Are you getting the most from your training sessions?
AS I mentioned in a previous article, it’s important to get the most out of your training session – ‘quality over quantity’ should be your mantra every time.
If you are a beginner and have never worked out with much intensity before, it’s always best to start out easy and see how your body reacts. Even if you find that your first training session appears simple, your body may tell you a different story the following day. Progress slowly and increase your intensity as you get more comfortable with the exercises.
In a lot of my workouts I like to concentrate on functional compound exercises that give you quality in terms of functionality, lean muscle development and, of course, calorie burning.
Functional exercises are movements that mimic the way our body works in everyday life, for example squatting, pushing, pressing, pulling, bending and lifting.
By performing these functional exercises you promote muscular balance helping reduce the risk of injury and perform these everyday tasks with greater ease.
Compound exercises refer to multi-joint exercises as opposed to isolated exercises, which only require the use of one muscle at a time.
These types of exercises tend to work your body in ways it doesn’t work naturally and can also create muscular imbalances ,which can lead to injury.
An example of a isolated exercise would be the biceps curl. It’s not functional, not compound and there are much better alternatives.
Instead you can perform pull ups or assisted pull ups, which stimulate not only the biceps for muscular development, but also work the latissimus dorsi or your lats, which is one of the largest muscles in your back and last but not least, it works your abs.
The same can also be said when choosing free weight compound movements over machine weights. The free weight multi-joint movements recruit the most motor units and generate a far bigger response.
Since functional, compound movements work with so many other muscles, they produce greater overall muscular response causing greater energy expenditure, which equals more calories burned in less time.
In other words you’er getting value for money when it comes to your training session.
Shane O’Neill is the proprietor of Dromintee Peak fitness and can be contacted on 07825300280.
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