September 14, 2020 • 42 mins
Strength training is the fountain of youth. Becoming stronger has a multitude of benefits like improving your mental state and enabling you to perform more effective cardiovascular workouts all while decreasing the risk of injury. However, it is imperative that you use your time to become strong in a balanced way. Tom gives you 10 more tips that you can apply to your strength training routine to help you take your strength training up a level.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Bitness Disrupted. Ten
More Strength Training Tips. Yes, that is the title and
the topic of today's show. I love talking about strength training,
(00:24):
I love doing it, and I love if I may
say so myself, and I will the most recent show
I did on strength training and it's mental benefits, depression, anxiety.
I mean, if you haven't listened to that show, do
and it's just amazing, amazing, the benefits of cardiovascular exercise
(00:47):
that so far exceed just weight loss and strength training.
And I'm gonna do. There's so many more shows to
do because there are many more benefits that are similar
to the depression and anxiety that you might not and
most likely haven't thought of or heard of. And that's
another show. But today is ten more strength training Tips
(01:12):
to help you what maximize your results, maximize your enjoyment,
maximize your adherence to your program so you stick to it,
and to help you vary your routine. Give you some ideas.
And let me say this, I want to throw out
just a friend, John, who started listening to the show.
(01:33):
And John was you know, a fit guy an athlete
and you know, like so many people fell out of
his routine a little bit and he started listening to
the show. And you know, I often say, just follow
the seemingly simple advice, the simple steps, make those changes
over time, consistently see what happens. And he has had
(01:55):
incredible results. And you know, he's someone I see on
a regular basis is and that makes me, you know,
really happy to see people benefiting from there, you know, labors.
And I get super frustrated with this business when people
who have no business giving advice due and there's a huge,
(02:18):
huge group of those people in this business, which is
why another one of my you know jobs is being
a fitness expert in lawsuits because things oftentimes go wrong
when they when they shouldn't, and that's the extreme people
getting injured. I don't want you to get injured. That's
a huge part of my advice. But I also want
(02:40):
you to get, like my friend John, the results from
putting the work in. But you gotta follow the recipe
and there are no secrets. And John even you know,
he'll give me feedback about certain shows, and he gave
me feedback about a recent show and he's like great
and Your final takeaway was, you know, whenever you want
(03:02):
to do it, basically, whenever you can do it. I
was talking about the best time to run, you know,
went through that that's the answer. So I went through
the science, and that is this show. It's talking about
the science, going Okay, here's what science says, but like
does that matter? How does that apply to your life?
How does that apply to your goals? And do we
(03:24):
need to use that advice that research to actually get
you to your goal. So when it comes to the
best time of day to run at the end of
the day, pun intended, it's whenever you do it consistently.
And that is what so many podcasts, as so many
fitness experts with quotation marks, they they there are no
(03:48):
secrets per se, there are no hacks. Where's the hack.
It's the person giving the secret. And that's gonna be
my philosophy going forward. You're gonna you're gonna hear that.
I'm gonna go into the science, but then we're gonna
figure out does that apply to you and how does
it apply to you? And so today it's it's ten
more strength training tips, simple changes, ideas, concepts to help
(04:14):
you maximize your results. I don't like going to the
gym and seeing the same people looking the same, still
being injured, potentially injuring themselves. It drives me nuts. So
we're gonna help that with the show. All right, quick break.
When we come back, let's get right into it. Ten
strength training tips. You're gonna be able to apply all
(04:36):
of them right away, and I promise you, if you
do them consistently, you will see results. Will be right
back alright talking about strength training. Talking about strength training tips.
(04:59):
They're con steps, they're ideas, they are things you should
consider implementing. And you might be doing some already, but
you need to be doing most of these at some
point in time for variation and just to keep your
you know, your mental game on top. You get bored
(05:22):
doing the same thing, and your body doesn't respond the
same after it gets acclimated to the same stressors. And
if you've already achieved your goals, awesome, But most people haven't.
And you know, as we get older, it becomes more
and more important to apply these principles, all right. Number one,
It's just simple little tips and tricks. And you know
I've said it many times. I don't even like the
(05:43):
word tricks, but you know, it just helps clarify if
need be. So number one is attachments. Change the attachment.
So this goes for those of you who are going
to the gym and using the cable machines or some
people have those at home. So cable machine would be
something like doing a cable row or a lap pull down.
(06:04):
All right, But I you know, shot hundreds of exercises
for different fitness apps over the years with just this.
The number of variations you have with a cable machine,
it's insane. So when we're talking about let's just talk
about like the lat pulled down right. So most people
see that picture and it's often done wrong by the way,
(06:26):
the lap pulled down behind the neck. Did a show
about that. It's one of the most photographed pictures in fitness.
I would argue the lap pull down behind the neck,
so it's the long bar right, and then there's generally
handles that come down at a like a forty five
degree angle, and you pull it down for a back exercise,
But you shouldn't pull it down behind your neck anymore.
(06:50):
That can be stressful on the shoulder joint and it's
no more beneficial than pulling it down correctly to the
front of your chest. But I digress. So that is one. Right,
you've got the long bar, you do a lap pull down, well,
you can take the close grip the two handles. Still
a back exercise, but you are hitting your back muscles differently.
(07:13):
One of my favorite ones to do now is the rope.
To use the rope instead of the lap pull down bar,
the wide grip bar. And that for me, especially as
I get older, I feel it You've got to go
much much later, by the way, much lighter, and it
just that it will feel different. So again people will say, oh,
(07:34):
it hits different muscles. Yes, but no, you're basically hitting
the same muscles when you do this stuff. You're just
hitting them in a different way. Okay, you're hitting them,
stressing them differently, challenging them. So again, change the attachment
and can go for the cable row where you're seated.
Seated cable row right, still a back exercise. The angle
(07:55):
is different, but you've got the rope, you've got the
V bar, you've got the eight bar, you've got the
bar with handles, you've got a close script attachment. So
that is one simple yet super effective way to change
your back exercise. So let's just keep it with the
back exercise to keep it simple. But it can't be
(08:18):
groundhog Day at the gym or at your home gym.
You need some variation. And yes, this is where it
gets a little slippery in that there's maintenance. You can
get to a point in your life where you're like, Okay,
you know you don't have to go crazy with variation.
I did that whole show on muscle confusion. But there
(08:41):
is physiological and psychological benefits to doing that, to mixing
up your routine, and I just enjoy the heck out
of it. I know the problem though for many people,
as you have seen results doing certain exercises, you know
that's not talked about enough. So people are like, well,
I've achieved these results doing these exercise is so I
need to continue doing the exact same thing. And the
(09:03):
answer is actually no, now you need You could still
do some of that, but you need that little bit
of variation. You need that little bit of just tweaking
just enough that the body goes something's a little different.
And it doesn't have to be huge. I say that
over and over again. Doesn't have to be a huge
amount of weight doesn't have to be hugely intense. And
(09:26):
that's what this shows about right now, all right, these
little changes will be the variation you need. Okay, So
change the attachment. Change the attachment that goes for tricep
press downs too. Sometimes tricept press downs with the cable machine.
You can use the rope, you can use the V bar,
(09:48):
you can use that short straight bar, and you can
do that with either a supine grip or a prone grip.
So palms facing up, palms facing down, so many different
ways all tricep exercises, but different. Okay, So change the attachment.
So easy, so effective, all right. Number two, time your
(10:08):
rest periods. And I threw this in here for several reasons.
Number One, there's so many people who say, you know,
but I don't have the time to go to the
gym for an hour. Or they'll say I go to
the gym for an hour five days a week, and
I'll look at them and again think you should have
better results. And one problem is the amount of work
that's actually done. So this is just it's almost like
(10:30):
it's a very analogous to keeping a food journal. Greatest
works of fiction ever done totally disagree with the and
I know many nutritionists and these even personal trainers who,
in my opinion that we're not nutritionist or I wasn't
a nutritionist when I was starting out as a personal trainer.
