Fitness Focus! Get More OUT of your WorkOUT!
Want to get more out of your workouts? Use more body parts, in more directions, more consciously!
FOCUS on what you are doing!
Get your head in the game and your body will follow with more Power & “Umph”!! When you concentrate intently on FULLY using a specific body part while executing an exercise, muscle activity increases by up to 25%! Your brain sends more signals to your muscle fibers which cause a greater number of them to fire up!
Don’t hold your Breath!
Your body needs oxygen to live and your muscles need oxygen to move!
You have to get air in before you can use it, so the depth and timing of your breath is important! “Conscious Breathing” increases the amount of oxygen not only to your whole body, but to your muscles. The more O2 in the muscles, the more you can work them. The more you work them, the stronger they grow! Get as much oxygen as you can! No gasping. No “Pufffffing”! Always inhale slowly and deeply through your nose BEFORE you start your movement. This filters and humidifies your air so it arrives cleaner into the lungs. Then, exhale slowly and deeply throughout the entire range of motion. Two easy ways to remember this is: “Exhale on the Exertion!!”
OR, “Inhale-Breathe, Exhale-Squeeze”!
Increase Your Range of Motion:
Many times people hold out their weights only a short distance. This only gets about half the amount of development you could actually have. Barring any injuries or physical limitations, complete the farthest range of motion you can do in each direction in the rep. Really “reaching for it”, not only increase your strength and conditioning, but also increases your flexibility and agility!
For longer, stronger, more striated muscles, expanding the muscle to its farthest point (without hyper-extension!) will require more work to pull it back to its original position. Furthermore, the farther out you hold the load, the more gravity plays a greater part in the level of resistance.
The extra workload of the pull of gravity, plus the weight you’re holding, adds another tweak the muscle has to overcome, resulting in maximal strength gains.
Tweak Yourself:
Squeeze as many other assisting body parts (Fingers, Abs, and Butt!) simultaneously while in motion with your primary targeted area.
I call it the “FAB” workout! You will get “FABulous” results!
For example:
Whether using dumbbells, barbells, cables, levers, weight plates, etc… don’t let your hands be loose or open up. Focus on squeezing your fingers and increasing your hand grip as you pull or press each way! This adds more work to the forearm muscles which increases the workload to the movement you are doing. Further, squeeze your butt and your abs each rep for even more body work! This added focus improves your posture, balance, and core strength!
“BSR: “Body Strength Results” The “Tweak” Trifecta”!
Breathing, Squeezing, Reaching ! Triple your strength and conditioning! Working out this way, with focus, intention, and commitment, increases your “muscles” movement” while decreasing “momentum” movement – which is the, swinging, swaying, and swooshing that we often unconsciously do to assist in lifting the weight. Focus and Tweak as many muscles as you can, with as much strength as you can muster, in as much range as you can go safely, and you will see a stronger, fantastically fit body – sooner than later!
