Fitness: Charge up your routine

Whether you are working out in the gym or at home, there are many ways that you can make your exercise routine more efficient and fun. Super sets and circuit training are just a couple of methods that can create a turbo charged workout.

Super sets usually involve alternating two different exercises. They can be exercises of the same muscle group, opposing muscle groups or upper versus lower body muscle groups.

Super setting exercises in the gym can be a challenge if it is a prime workout time. It is not easy to alternate back and forth between machines either because of the high demand or simply their location in the gym. Make it easy on yourself by bringing your own piece of equipment, a resistance band. A resistance band is a portable tool that can be used for a multitude of exercises.

Here are just a few examples of how to super set an upper body routine using tubing. In between sets, on the Lat Pulldown machine, wrap the tubing around the machine and it instantly can be used for standing rows. If performing a machine chest press, you can incorporate a shoulder exercise in between sets. Stand and anchor the tubing under one foot, you can now press over head with the tubing with both arms or alternate for variety.

Biceps and triceps exercises are easy to super set if you have a piece of tubing. It can be anchored under a low bar on a machine to perform either bicep curls or tricep kickbacks.

The number of exercises and variations that can be performed with tubing are only limited by your imagination. Remember that when you are using tubing, the resistance (band) should be in line with the muscle working.

Another effective way to maximize your time at the gym is to perform lower body exercises between sets. If you are looking to shape up your rear end, legs and thighs, nothing works better than lunges, lots of them. Instead of performing hundreds in a row, you can break up the monotony and torture by adding them into your upper body routine. Again, there are many varieties for the basic lunge: stationary, alternating, reverse, diagonal, walking, and so on. Watch your technique or you could cause more harm than good to your knees.

Other exercises that are easy to rotate in while using a machine include: squats, calf raises and abdominals. If room permits, have a large exercise ball at your side to use for different exercises.

Your workout will be fun and more effective by adding in these exercises. You will find that you actually cut down your workout time but end up doing more exercises than usual.

Kim Springer and her husband, Mike, are Certified Personal Trainers and owners of Springer Training. They can be reached at 233-9442 or at their Web site www.springertraining.com.


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