So people are told to keep three day journal. You
(10:52):
either totally change what you eat, you lie a little bit,
and it's usually a mix of the two. Now, yes,
over the year, I would tell people, hey, keep a
three day journal what you eat, but I don't want
to see it. I want you to be aware of
what you eat. I know, I don't want you to
change what you eat, but it's still just the act
of the mere act of doing it. Oftentimes people change
(11:13):
what they do, all right, So when you time your
rest periods, many of you are gonna realize how much
time you waste. Now, I'm not saying that you can't
talk to people in the gym if that's where you go,
or you know, if you're working at at home, watch
a little TV. You know, do so as you're working out,
take rest periods, of course, But it's just a lesson
(11:33):
too in how you can get a really really good
workout in in a short amount of time. So when
people say, oh, I only worked out for thirty minutes,
Like why are you saying? Only you know if you
take thirty second rests in between strength moves or any
move for that matter, and that's generally what you need. Again,
if you're like powerlifting, different but for the vast majority
(11:56):
of people, thirty to sixty seconds, and sixty seconds is
generally a long time. So try this one time. If
you are someone who goes to the gym, or you
have a routine you do at home, dumbbells, waits, whatever
it is, try to stick to thirty seconds. And what's
really cool is, you know there are machines at the gym. Uh,
some of the machines I use, they have timers built
right in. It's to be a while to realize that
(12:16):
on some of these machines they weren't front and center,
but it's like I'm like, oh wow, thirty seconds is up, already,
here we go. And that's why when you take a
class where they use those type of intervals, that's why
you find it hard. People. Is not even necessarily the
the the instructor or what. It's just that you are
being kept to a schedule. So try that time your
(12:37):
rest periods. It will just teach you about the value
of time, and it will show you about the value
of shorter workouts and that you do not need to
go an our seventy five minutes ninety minutes if you
want to awesome, if you have that time and you
you love that social aspect and and you're seeing the
(12:59):
result bolts, that's important. You don't have a bunch of injuries.
You aren't in you know, pain throughout the day. Certain
things that can be fixed, then that's okay, But most
people need to tighten their routine. All right. Uh number three,
(13:19):
change your grip now. Already kind of spoke about this
with the attachment, but there's even more subtleties to it.
And this is a perfect example of subtleties that make
huge change. So what does that mean? So a lap
pulled down? So if you are doing the lap pulled
down that I was talking about earlier, and you're always
(13:40):
doing it with your palms facing away from you, try
it with your palms facing you and generally speaking, you're
gonna move your hands in a little closer. And this
goes for so many different types of exercises. Right, you
can do bicep curls, and what I like to do
with that. And this is again subtleties. Is you're not
(14:01):
flipping your hand prone versus supine, but you're going to
change your grip with each rep. So here's a fun
little like technique. You know the way to change your
barbell bicep curl. So start with your normal hand position,
and then every rep go a little closer. Every rep
(14:22):
is like half an inch closer till if you're doing
ten to fifteen repetitions, your final reps, your hands are
almost touching, and then you can do it the opposite way.
You start with your hands almost touching, and then every
repetition half an inch to an inch to the outside.
So by the time you get to that tent repetition,
(14:43):
your hands are nice and wide. Right there, Such a
great way to challenge your biceps in a different way
and that gets you results, all right, So change your grip.
So many different ways to do that. And again, and
if you're doing a bicep curl with a straight bar,
(15:03):
if you go palms facing down, now you're getting more
of your forearms. By the way, the hammer curl type
thing more forearms. So by changing your grip your hand position,
you're going to stress those muscles in a different way
that is gonna continue to give you results. Okay, Number four,
(15:25):
This was also a question I received from somebody was
talking about unilateral exercises, and it's one of the things
that has kept me injury free. I've talked about it
on many different podcasts. A unilateral is using one leg
or one arm at a time. There's a time and
a place and a reason for that. And one main
reason is if we always do bilateral exercises, if we
(15:48):
always do squats with both legs at the same time,
generally speaking, one of our arms are legs stronger than
the other. So by doing unilateral exercises it helps to
fix those imbalances. And in some people it's huge. I
mean at a client many years ago who would do
Dumbell curls and one hand would go up almost immediately
(16:09):
and the other hand would take like five seconds, so
much different. I mean that was an extreme example, but
we all for you know, unless you're working on it,
and you should be have those imbalances, and by fixing
those imbalances through unilateral exercise it makes all the difference.
So sometimes if you're using machines, especially sometimes you're gonna
(16:33):
do bilateral exercises. Sometimes you're gonna do unilateral, okay, So
an example would be, and I'm gonna use the lower
body because it's simple. You can do it with the
upper body as well. If you are using a leg
extension machine and I hear people screaming right away, you
should never use that. I disagree topic for another show though, Okay,
leg extension exercise. Most people will do both legs at
(16:54):
the same time if you have the freedom depends on
the machine to do one leg at a time. That's
one great way two really start to bullet proof your body.
And so many lower leg issues are those weaknesses and imbalances.
So again, leg extension machine, one leg at a time.
End what happens there. You again have to really lower
(17:16):
the weight, like if you're doing just throwout a number
eighty pounds with both legs. You know it's gonna be
forty pounds somewhere or less, maybe a little more, depends
on your strength but or how heavy you're going for bilateral.
But that's just a great way to do it. And
if you're working out twice a week, one day a
week is is unilateral, one day a week is bilateral.
(17:37):
Leg curl same thing. If you're in a hamstring leg
curl machine, bilateral one day, unilateral the next leg press
another great example, bilateral one day another lower that weight
and do one leg at a time. Now, let me
say this, if you're pressed for time, don't do the unilateral.
(17:59):
That day takes twice as long. People. And so when
I see give you an example, when I see people
doing dumbell chess presses with one dumbell at a time,
why that's already unilateral. Now I understand, I'm not gonna
get into the maybe physiological reasons people are doing it,
and most aren't doing it for the reasons that I
(18:20):
would give you, But I don't even want to get
into it right now. It's it's already unilateral with dumbbells.
So again, when we're trying to maximize our time, there's
certain times to not do unilateral exercises. So if you
are like I've got twenty minutes to do my strength
training today, not today, necessarily to do unilateral. You have
a little more time because you are going one limited time,
(18:41):
that's the day to do the unilateral. And let me
just throw out there, as I was preparing this show,
I don't use the lower body machines anymore, almost for
my lower body. But I did for years now. I'm
just saying that because there's so many like professional athletes
and who changed the way they did things. I got
(19:05):
strong using those Never I didn't hurt myself. I did
a mix. So now my workouts are just shorter. And
I'm not saying never. I will jump in every now
and again and do it, but much less frequently. But
my point is there's value to it. I still believe. So.
So when someone says you, oh, I never do that machine, Yeah,
but that person did it for years now, I'm saying
(19:25):
correctly hopefully so. In other words, I built a base
of strength with machines, and that's generally how it happens people.
That's how you start to build strength in machines where
you don't have this crazy freedom of movement, less chance
of getting injured the elderly. What do you think rehabilitation?
You know, it doesn't have people doing you know, box
jumps out of the you know, out of the gate
(19:46):
and things like that. So there's value two machines. Talked
about that before, but I wanted to say that because
I'm always going to give you my honest experience personally
and with my clients. So oh, I'm more about body
weight squats now lunges, you know, more say the term functional.
I believe all strength is functional, though, Um it's just
(20:09):
more simple. I don't enjoy my leg workouts as much
as I do. I'm a guy, right, but I know
the value of them. So my lower body workout is
primarily now to keep myself injury free, to allow myself
to keep running and doing all those kind of things. Um.
But I did heavier leg presses back in the day
when I was bodybuilding and things like that. Um, So
(20:31):
I don't want you to say, well, he doesn't do
them now, so I shouldn't. No, I did for a
long time. I think that's a really important point. By
the way, Alright, one more break and when we come back,
we've got our last handful of tips. And I'm telling you,
if you're not doing these and you start to throw
them in, you're gonna see results. Last break will be
right back. All right, we are talking about strength training.
(21:07):
I love everything about fitness, but I I just love
strength training makes me feel good, gets rid of you know,
aches and pains. I do get that, you know, hit
of the feel good hormones that we usually think about
with cardio, as I talked about in that podcast about
strength training and depression and anxiety. So, yeah, I've been
(21:30):
doing this for a really long time and I will
be doing it forever. You know. I want to be
doing push ups until the day I die, and I will.
All right, So where are we? Number five? Number five?
So this is just a way to kind of structure
your workout, and I go by feel. So number five
(21:53):
is sometimes if you're doing like full body workout and
you're doing two to three exercises per body parts. In
other words, you're doing three exercises for your chest. Some
days do all three in a row, other days do
three circuits. And this is what I've been doing forever,
and I just go by the way I feel that day.
