workout
A workout does and will take a lot out of any animal and unless gets proper rest the horse will not have time to recooperate.
Be very cautious of good workouts just a few days within the race. It has been proven many times that the workouts took too much out of the horse and it did not have sufficient time to rest.
Good trainers know this: Workouts closer than two days to the date of the race and any longer than 3 furlongs in distance stay away from.
Comparing workouts
When reviewing all the workouts for a particular track and day take note if you ever see a list of horses and one or two of them have stand out speeds. Many times these superior workouts fuel the two horses that posted them to a few upcoming victories.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5837461
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