Quinn the Mighty

Many people complain that they do not have enough time to exercise. They say they are busy with work, family, school, sports, etc. Most of the time this is just an excuse.

You do not need to spend countless hours at the gym to transform yourself and get great results. Many great strength training routines only require exercising three times per week for an hour each workout. In this articles, I present five tips to help you make time for exercise.

1. Make an appointment. Schedule your workout each week by adding it to your business calendar just as you would any other meeting.  This way you cannot schedule another meeting or activity at the same time. Making your workout an appointment each week will also provide more motivation to get to the gym.
2. Wake up earlier.  An early morning workout is a great way to wake yourself up and start the day.  All you need to do is wake up half an hour earlier and shower at the gym, and you will free up about an hour of time for working out.
3. Watch less TV and spend less time on the computer.   Many people waste countless hours in front of the television and on the computer.  Limit the amount of time you spend in front of the television by only watching your favorite show each day.  Avoid channel surfing.  Whenever you go on the computer, set a time limit and stick to it.  If you are having trouble, try keeping a timer on your desk next to your computer.



4. Home gym.  A home gym can be a time saver because you do not have to commute to the gym and can workout any time you want.  Additionally, you do not have to wait for or share any equipment.
5. Make your workouts efficient.  Strength training with isolation movements and performing low-intensity steady state cardio–such as long distance running–is inefficient and wastes your time. 
   • When strength training, use mult-joint, compound exercises. Movements such as the squat, deadlift, overhead press, power clean, chin-ups, and bench press work all the major muscles in your body and will give you the most bang for your buck.
   • Perform high intensity cardio. High intensity forms of cardio, such as interval training and Crossfit workouts, will burn more fat and can be performed in less time than traditional low intensity cardio.

Leave a comment and let me know your tips to help make time for exercise.

Pull-ups are one of the oldest resistance exercises known to the human race.  The pull-up is a great upper body exercise, but it is also one of the more difficult exercises for beginners.  In fact, many novices cannot do a single pull-up.  This raises the question: how can you get better at pull-ups when you cannot do any?  In order to answer this question, I will present two methods to improve your pull-ups.

Pull-up overview. The pull-up is an upper body exercise that involves the lattissimus dorsi muscles (the “lats”), the rhombodius, the teres major, the serratus group, and the rotator cuff muscles as well as your forearms and grip.  In order to do a pull-up, you will need a pull-up bar set to the correct height.  Many gyms have them on the crossbars at the top of the power racks.  You can also purchase a pull-up bar to install in a doorway for a home gym.

Pull-ups and chin-ups.  There are two versions of the pull-up.  The first is simply referred to as the “pull-up” and refers to the version when your palms are facing away from you.  The term “chin-up” refers to the version when your palms are facing towards you.  The chin-up has more bicep involvement and hence is easier to do.

Getting started.  The first thing you need to do is stop using the lat pull-down machine and the pull-up assistance machine.  The former is not as efficient as the methods I present below and the later changes the exercise completely.  Since the chin-up is easier to do than the pull-up, you should start with it.

Jumping chin-ups.  The first method is known as a jumping chin-up.  You should lower the bar or use a high enough stool so you can reach the bar with your feet still in contact with the ground/stool.  You will use a jump to get the movement started.  Only use as little jump as necessary to do the movement.  You should lower yourself slowly and under control to get the most out of the negative portion of the exercise.  Repeat the exercise for as many reps as you can properly lower yourself under control.

Band assisted chin-ups.  The second method will use elastic fitness bands to help you complete a chin-up.  Some gyms carry these, but you may need to purchase some at your local sports store or online.  You attach one side of the band to yourself or your belt and the other side to the chin-up bar.  The band will be stretched and you will feel it pulling you up.  Now grab the bar with your palms facing toward you and complete a chin-up.  If you are still not able to complete a chin-up, you will need to use a stronger band.

I prefer the jumping chin-up method for most people, but if you feel you are cheating too much with the jump, the band assisted method can be useful.  Use these methods until you are able to complete a single chin-up on your own.

Moving away from assisted chin-ups.  Once you reach the level where you can do at least one complete chin-up without any assistance or jumping, you should modify the workout.  Start with as many unassisted chin-ups as you can do and then use the jumping or band assisted methods to complete the remaining reps you are aiming to complete.

Once you can do five complete chin-ups without any assistance or jumping, you no longer need to use these methods for chin-ups.  You should focus on doing more chin-ups, doing weighted chin-ups, and start improving your pull-ups.  However, you may need to use the methods listed above when you first start doing pull-ups.

Strength training is one of the safest physical activities. It is much safer than playing soccer, playing basketball, or even running. However, injuries do occur. Many of the injuries are due to poor form and attempting weights well beyond the athletes limits.