(22:14):
So in other words, like some days I'm like, okay,
I generally start on this chest press machine, so I
do that, and then I might go do dumbbell chest
press and then I'll finish with a third And then
other days I think, I just I don't want to
do three back to back, and that day I will
do a chest exercise, a back, a shoulder, a bicep
a triceep and then I'll repeat the circuit. And it's
(22:37):
a mental thing. And this is another technique tip that
has not talked about enough. So much of this is
just mental and it allows me to enjoy that session
more if someone told me I had to do it
a certain way all the time, as you are told
by so many fitness people, this is the only way. Oh,
you can't possibly do it this way. And my question,
noise is why let's let me just keep asking you
(22:59):
the physiological questions. Justify that in exercise science terms. Alright,
So go by feel. One day you're like, yeah, I'm
up for like doing three sets of chess. Then I'm
gonna do three sets of back you know, whatever way
you're doing it. If you're doing two sets, three sets,
and then you go, you know what today, I just
want to do a circuit and you keep moving. It's
(23:20):
about the mental side as well. We can never forget
that is it is the most important thing. Like if
you're not enjoying it, if you're not doing it, uh
the way you know that that makes you want to
do it, you're not gonna do it long term. So
super important. All right, Number six, It ties in with
number five. Sometimes you can super set, so super set.
(23:43):
This is interesting because super set is one of those terms.
If you look it up there's so many different definitions. Uh.
And I pulled mine out of one of my textbooks
from many years ago, the Essentials of Strength Training Conditioning,
you know the n s C, a National Strength and
Conditioning Associate Nation's book on strength training, and their definition
(24:05):
is a superset uses the performance of two exercises that
activate opposing or antagonistic muscle groups with no rest between
each exercises. You go, what the heck is at? So
basically super sets. Many people call them or define them
as being doing two exercises right after each other and
(24:25):
the same body parts. So you'll do you know, chin ups,
and then you'll do a set of bicep curls with
no rest in between. Now I don't care like you know,
people go, oh, you're using the wrong term. Who cares?
But for my purposes, superset for me is doing the
antagonistic muscle groups and I tind to take out the
one or with no rest in between. That's the official definition,
(24:49):
at least according to Essentials of Strength Training Conditioning. Here's
what I'm gonna throw out there my way of doing it.
It's my way. A superset is what I just said.
So if we're doing like a circuit, you already have
supersets built in to a certain degree. I'm doing a
chest exercise, and then I'm doing a back exercise. Then
(25:10):
i do shoulders, and there's no antagonistic muscle group for that.
But then I'll do a bicep and a tricep. Another
example of two muscle groups would be hamstring and quadraceps.
So the front of your thighs in the back of
your thighs, and that's a great way to do it too,
and it feels good sometimes, right you're doing the opposing
(25:31):
muscle groups. And when you want that pump story for
another day or topic for another day, you used to
have a workout it called the party pump in New
York City. That was a Friday night routine for certain clients.
Butt I digress yet again. But yeah, so that is
just another way to kind of structure your strength training workout.
And when I'm really maximizing my time, it's exactly how
(25:53):
I'm doing it. Bicep, curl, tri sep, kick back right
bicep curl, tricep, kickback, and this goes to back to
number five. Some days I do three in a row
and then some days I want that super set. And
that's just a mental thing for you, and you can
mix it up. It's not right nor wrong all of
(26:13):
these different techniques. They are tools in your exercise arsenal
as I put it okay. And one final super set
muscle group that I love is lower back in abdominals,
and this is generally done at home for me because
I'm going to use the equipment at the gym, although
I'll contradict myself in a second about that. So I'll
do a set of crunches and then I'll do a
(26:35):
set of back extensions. I'll do a different different set
of crunches, like a different version, and then I'll do
a bird dog type exercise. So basically, you're on your
back and then you're on your knees or stomach, and
that's where balance comes from everybody. That's where you know.
We tend to use and work our mirror muscles as
(26:56):
I call them, what you see in the mirror, your abdominals,
your chest, your arms, the front of your arms even
and we don't work what we can't see our lower
back our upper back right, so we need to do both.
So when you super set in this with this definition,
you're doing it and you're you're creating balance. And that's
(27:18):
so important. All right now, this one, gosh. I love
this concept and and so many of the concepts that
I think are so valuable are are tough to kind
of you know, uh, just verbalize. But number seven has
change your count. This is actually not too tough to
to explain. But in other words, I had a client
years ago. It's an easy way to kind of describe this.
(27:40):
And you know, I would count for clients in different ways,
but this client which it said to me, you have
to count backwards for me. I go, what are you
talking about? He goes, I just that's how I want
you to do it. I don't want you counting up,
you know, if you're doing push up, if I'm doing
push ups, he said, I don't want you saying one
to three, four, Tell me the number we're going for
and count backwards. And this is the psychology, people, This
(28:01):
is why I'm still studying the psychology of of exercise
and just human behavior. And I love that stuff. This
is so for him that was what he wanted. And
what I realized myself is some days when I am
doing an exercise, some days I count up and some
days I count back, and some days when I'm doing
(28:22):
a workout, it changes for different exercises. But I'm so
aware of this stuff because what I do for a living,
And think for yourself, do you do that? Do you
count up? Do you count back to? You change it?
But here's what I found for myself. Now I'm an
experiment of one, so I can only talk about that
client those I have those experiences, and then myself. Some
(28:45):
days I'll be doing an exercise and I'll start counting backwards,
and I'll change because I'm like, oh, I don't I
don't think I'm gonna get there? Does that make sense?
So like, I don't think I'm gonna get those last few.
So sometimes I want to count up, sometimes I want
to count back words. I know this sounds crazy to
some of you, but really think about how you do
it and what exercise you do it with, and I'm
(29:08):
telling you mix it up, figure out what you need.
Do you want to count backwards? Is that going to
get you to where you need to be? Especially with
exercises like body weight exercises where you are going for
you know, more than ten or fifteen reps, and let
me throw a third way in. Sometimes I count up halfway.
So like when my kids and the clients were doing
(29:30):
you know, forty push ups, sometimes you count up to
twenty and then I would count backwards back down. It's
like chunking. It's like doing an iron Man and saying,
I'm not going to think of how much I have
left in front of me, because sometimes you get to
thirty four, thirty five, Oh my gosh, I got fifteen
more reps. Well, if you count up to twenty and
then count backwards, for some people as much more manageable mentally,
(29:57):
And that is so important when it comes to fitness.
Fitness is not just a out. You know muscle head guys.
You know Arnold Schwarzenegger, super smart guy, and I guarantee
you he utilized all of these tips and tricks and
much more. All right, So think about changing your account,
(30:18):
be aware of it. See what works best for you.
Um what we got, we got three left. Maximize your
rest period. So this is where I said I'm gonna
contradict myself a little bit when I go to the gym,
I tend to use the equipment. That's why I'm there.
That's what I'm paying for, right, the different machines, the
stuff that I don't have at home, and I want
to vary it around, but I'm also paying for it.
(30:38):
I'm gonna use the expensive, different equipment that I can't
fit in my house or I don't want to buy,
but I'm also going to maximize my time. So instead
of standing around, remember that thirty second rest interval tip
I gave you during that thirty seconds, don't just stand there, Okay,
three different things you can do. I love doing abdominal
(30:58):
exercises in between. Now that's generally something I do at
home because I don't want Why am I going to
the gym to do abdominal exercises, But when I am
in need of a rest period anyway, I'm going to
maximize that time. Back to like people saying, oh, twenty
minutes isn't enough, thirty minutes isn't enough, Okay, if you
(31:18):
are utilizing thirty second rest periods and they're not even
truly rest periods, because you know, if I do squats
and then I'm doing abdominal exercises, there's no true rest.
So a core routine you knew, planks, you can do
you know, lower back exercises, um like back extensions, things
like that. Maximize your rest periods. Now, if you're going
(31:41):
heavy like squats, you're like, I can't really do a
plank in between. Then stretch the muscle group you just worked.
