Cardio Training

I live near Austin, TX (home of the Texas Longhorns)....the Orangebloods really, really, really hate those OU Sooners......we need a playoff! I want to see the top 4-6 teams play each other to decide the NCAA football championship (and not polls and computer geeks)!.....anyway.....

I was in a health club yesterday and I saw something common: people spending time on useless exercises, spending time on exercises that give very little benefit, wasting time between exercises or not exercising at all. For those willing to listen, I will give some workout tips without "talking down" to them.

Note to men at health clubs: you don't know nearly as much about working out as you think you do! Get over your egos!

Anyway, I see alot of people not using workout time wisely to get "the most bang for their bucks." Here are some examples:

1. Sitting down on machines to do exercises. A "stand up" exercise will give you more strength benefits. Example: work your hip abductors standing up instead of sitting on that machine. Your core will also get more work when you do an exercise standing up.

2. Don't do cardio on elliptical machines. You won't tone much on your body with this machine. When you have a choice, do your running cardio on the grass or sand outside instead of running on a machine. If you have to do cardio in a gym, do stepmill, jump rope, bodyweight exercise cardio (such as mountain climbers) or treadmill.

3. Don't take 5 minutes between exercise sets! This is your workout, not social hour. Socialize after your workout.

4. Along the same lines, your 5-10 minute warmup is used to get your body ready for your workout! Talking to your friends for 10 minutes is not a warmup!

5. Cut your workout time down from 2-3 hours to 1 hour or less. Challenge yourself during your workout. Also, see #3 above.

6. This one is for men: if you only do bench press, that is not a full workout!

7. And this one is for women: you will tone your butt, hips and thighs much better and faster with lunges, step ups and squats (hint: don't do the sitting hip abductor machine and the sitting adductor machine)!

8. Sitting in the steam room or sauna for an hour is not a workout. Sit in those rooms after your workout.

You get the idea......

Train hard and safe!

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