Saturday 5 May 2012

Double Impact

Bank Holiday wknd is here! But before you take your seat in the beer garden of your local remember your summer holiday is just around the corner.
Ask yourself do you really want to be covered up in baggy trousers and thick jumpers to hide the fruits of your NoN-exercise spring???! No You dont! You want to be stripping off the layers at the first hint of sunshine and to be showing off your newly shaped beach body!

So let's begin this wknd! At PHfitness studios we have begun our beach body courses and I'm going to share some of our secrets with you over the next four weeks. The first thing to do is set a goal- this could be drop a dress size, reduce waist by 2 inches, lose 6lbs. Whatever it is make it SMART!
Specific
Measurable
Accurate
Realistic
Timed

Next open your diary up and write down every time you plan to train. I'm going to give a range of hints and exercise routines that can last for as long as 60mins or as little as a 10min blast so there's no excuse not to be training 4x plus every week!

Today's tip is something to help you change your muscle toning and sculpting routine around.

Double Impact!

The Theory
Ok I'm not going to over complicate it so let's start with the basics. Your muscles consist of different fibre types fast twitch and slow twitch. As the name suggest some are used predominantly for fast powerful movements but these fibers fatigue quickest. The other fibers are best suited for slow movements that last along time as they don't fatigue. So using that basic anatomy we can construct a toning program that incorporates ALL fibre types and therefore utilizes all your muscle instead of just one aspect.

This can be done in many different ways incorporating changes in stability, environment, equipment, movement patterns, resistance type etc. So to get you started this wknd in preparation for my male & female beach body routines have a try of this simple bum & thigh or chest & tricep routine.


Principles: complete 2 exercises with no rest (superset) that mimics a similar muscular contraction or movement pattern. Target fast twitch fibers with a heavy 8 rep max, fast tempo exercise then without rest complete a slow twitch recruiting exercise with a higher rep rang of 15-20 and at a much slower controlled tempo of 2/2/2. After completing both exercise rest for 60 seconds to allow muscle recovery.


Bum & Thigh Routine
3-4 sets
Squat 8 reps
Single leg Bridge 20 reps
3-4sets
Lunge 8 reps (leg)
Single leg squat touch down 20 reps

Chest Routine
D/B Chest Press 8 reps
Ball Press up 15-20 reps

Power Press up 8 reps
Ball D/B fly 20 reps




Good luck

Stuart

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