I mean, how simple and yet effective. Most people detest
stretching and it's the last thing you want to do
at the end of your workout, which is the time
you should do it when your muscles are warm. But
you can also do it right after you exercise that muscle,
(32:05):
you work that muscle group. And this is especially true
for legs. You know, you do squats, then take fifteen
seconds and stretch your quads of one leg quads of
the other leg. You do another set of squats, stretch
the hamstring of one leg for fifteen seconds, stretch the
hamstring for fifteen of the other. Maximize your time. And finally,
(32:28):
if you're like, okay, I really want this, like, you know,
short workout, I want to put everything together a cardio interval,
and I've talked about my first fitness videos exactly what
the progression was. And so if you're doing you know,
a set of whatever, it doesn't even matter. You're doing
a strength move and then for thirty to sixty seconds
(32:49):
in between, you do a cardio interval. You're gonna burn
some calories, You're gonna keep your heart rate elevated. And
that can be jumping rope, it can be running in place,
it can be skaters. You can up on a bike
and go for sixty seconds. Maximize your rest intervals. So again,
either a core exercise, stretch, a muscle group, or burn
(33:13):
a couple of extra calories. And to burn a couple
of extra calories, that's when you want to get the
most as far as cork expenditure in a short amount
of time. All right, two more, I like I had
to throw this one in. Finished with a burnout set.
So again it's a term as many different uh ways
of saying it, but one fun way to end to
(33:33):
work out. And I used to do this with clients
and myself. Let's go back to just bicep curls. Why
not because it's kind of fun to do. So we
would go to the dumbbell rack and you finish your
arm workout with a burnout set. So let's just say
you do bicep curls normally with thirty pounds. I'm just
throwing out a number. So you do a set of
ten with thirty pounds, and then you make your way
(33:55):
down the rack right, ideally by maybe increments of five pounds.
So set a ten with thirty pounds, set a ten with,
set a ten with twenty. Now you're gonna probably get
a set of nine, a set of eight with fifteen,
a set of seven with ten, and by the time
(34:15):
you get to five you can barely do them. So
it's just a fun way to kind of, you know,
put the finishing touches on your muscles, the muscle group
you're working that day. And you can do that again
with so many different types of exercise. You can do
it with pull ups, right, do a set of ten
pull ups. Wait a couple of seconds, maybe ten, and
(34:37):
a lot of people are doing this type. Now jump
back up, try to get ten weight, ten seconds, jump
back up. So just really finished and fatigue that muscle
group and in just a fun way. And it's basically
descending pyramid. Right, you're going down, So start with a
heavy weight and just work your way down so that
when you get to that five ten pounds, you can
(34:58):
do it with you know, try iceps, shoulders, you name it, chest.
You know, that's a fun one to do it with
whatever muscle group you're working. Finish with a burnout set,
all right, And the final one is connected to the
one I just gave about adding in that cardio interval.
And this is just so many people have that. You know,
(35:21):
do I do cardio first? Do I do strength training first?
Doesn't matter unless you're going max and I've talked about that.
And then some people, you know, are doing cardio one
day they're doing strength and the other day. But many
people are just like, Okay, I need to put them together.
You know, I'm working, I'm going to the gym three
days a week, or I'm going down to my basement
three days a week. And if you are doing that,
you need to do your cardio and strength together ideally, right,
(35:45):
you need to get both in. So here's a great
way to do it. I'm gonna give you an hour routine.
Doesn't have to be an hour. You can shorten the
times to make them half hour whatever. But here's like,
if you said I'm going to the gym three days
a week, I want cardio and strength together. I love
giving this example take away you can do right away
and it has so many benefits. So you're gonna do tens. Basically,
(36:05):
you're gonna do ten minutes of cardio, you get do
ten minutes of strength, and gonna do both of those
three times. Simple math adds up to an hour, right,
ten minutes of cardio, ten minutes of strength three times.
And I'm just gonna give you a breakdown, real simple,
to give you an idea. So let's say you did
ten minutes of walking on the treadmill. It's a great
way to get warmed up, or running on the treadmill.
(36:27):
Then you do a very simple full body routine of
I'm gonna give you eight exercises which would basically take
roughly ten minutes to do. You're gonna do a chest exercise,
You're gonna do a back just gave you this already, shoulders, biceps, triceps.
Now your upper bodies done. You're gonna do a set
of squats or leg exercise. You're gonna set a lunges
another leg exercise, so to leg exercises, and then finish
(36:51):
up with an abdominal a core a plank. So there's
a basic framework on how you can do it. Right,
So ten minutes on that treadmill, ten minutes of a
full body routine like I just gave you, and those
can be machines whatever you want. Then you can either
go back to the treadmill, but ideally you mix it up.
And here's the thing, like, there are machines that I
just could not fathom getting on for a half hour,
(37:14):
much less an hour, but I can. I can mentally
handle ten minutes. So that is when I will do
this type of workout. And it could be five minutes.
You're like, I got thirty minutes. Then you go five
minutes and you you do different strength moves, but sticking
to ten, got that ten minute treadmill, you do one
circuit full body, then maybe you go ten minutes on
(37:35):
you pick it bike, Airdne bike, stationary bike, and then
you do another ten minutes second set of strength, and
then you do your final ten for cardio and maybe
that's the Jacob's lad or maybe that's the moving stairs
the gauntlet, right, but this is the perfect time again
to do those different types of cardio that are challenging
(37:58):
for you both mentally and physically. And something that you
don't want to be on for any longer than ten minutes. Perfect, Okay,
there you have it. I know they seem simple. I've
been doing every single one of these for well over
thirty years with incredible success, and taking all of these
(38:19):
things at different times, super sets, changing my grip, that
workout I just gave you, Okay, doing different things during
my rest periods. You know, I was really looking at
social media and in preparing this show, I felt like,
when you know, many of you code to my Instagram account,
but it goes to like my Instagram account and what
(38:41):
you see me do at the gym, and I don't
ever want you know, you to most people's Instagram account.
It's the same thing. Are you like, Okay, this person's
and that's fine, and that's kind of what social media
is about. Who is this person? But that's not who
I am in fitness. And that's why I have had
the success physically that I have because I said it
a million times to you. If you only do the
same thing, I don't care how healthy it is. If
you just run, if you just swim, if you just
(39:03):
do Olympic lifts and you're not doing all the other components.
Of fitness, You're gonna have problems. So when you go
to my Instagram account, you're gonna see running, You're gonna
see swimming, you're gonna see biking, you're gonna see strength training,
You're gonna see food. Now, that has been a detriment
to my career to be completely honest, which I always am,
because the media and the profession wants to pigeonhole you.
(39:27):
Are you the what are you? Basically? People will say
to me, I'm an exercise physiologist. I'm someone who wants
to be as healthy as possible. So I'm gonna do
everything a little bit excessive moderation, I'm gonna do a
little bit a lot. And that's what I take pride in.
And yes, I mean I have some exercises talk about
push ups and things that I absolutely love and I
will be doing forever. But I vary those around, and
(39:49):
I do exercises that I'm not crazy about but I
know are really good for me. And that was the
great I was on joy Beharor when I came out
with my book Beat the gym talked about this before
and you know the pre interview and one of the
tips I gave for that was start every and I've
given this on a podcast. Start every workout rotine with
(40:10):
one exercise you really don't like, especially the ones that
are gonna help pre have you right. For me, it's
shoulder exercises, things like that. They're boring, but I know
I need to do them, but I'm gonna get them
out of the way. At the beginning, Joy Behar that
flashed up on the screen. She looked at me and
she said, why would I do that? It's like, we're
not going to argue because it's healthy for you and
I'm not asking you to do you know, an entire
(40:30):
hour of things. You don't like one thing. It's the
small steps. It's the small things done consistently. All right, enough,
Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you had some aha moments
like wow, I can do that. And it's the simple stuff.
I'll say it one final time. There are no secrets.
I'll call them tips and tricks whatever. But this is
(40:52):
exercise science. This is this is behavioral psychology, you know,
taking what you should do with what you can do
and what we've evolved to do. Right, keep it simple,
all right, thank you so much for listening. I love
every single one of these shows, and I hope you
do too, and I want to hear from you, so
please rate the show. If you have not, that's your
(41:14):
homework right now. Takes two seconds. Rate the show, subscribe
to the podcast please, and I love hearing from you.
Tom h Fit is my Twitter. Tom h fit is
also my Instagram and you can email me right through
Fitness disrupted dot com. I really appreciate you listening. Tell
a friend and uh yeah, I want to hear more
about the questions and topics you want covered, so don't
(41:37):
hesitate to reach out. Thank you so much for listening,
and remember there are three things every single one of
us can control. How much we move, what we put
into our mouths, and our attitudes, and that is awesome.