Even with correct form and the proper weights, injuries do occur.  Whenever you are pushing yourself and improving your body, there is going to be a risk of injury.

This article will describe a recovery method for when you do get injured.  I deal specifically with back injuries as they tend to be the most common injury.

Stop training immediately.  When you injure yourself, you need to stop training immediately.  Continuing to train will just make the injury worse and can cause you to spend even more time away from the gym.

Wait for the sharp pain to disappear.  When you are initially injured, you will feel a sharp pain in your back.  You should stop all training and physical activity until the sharp pain goes away.  This usually takes 3-4 days.

Ice.  When you are first injured, you should apply ice to the site of the pain.  Rotate between 15-20 minutes of ice on the spot and then 15-20 minutes without ice.

First steps.  When the sharp pain is gone, you may return to the gym.  On your first day back in the gym, your goal is to get the blood flowing.  Try doing a set or two of squats with just the bar.  Do 15-25 reps per set.  The pain should decrease throughout the sets.  If it does not, then you have returned to the gym too early and should take more time off.

Add weight.  Each day you are back in the gym, add a little more weight to the bar for your squats and slowly start to decrease the number of reps.  You should continue to make sure the pain decreases throughout the sets.  At this point you can also start to add in some back extensions.  Start with just your body weight and slowly add more weight.

Back to normal.  When the pain is completely gone for a few days, you should be healed up and ready to continue your normal training routine.  You should not jump completely into the weights you were using before you were injured.  Try backing the weights down 5-10% and building back up to your previous records.

The whole process can take anywhere from 7 days to several weeks depending on the extent of your injury.

A common mistake made by many people who first start a strength training program is not getting enough rest and recovery between workouts.  Some people even attempt training 7 days a week!  After about a week of this, they start to feel sore and fatigued all the time.   Although I admire their enthusiasm, they need to understand what happens to their body when they engage in strength training. 

Strength training actually breaks down and damages your muscle.  You actually will leave the gym weaker than when you went in.  Your body is resilient though, and it repairs and rebuilds itself stronger than before.  If you give your body time to recover, the next time you go back into the gym, you should be a little bit stronger because your body has adapted.

The important part to emphasis here is that your body grows and repairs itself when you are not in the gym.  You need to give yourself sufficient time to recover between workouts.  This articles explores various recovery methods that you can do to decrease recovery time and reduce soreness between workouts.   

Static stretching.  Static stretching after a workout is a great way to aid recovery.  Not only will you feel less sore the next day, but stretching after a workout can also increase flexibility.  You should stretch both the muscles you worked and the antagonist muscles.  So if you worked your hamstrings that day, you should stretch both your hamstrings and your quads. 

Post workout nutrition.  After you workout, you want to get nutrients into your muscles quickly.  Many people drink protein shakes after a workout, but post workout is also a great time to consume carbohydrates.  Good carbohydrate sources after a workout include oatmeal, brown rice, sweet potatoes, yams, and dextrose.  The carbohydrates will replace muscle glycogen, which was used up in the workout.

Soft tissue work.  Foam rolling helps bring blood into the muscles.  This will promote muscle growth and recovery.  I recommend getting a foam roller for the larger muscles and using a tennis or lacrosse ball for the smaller areas. 

Hydrotherapy.  Contrast showers and ice baths can aid recovery by increasing the amount of blood in a region.  This helps bring vital nutrients into the muscles and will help you recovery quickly.

• Ice baths.  If you have access to an ice bath, take advantage of the opportunity.  Get in the ice bath and stay in as long as you can up to 5 minutes.  Then take a long warm shower letting the water hit the muscles you worked. 
  
• Contrast showers.  When you are in the shower, first turn the water as cold as you can stand it for 15 – 30 seconds.  Next turn the water as hot as you can stand it for 15 – 30 seconds.  This is one cycle.  Repeat for 3 – 6 cycles.  Again, let the water hit the muscles you worked.

Low intensity cardio.  Low intensity cardio gets the blood flowing, which allows more nutrients to flow into the muscles.  This also can help pull the lactic acid out of the muscles.  Do not overexert yourself; a brisk walk will work just fine. 

Sleep.  Sleep is the most important tool you have to aid recovery.  When you are sleeping, your body’s repair system goes into overdrive.  You should aim for at least 8 hours of sleep a night.  The quality of sleep is also important.  If you are tossing and turning all night, then you are not going to wake up feeling refreshed and recovered. 

Napping.  Most people do not have the luxury of taking a nap during the day, but a short nap after a workout is a great way to aid recovery.  Even just a 30 minute nap, can help reduce soreness. 

You might not be able to use all these methods, but try adding one or two into your current routine.  If there are any other methods of recovery that you use, let me know about it in the comments.