As a North London Personal Trainer I spend around
1000 hours a year training my clients and have discovered that 7
reoccurring mistakes are made on a frequent basis. Just by taking note
and correcting these 7 issues will dramatically improve your results
and prevent injury.
For more info check out my Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle review
1. Learn to breathe
Breathing correctly
is vital when exercising. Deep breaths provide more oxygen to the body
and in turn provide you with the ability to work harder; they also
prevent you from becoming dizzy or light headed. Breaths should be
taken deeply and from the pit of the stomach or diaphragm. Get into a
good habit of breathing out during the hardest part of the exercise and
in during the easiest. For example, when performing a push up breathe
in on the way down and out on the way up. Never hold your breath, even
when stretching!
2. Take your time
This is one of the most
common mistakes I see and the harder the exercise becomes the more
tempted you are to rush through it. Muscles need time to work and be
stimulated, unless you are training for speed. A good test is to ask
yourself whether you would be able to pause at any part during the
exercise movement, if not then you are moving too fast. Chances are no
matter how slow you think you are moving, you are probably moving too
fast. A squat should take around 5 seconds, 2 seconds down, pause for a
second and 2 seconds up.
3. Think technique
Concentrating
on your technique and good form will ensure that you target the correct
muscles and don't develop bad habits. Bad technique is a sure fire way
to get injured, if your technique starts to fail then stop the
exercise. The last thing you want to do is develop a motor pattern for
an incorrect movement. Start off with the correct movement and
concentrate on that movement the whole time, think about what muscles
are working and how it feels.
4. Tighten your core
If you
want to develop 6 pack abs, a strong core and prevent injury then you
must switch on your core. By switch on I mean brace your stomach as if
you were about to take a punch ' pull your navel in towards your spine
and squeeze. Performing this action not only protects your spine but
also gives your stomach muscles a thorough workout. If you switch on
your core during every exercise the chances are you won't need to do
many individual core exercises to develop your stomach. The fact is
that your core is working hard during most exercises (providing you are
not lazy and using machines) and so the need for targeted stomach
muscle exercises should be at a minimum.
5. Reduce your rest periods
I
don't believe in long cardio sessions, in fact research has shown that
they don't work anyway. If you want to get a good cardio workout then
reduce the rest periods between your exercises. I see too many people
at gyms idly standing around talking or reading magazines. To get the
most out of your workouts reduce your resting times and increase the
intensity. I like to put 2 or 3 exercises back to back with no rest
periods to really get the heart rate up and lungs working.
6. Warm up the correct movement patterns
Starting
your exercise programme without a warm is just asking for trouble. Not
only do warm ups prepare your body physically but also prepare you
mentally. The warm up should replicate the movements that you will be
performing in the actual workout. If you are going to be pressing
things over your head then make sure you push your arms up and down
overhead a few times first. If you are going to be doing heavy squats
then some body weight squats first will prepare you for this.
7. Stretch only the tight muscles
Everybody
is designed differently and we all have some muscles that are tight and
others that are more flexible. It is pointless performing a stretching
routine that focuses on your most flexible areas; you should leave
these alone and work on you most inflexible muscles. In order to
neutralise your posture and improve your range of movement you should
only stretch the areas that really need it.
Copyright (c) 2007 Greg Brookes
Greg
is a health and fitness professional based in Hampstead, North London.
He achieves fantastic results for his clients by using his indepth
knowledge and the most up to date techniques. http://www.gbpersonaltraining.com
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