I'm Tom holland this is Fitness Disrupted, Believe in Yourself.
(42:00):
Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of I Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Bitness Disrupted. Ten
More Strength Training Tips. Yes, that is the title and
the topic of today's show. I love talking about strength training,
(00:24):
I love doing it, and I love if I may
say so myself, and I will the most recent show
I did on strength training and it's mental benefits, depression, anxiety.
I mean, if you haven't listened to that show, do
and it's just amazing, amazing, the benefits of cardiovascular exercise
(00:47):
that so far exceed just weight loss and strength training.
And I'm gonna do. There's so many more shows to
do because there are many more benefits that are similar
to the depression and anxiety that you might not and
most likely haven't thought of or heard of. And that's
another show. But today is ten more strength training Tips
(01:12):
to help you what maximize your results, maximize your enjoyment,
maximize your adherence to your program so you stick to it,
and to help you vary your routine. Give you some ideas.
And let me say this, I want to throw out
just a friend, John, who started listening to the show.
(01:33):
And John was you know, a fit guy an athlete
and you know, like so many people fell out of
his routine a little bit and he started listening to
the show. And you know, I often say, just follow
the seemingly simple advice, the simple steps, make those changes
over time, consistently see what happens. And he has had
(01:55):
incredible results. And you know, he's someone I see on
a regular basis is and that makes me, you know,
really happy to see people benefiting from there, you know, labors.
And I get super frustrated with this business when people
who have no business giving advice due and there's a huge,
(02:18):
huge group of those people in this business, which is
why another one of my you know jobs is being
a fitness expert in lawsuits because things oftentimes go wrong
when they when they shouldn't, and that's the extreme people
getting injured. I don't want you to get injured. That's
a huge part of my advice. But I also want
(02:40):
you to get, like my friend John, the results from
putting the work in. But you gotta follow the recipe
and there are no secrets. And John even you know,
he'll give me feedback about certain shows, and he gave
me feedback about a recent show and he's like great
and Your final takeaway was, you know, whenever you want
(03:02):
to do it, basically, whenever you can do it. I
was talking about the best time to run, you know,
went through that that's the answer. So I went through
the science, and that is this show. It's talking about
the science, going Okay, here's what science says, but like
does that matter? How does that apply to your life?
How does that apply to your goals? And do we
(03:24):
need to use that advice that research to actually get
you to your goal. So when it comes to the
best time of day to run at the end of
the day, pun intended, it's whenever you do it consistently.
And that is what so many podcasts, as so many
fitness experts with quotation marks, they they there are no
(03:48):
secrets per se, there are no hacks. Where's the hack.
It's the person giving the secret. And that's gonna be
my philosophy going forward. You're gonna you're gonna hear that.
I'm gonna go into the science, but then we're gonna
figure out does that apply to you and how does
it apply to you? And so today it's it's ten
more strength training tips, simple changes, ideas, concepts to help
(04:14):
you maximize your results. I don't like going to the
gym and seeing the same people looking the same, still
being injured, potentially injuring themselves. It drives me nuts. So
we're gonna help that with the show. All right, quick break.
When we come back, let's get right into it. Ten
strength training tips. You're gonna be able to apply all
(04:36):
of them right away, and I promise you, if you
do them consistently, you will see results. Will be right
back alright talking about strength training. Talking about strength training tips.
(04:59):
They're con steps, they're ideas, they are things you should
consider implementing. And you might be doing some already, but
you need to be doing most of these at some
point in time for variation and just to keep your
you know, your mental game on top. You get bored
(05:22):
doing the same thing, and your body doesn't respond the
same after it gets acclimated to the same stressors. And
if you've already achieved your goals, awesome, But most people haven't.
And you know, as we get older, it becomes more
and more important to apply these principles, all right. Number one,
It's just simple little tips and tricks. And you know
I've said it many times. I don't even like the
(05:43):
word tricks, but you know, it just helps clarify if
need be. So number one is attachments. Change the attachment.
So this goes for those of you who are going
to the gym and using the cable machines or some
people have those at home. So cable machine would be
something like doing a cable row or a lap pull down.
(06:04):
All right, But I you know, shot hundreds of exercises
for different fitness apps over the years with just this.
The number of variations you have with a cable machine,
it's insane. So when we're talking about let's just talk
about like the lat pulled down right. So most people
see that picture and it's often done wrong by the way,
(06:26):
the lap pulled down behind the neck. Did a show
about that. It's one of the most photographed pictures in fitness.
I would argue the lap pull down behind the neck,
so it's the long bar right, and then there's generally
handles that come down at a like a forty five
degree angle, and you pull it down for a back exercise,
But you shouldn't pull it down behind your neck anymore.
(06:50):
That can be stressful on the shoulder joint and it's
no more beneficial than pulling it down correctly to the
front of your chest. But I digress. So that is one. Right,
you've got the long bar, you do a lap pull down, well,
you can take the close grip the two handles. Still
a back exercise, but you are hitting your back muscles differently.
(07:13):
One of my favorite ones to do now is the rope.
To use the rope instead of the lap pull down bar,
the wide grip bar. And that for me, especially as
I get older, I feel it You've got to go
much much later, by the way, much lighter, and it
just that it will feel different. So again people will say, oh,
(07:34):
it hits different muscles. Yes, but no, you're basically hitting
the same muscles when you do this stuff. You're just
hitting them in a different way. Okay, you're hitting them,
stressing them differently, challenging them. So again, change the attachment
and can go for the cable row where you're seated.
Seated cable row right, still a back exercise. The angle
(07:55):
is different, but you've got the rope, you've got the
V bar, you've got the eight bar, you've got the
bar with handles, you've got a close script attachment. So
that is one simple yet super effective way to change
your back exercise. So let's just keep it with the
back exercise to keep it simple. But it can't be
(08:18):
groundhog Day at the gym or at your home gym.
You need some variation. And yes, this is where it
gets a little slippery in that there's maintenance. You can
get to a point in your life where you're like, Okay,
you know you don't have to go crazy with variation.
I did that whole show on muscle confusion. But there
(08:41):
is physiological and psychological benefits to doing that, to mixing
up your routine, and I just enjoy the heck out
of it. I know the problem though for many people,
as you have seen results doing certain exercises, you know
that's not talked about enough. So people are like, well,
I've achieved these results doing these exercise is so I
need to continue doing the exact same thing. And the
(09:03):
answer is actually no, now you need You could still
do some of that, but you need that little bit
of variation. You need that little bit of just tweaking
just enough that the body goes something's a little different.
And it doesn't have to be huge. I say that
over and over again. Doesn't have to be a huge
amount of weight doesn't have to be hugely intense. And
(09:26):
that's what this shows about right now, all right, these
little changes will be the variation you need. Okay, So
change the attachment. Change the attachment that goes for tricep
press downs too. Sometimes tricept press downs with the cable machine.
You can use the rope, you can use the V bar,
(09:48):
you can use that short straight bar, and you can
do that with either a supine grip or a prone grip.
So palms facing up, palms facing down, so many different
ways all tricep exercises, but different. Okay, So change the attachment.
So easy, so effective, all right. Number two, time your
(10:08):
rest periods. And I threw this in here for several reasons.
Number One, there's so many people who say, you know,
but I don't have the time to go to the
gym for an hour. Or they'll say I go to
the gym for an hour five days a week, and
I'll look at them and again think you should have
better results. And one problem is the amount of work
that's actually done. So this is just it's almost like
(10:30):
it's a very analogous to keeping a food journal. Greatest
works of fiction ever done totally disagree with the and
I know many nutritionists and these even personal trainers who,
in my opinion that we're not nutritionist or I wasn't
a nutritionist when I was starting out as a personal trainer.
So people are told to keep three day journal. You
(10:52):
either totally change what you eat, you lie a little bit,
and it's usually a mix of the two. Now, yes,
over the year, I would tell people, hey, keep a
three day journal what you eat, but I don't want
to see it. I want you to be aware of
what you eat. I know, I don't want you to
change what you eat, but it's still just the act
of the mere act of doing it. Oftentimes people change
(11:13):
what they do, all right, So when you time your
rest periods, many of you are gonna realize how much
time you waste. Now, I'm not saying that you can't
talk to people in the gym if that's where you go,
or you know, if you're working at at home, watch
a little TV. You know, do so as you're working out,
take rest periods, of course, But it's just a lesson
(11:33):
too in how you can get a really really good
workout in in a short amount of time. So when
people say, oh, I only worked out for thirty minutes,
Like why are you saying? Only you know if you
take thirty second rests in between strength moves or any
move for that matter, and that's generally what you need. Again,
if you're like powerlifting, different but for the vast majority
(11:56):
of people, thirty to sixty seconds, and sixty seconds is
generally a long time. So try this one time. If
you are someone who goes to the gym, or you
have a routine you do at home, dumbbells, waits, whatever
it is, try to stick to thirty seconds. And what's
really cool is, you know there are machines at the gym. Uh,
some of the machines I use, they have timers built
right in. It's to be a while to realize that
(12:16):
on some of these machines they weren't front and center,
but it's like I'm like, oh wow, thirty seconds is up, already,
here we go. And that's why when you take a
class where they use those type of intervals, that's why
you find it hard. People. Is not even necessarily the
the the instructor or what. It's just that you are
being kept to a schedule. So try that time your
(12:37):
rest periods. It will just teach you about the value
of time, and it will show you about the value
of shorter workouts and that you do not need to
go an our seventy five minutes ninety minutes if you
want to awesome, if you have that time and you
you love that social aspect and and you're seeing the
(12:59):
result bolts, that's important. You don't have a bunch of injuries.
You aren't in you know, pain throughout the day. Certain
things that can be fixed, then that's okay, But most
people need to tighten their routine. All right. Uh number three,
(13:19):
change your grip now. Already kind of spoke about this
with the attachment, but there's even more subtleties to it.
And this is a perfect example of subtleties that make
huge change. So what does that mean? So a lap
pulled down? So if you are doing the lap pulled
down that I was talking about earlier, and you're always
(13:40):
doing it with your palms facing away from you, try
it with your palms facing you and generally speaking, you're
gonna move your hands in a little closer. And this
goes for so many different types of exercises. Right, you
can do bicep curls, and what I like to do
with that. And this is again subtleties. Is you're not
(14:01):
flipping your hand prone versus supine, but you're going to
change your grip with each rep. So here's a fun
little like technique. You know the way to change your
barbell bicep curl. So start with your normal hand position,
and then every rep go a little closer. Every rep
(14:22):
is like half an inch closer till if you're doing
ten to fifteen repetitions, your final reps, your hands are
almost touching, and then you can do it the opposite way.
You start with your hands almost touching, and then every
repetition half an inch to an inch to the outside.
So by the time you get to that tent repetition,
(14:43):
your hands are nice and wide. Right there, Such a
great way to challenge your biceps in a different way
and that gets you results, all right, So change your grip.
So many different ways to do that. And again, and
if you're doing a bicep curl with a straight bar,
(15:03):
if you go palms facing down, now you're getting more
of your forearms. By the way, the hammer curl type
thing more forearms. So by changing your grip your hand position,
you're going to stress those muscles in a different way
that is gonna continue to give you results. Okay, Number four,
(15:25):
This was also a question I received from somebody was
talking about unilateral exercises, and it's one of the things
that has kept me injury free. I've talked about it
on many different podcasts. A unilateral is using one leg
or one arm at a time. There's a time and
a place and a reason for that. And one main
reason is if we always do bilateral exercises, if we
(15:48):
always do squats with both legs at the same time,
generally speaking, one of our arms are legs stronger than
the other. So by doing unilateral exercises it helps to
fix those imbalances. And in some people it's huge. I
mean at a client many years ago who would do
Dumbell curls and one hand would go up almost immediately
(16:09):
and the other hand would take like five seconds, so
much different. I mean that was an extreme example, but
we all for you know, unless you're working on it,
and you should be have those imbalances, and by fixing
those imbalances through unilateral exercise it makes all the difference.
So sometimes if you're using machines, especially sometimes you're gonna
(16:33):
do bilateral exercises. Sometimes you're gonna do unilateral, okay, So
an example would be, and I'm gonna use the lower
body because it's simple. You can do it with the
upper body as well. If you are using a leg
extension machine and I hear people screaming right away, you
should never use that. I disagree topic for another show though, Okay,
leg extension exercise. Most people will do both legs at
(16:54):
the same time if you have the freedom depends on
the machine to do one leg at a time. That's
one great way two really start to bullet proof your body.
And so many lower leg issues are those weaknesses and imbalances.
So again, leg extension machine, one leg at a time.
End what happens there. You again have to really lower
(17:16):
the weight, like if you're doing just throwout a number
eighty pounds with both legs. You know it's gonna be
forty pounds somewhere or less, maybe a little more, depends
on your strength but or how heavy you're going for bilateral.
But that's just a great way to do it. And
if you're working out twice a week, one day a
week is is unilateral, one day a week is bilateral.
(17:37):
Leg curl same thing. If you're in a hamstring leg
curl machine, bilateral one day, unilateral the next leg press
another great example, bilateral one day another lower that weight
and do one leg at a time. Now, let me
say this, if you're pressed for time, don't do the unilateral.
(17:59):
That day takes twice as long. People. And so when
I see give you an example, when I see people
doing dumbell chess presses with one dumbell at a time,
why that's already unilateral. Now I understand, I'm not gonna
get into the maybe physiological reasons people are doing it,
and most aren't doing it for the reasons that I
(18:20):
would give you, But I don't even want to get
into it right now. It's it's already unilateral with dumbbells.
So again, when we're trying to maximize our time, there's
certain times to not do unilateral exercises. So if you
are like I've got twenty minutes to do my strength
training today, not today, necessarily to do unilateral. You have
a little more time because you are going one limited time,
(18:41):
that's the day to do the unilateral. And let me
just throw out there, as I was preparing this show,
I don't use the lower body machines anymore, almost for
my lower body. But I did for years now. I'm
just saying that because there's so many like professional athletes
and who changed the way they did things. I got
(19:05):
strong using those Never I didn't hurt myself. I did
a mix. So now my workouts are just shorter. And
I'm not saying never. I will jump in every now
and again and do it, but much less frequently. But
my point is there's value to it. I still believe. So.
So when someone says you, oh, I never do that machine, Yeah,
but that person did it for years now, I'm saying
(19:25):
correctly hopefully so. In other words, I built a base
of strength with machines, and that's generally how it happens people.
That's how you start to build strength in machines where
you don't have this crazy freedom of movement, less chance
of getting injured the elderly. What do you think rehabilitation?
You know, it doesn't have people doing you know, box
jumps out of the you know, out of the gate
(19:46):
and things like that. So there's value two machines. Talked
about that before, but I wanted to say that because
I'm always going to give you my honest experience personally
and with my clients. So oh, I'm more about body
weight squats now lunges, you know, more say the term functional.
I believe all strength is functional, though, Um it's just
(20:09):
more simple. I don't enjoy my leg workouts as much
as I do. I'm a guy, right, but I know
the value of them. So my lower body workout is
primarily now to keep myself injury free, to allow myself
to keep running and doing all those kind of things. Um.
But I did heavier leg presses back in the day
when I was bodybuilding and things like that. Um, So
(20:31):
I don't want you to say, well, he doesn't do
them now, so I shouldn't. No, I did for a
long time. I think that's a really important point. By
the way, Alright, one more break and when we come back,
we've got our last handful of tips. And I'm telling you,
if you're not doing these and you start to throw
them in, you're gonna see results. Last break will be
right back. All right, we are talking about strength training.
(21:07):
I love everything about fitness, but I I just love
strength training makes me feel good, gets rid of you know,
aches and pains. I do get that, you know, hit
of the feel good hormones that we usually think about
with cardio, as I talked about in that podcast about
strength training and depression and anxiety. So, yeah, I've been
(21:30):
doing this for a really long time and I will
be doing it forever. You know. I want to be
doing push ups until the day I die, and I will.
All right, So where are we? Number five? Number five?
So this is just a way to kind of structure
your workout, and I go by feel. So number five
(21:53):
is sometimes if you're doing like full body workout and
you're doing two to three exercises per body parts. In
other words, you're doing three exercises for your chest. Some
days do all three in a row, other days do
three circuits. And this is what I've been doing forever,
and I just go by the way I feel that day.
(22:14):
So in other words, like some days I'm like, okay,
I generally start on this chest press machine, so I
do that, and then I might go do dumbbell chest
press and then I'll finish with a third And then
other days I think, I just I don't want to
do three back to back, and that day I will
do a chest exercise, a back, a shoulder, a bicep
a triceep and then I'll repeat the circuit. And it's
(22:37):
a mental thing. And this is another technique tip that
has not talked about enough. So much of this is
just mental and it allows me to enjoy that session
more if someone told me I had to do it
a certain way all the time, as you are told
by so many fitness people, this is the only way. Oh,
you can't possibly do it this way. And my question,
noise is why let's let me just keep asking you
(22:59):
the physiological questions. Justify that in exercise science terms. Alright,
So go by feel. One day you're like, yeah, I'm
up for like doing three sets of chess. Then I'm
gonna do three sets of back you know, whatever way
you're doing it. If you're doing two sets, three sets,
and then you go, you know what today, I just
want to do a circuit and you keep moving. It's
(23:20):
about the mental side as well. We can never forget
that is it is the most important thing. Like if
you're not enjoying it, if you're not doing it, uh
the way you know that that makes you want to
do it, you're not gonna do it long term. So
super important. All right, Number six, It ties in with
number five. Sometimes you can super set, so super set.
(23:43):
This is interesting because super set is one of those terms.
If you look it up there's so many different definitions. Uh.
And I pulled mine out of one of my textbooks
from many years ago, the Essentials of Strength Training Conditioning,
you know the n s C, a National Strength and
Conditioning Associate Nation's book on strength training, and their definition
(24:05):
is a superset uses the performance of two exercises that
activate opposing or antagonistic muscle groups with no rest between
each exercises. You go, what the heck is at? So
basically super sets. Many people call them or define them
as being doing two exercises right after each other and
(24:25):
the same body parts. So you'll do you know, chin ups,
and then you'll do a set of bicep curls with
no rest in between. Now I don't care like you know,
people go, oh, you're using the wrong term. Who cares?
But for my purposes, superset for me is doing the
antagonistic muscle groups and I tind to take out the
one or with no rest in between. That's the official definition,
(24:49):
at least according to Essentials of Strength Training Conditioning. Here's
what I'm gonna throw out there my way of doing it.
It's my way. A superset is what I just said.
So if we're doing like a circuit, you already have
supersets built in to a certain degree. I'm doing a
chest exercise, and then I'm doing a back exercise. Then
(25:10):
i do shoulders, and there's no antagonistic muscle group for that.
But then I'll do a bicep and a tricep. Another
example of two muscle groups would be hamstring and quadraceps.
So the front of your thighs in the back of
your thighs, and that's a great way to do it too,
and it feels good sometimes, right you're doing the opposing
(25:31):
muscle groups. And when you want that pump story for
another day or topic for another day, you used to
have a workout it called the party pump in New
York City. That was a Friday night routine for certain clients.
Butt I digress yet again. But yeah, so that is
just another way to kind of structure your strength training workout.
And when I'm really maximizing my time, it's exactly how
(25:53):
I'm doing it. Bicep, curl, tri sep, kick back right
bicep curl, tricep, kickback, and this goes to back to
number five. Some days I do three in a row
and then some days I want that super set. And
that's just a mental thing for you, and you can
mix it up. It's not right nor wrong all of
(26:13):
these different techniques. They are tools in your exercise arsenal
as I put it okay. And one final super set
muscle group that I love is lower back in abdominals,
and this is generally done at home for me because
I'm going to use the equipment at the gym, although
I'll contradict myself in a second about that. So I'll
do a set of crunches and then I'll do a
(26:35):
set of back extensions. I'll do a different different set
of crunches, like a different version, and then I'll do
a bird dog type exercise. So basically, you're on your
back and then you're on your knees or stomach, and
that's where balance comes from everybody. That's where you know.
We tend to use and work our mirror muscles as
(26:56):
I call them, what you see in the mirror, your abdominals,
your chest, your arms, the front of your arms even
and we don't work what we can't see our lower
back our upper back right, so we need to do both.
So when you super set in this with this definition,
you're doing it and you're you're creating balance. And that's
(27:18):
so important. All right now, this one, gosh. I love
this concept and and so many of the concepts that
I think are so valuable are are tough to kind
of you know, uh, just verbalize. But number seven has
change your count. This is actually not too tough to
to explain. But in other words, I had a client
years ago. It's an easy way to kind of describe this.
(27:40):
And you know, I would count for clients in different ways,
but this client which it said to me, you have
to count backwards for me. I go, what are you
talking about? He goes, I just that's how I want
you to do it. I don't want you counting up,
you know, if you're doing push up, if I'm doing
push ups, he said, I don't want you saying one
to three, four, Tell me the number we're going for
and count backwards. And this is the psychology, people, This
(28:01):
is why I'm still studying the psychology of of exercise
and just human behavior. And I love that stuff. This
is so for him that was what he wanted. And
what I realized myself is some days when I am
doing an exercise, some days I count up and some
days I count back, and some days when I'm doing
(28:22):
a workout, it changes for different exercises. But I'm so
aware of this stuff because what I do for a living,
And think for yourself, do you do that? Do you
count up? Do you count back to? You change it?
But here's what I found for myself. Now I'm an
experiment of one, so I can only talk about that
client those I have those experiences, and then myself. Some
(28:45):
days I'll be doing an exercise and I'll start counting backwards,
and I'll change because I'm like, oh, I don't I
don't think I'm gonna get there? Does that make sense?
So like, I don't think I'm gonna get those last few.
So sometimes I want to count up, sometimes I want
to count back words. I know this sounds crazy to
some of you, but really think about how you do
it and what exercise you do it with, and I'm
(29:08):
telling you mix it up, figure out what you need.
Do you want to count backwards? Is that going to
get you to where you need to be? Especially with
exercises like body weight exercises where you are going for
you know, more than ten or fifteen reps, and let
me throw a third way in. Sometimes I count up halfway.
So like when my kids and the clients were doing
(29:30):
you know, forty push ups, sometimes you count up to
twenty and then I would count backwards back down. It's
like chunking. It's like doing an iron Man and saying,
I'm not going to think of how much I have
left in front of me, because sometimes you get to
thirty four, thirty five, Oh my gosh, I got fifteen
more reps. Well, if you count up to twenty and
then count backwards, for some people as much more manageable mentally,
(29:57):
And that is so important when it comes to fitness.
Fitness is not just a out. You know muscle head guys.
You know Arnold Schwarzenegger, super smart guy, and I guarantee
you he utilized all of these tips and tricks and
much more. All right, So think about changing your account,
(30:18):
be aware of it. See what works best for you.
Um what we got, we got three left. Maximize your
rest period. So this is where I said I'm gonna
contradict myself a little bit when I go to the gym,
I tend to use the equipment. That's why I'm there.
That's what I'm paying for, right, the different machines, the
stuff that I don't have at home, and I want
to vary it around, but I'm also paying for it.
(30:38):
I'm gonna use the expensive, different equipment that I can't
fit in my house or I don't want to buy,
but I'm also going to maximize my time. So instead
of standing around, remember that thirty second rest interval tip
I gave you during that thirty seconds, don't just stand there, Okay,
three different things you can do. I love doing abdominal
(30:58):
exercises in between. Now that's generally something I do at
home because I don't want Why am I going to
the gym to do abdominal exercises, But when I am
in need of a rest period anyway, I'm going to
maximize that time. Back to like people saying, oh, twenty
minutes isn't enough, thirty minutes isn't enough, Okay, if you
(31:18):
are utilizing thirty second rest periods and they're not even
truly rest periods, because you know, if I do squats
and then I'm doing abdominal exercises, there's no true rest.
So a core routine you knew, planks, you can do
you know, lower back exercises, um like back extensions, things
like that. Maximize your rest periods. Now, if you're going
(31:41):
heavy like squats, you're like, I can't really do a
plank in between. Then stretch the muscle group you just worked.
I mean, how simple and yet effective. Most people detest
stretching and it's the last thing you want to do
at the end of your workout, which is the time
you should do it when your muscles are warm. But
you can also do it right after you exercise that muscle,
(32:05):
you work that muscle group. And this is especially true
for legs. You know, you do squats, then take fifteen
seconds and stretch your quads of one leg quads of
the other leg. You do another set of squats, stretch
the hamstring of one leg for fifteen seconds, stretch the
hamstring for fifteen of the other. Maximize your time. And finally,
(32:28):
if you're like, okay, I really want this, like, you know,
short workout, I want to put everything together a cardio interval,
and I've talked about my first fitness videos exactly what
the progression was. And so if you're doing you know,
a set of whatever, it doesn't even matter. You're doing
a strength move and then for thirty to sixty seconds
(32:49):
in between, you do a cardio interval. You're gonna burn
some calories, You're gonna keep your heart rate elevated. And
that can be jumping rope, it can be running in place,
it can be skaters. You can up on a bike
and go for sixty seconds. Maximize your rest intervals. So again,
either a core exercise, stretch, a muscle group, or burn
(33:13):
a couple of extra calories. And to burn a couple
of extra calories, that's when you want to get the
most as far as cork expenditure in a short amount
of time. All right, two more, I like I had
to throw this one in. Finished with a burnout set.
So again it's a term as many different uh ways
of saying it, but one fun way to end to
(33:33):
work out. And I used to do this with clients
and myself. Let's go back to just bicep curls. Why
not because it's kind of fun to do. So we
would go to the dumbbell rack and you finish your
arm workout with a burnout set. So let's just say
you do bicep curls normally with thirty pounds. I'm just
throwing out a number. So you do a set of
ten with thirty pounds, and then you make your way
(33:55):
down the rack right, ideally by maybe increments of five pounds.
So set a ten with thirty pounds, set a ten with,
set a ten with twenty. Now you're gonna probably get
a set of nine, a set of eight with fifteen,
a set of seven with ten, and by the time
(34:15):
you get to five you can barely do them. So
it's just a fun way to kind of, you know,
put the finishing touches on your muscles, the muscle group
you're working that day. And you can do that again
with so many different types of exercise. You can do
it with pull ups, right, do a set of ten
pull ups. Wait a couple of seconds, maybe ten, and
(34:37):
a lot of people are doing this type. Now jump
back up, try to get ten weight, ten seconds, jump
back up. So just really finished and fatigue that muscle
group and in just a fun way. And it's basically
descending pyramid. Right, you're going down, So start with a
heavy weight and just work your way down so that
when you get to that five ten pounds, you can
(34:58):
do it with you know, try iceps, shoulders, you name it, chest.
You know, that's a fun one to do it with
whatever muscle group you're working. Finish with a burnout set,
all right, And the final one is connected to the
one I just gave about adding in that cardio interval.
And this is just so many people have that. You know,
(35:21):
do I do cardio first? Do I do strength training first?
Doesn't matter unless you're going max and I've talked about that.
And then some people, you know, are doing cardio one
day they're doing strength and the other day. But many
people are just like, Okay, I need to put them together.
You know, I'm working, I'm going to the gym three
days a week, or I'm going down to my basement
three days a week. And if you are doing that,
you need to do your cardio and strength together ideally, right,
(35:45):
you need to get both in. So here's a great
way to do it. I'm gonna give you an hour routine.
Doesn't have to be an hour. You can shorten the
times to make them half hour whatever. But here's like,
if you said I'm going to the gym three days
a week, I want cardio and strength together. I love
giving this example take away you can do right away
and it has so many benefits. So you're gonna do tens. Basically,
(36:05):
you're gonna do ten minutes of cardio, you get do
ten minutes of strength, and gonna do both of those
three times. Simple math adds up to an hour, right,
ten minutes of cardio, ten minutes of strength three times.
And I'm just gonna give you a breakdown, real simple,
to give you an idea. So let's say you did
ten minutes of walking on the treadmill. It's a great
way to get warmed up, or running on the treadmill.
(36:27):
Then you do a very simple full body routine of
I'm gonna give you eight exercises which would basically take
roughly ten minutes to do. You're gonna do a chest exercise,
You're gonna do a back just gave you this already, shoulders, biceps, triceps.
Now your upper bodies done. You're gonna do a set
of squats or leg exercise. You're gonna set a lunges
another leg exercise, so to leg exercises, and then finish
(36:51):
up with an abdominal a core a plank. So there's
a basic framework on how you can do it. Right,
So ten minutes on that treadmill, ten minutes of a
full body routine like I just gave you, and those
can be machines whatever you want. Then you can either
go back to the treadmill, but ideally you mix it up.
And here's the thing, like, there are machines that I
just could not fathom getting on for a half hour,
(37:14):
much less an hour, but I can. I can mentally
handle ten minutes. So that is when I will do
this type of workout. And it could be five minutes.
You're like, I got thirty minutes. Then you go five
minutes and you you do different strength moves, but sticking
to ten, got that ten minute treadmill, you do one
circuit full body, then maybe you go ten minutes on
(37:35):
you pick it bike, Airdne bike, stationary bike, and then
you do another ten minutes second set of strength, and
then you do your final ten for cardio and maybe
that's the Jacob's lad or maybe that's the moving stairs
the gauntlet, right, but this is the perfect time again
to do those different types of cardio that are challenging
(37:58):
for you both mentally and physically. And something that you
don't want to be on for any longer than ten minutes. Perfect, Okay,
there you have it. I know they seem simple. I've
been doing every single one of these for well over
thirty years with incredible success, and taking all of these
(38:19):
things at different times, super sets, changing my grip, that
workout I just gave you, Okay, doing different things during
my rest periods. You know, I was really looking at
social media and in preparing this show, I felt like,
when you know, many of you code to my Instagram account,
but it goes to like my Instagram account and what
(38:41):
you see me do at the gym, and I don't
ever want you know, you to most people's Instagram account.
It's the same thing. Are you like, Okay, this person's
and that's fine, and that's kind of what social media
is about. Who is this person? But that's not who
I am in fitness. And that's why I have had
the success physically that I have because I said it
a million times to you. If you only do the
same thing, I don't care how healthy it is. If
you just run, if you just swim, if you just
(39:03):
do Olympic lifts and you're not doing all the other components.
Of fitness, You're gonna have problems. So when you go
to my Instagram account, you're gonna see running, You're gonna
see swimming, you're gonna see biking, you're gonna see strength training,
You're gonna see food. Now, that has been a detriment
to my career to be completely honest, which I always am,
because the media and the profession wants to pigeonhole you.
(39:27):
Are you the what are you? Basically? People will say
to me, I'm an exercise physiologist. I'm someone who wants
to be as healthy as possible. So I'm gonna do
everything a little bit excessive moderation, I'm gonna do a
little bit a lot. And that's what I take pride in.
And yes, I mean I have some exercises talk about
push ups and things that I absolutely love and I
will be doing forever. But I vary those around, and
(39:49):
I do exercises that I'm not crazy about but I
know are really good for me. And that was the
great I was on joy Beharor when I came out
with my book Beat the gym talked about this before
and you know the pre interview and one of the
tips I gave for that was start every and I've
given this on a podcast. Start every workout rotine with
(40:10):
one exercise you really don't like, especially the ones that
are gonna help pre have you right. For me, it's
shoulder exercises, things like that. They're boring, but I know
I need to do them, but I'm gonna get them
out of the way. At the beginning, Joy Behar that
flashed up on the screen. She looked at me and
she said, why would I do that? It's like, we're
not going to argue because it's healthy for you and
I'm not asking you to do you know, an entire
(40:30):
hour of things. You don't like one thing. It's the
small steps. It's the small things done consistently. All right, enough,
Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you had some aha moments
like wow, I can do that. And it's the simple stuff.
I'll say it one final time. There are no secrets.
I'll call them tips and tricks whatever. But this is
(40:52):
exercise science. This is this is behavioral psychology, you know,
taking what you should do with what you can do
and what we've evolved to do. Right, keep it simple,
all right, thank you so much for listening. I love
every single one of these shows, and I hope you
do too, and I want to hear from you, so
please rate the show. If you have not, that's your
(41:14):
homework right now. Takes two seconds. Rate the show, subscribe
to the podcast please, and I love hearing from you.
Tom h Fit is my Twitter. Tom h fit is
also my Instagram and you can email me right through
Fitness disrupted dot com. I really appreciate you listening. Tell
a friend and uh yeah, I want to hear more
about the questions and topics you want covered, so don't
(41:37):
hesitate to reach out. Thank you so much for listening,
and remember there are three things every single one of
us can control. How much we move, what we put
into our mouths, and our attitudes, and that is awesome.
I'm Tom holland this is Fitness Disrupted, Believe in Yourself.
(42:00):
Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart
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