This article was published on February 4th, 2017
Beach and Pride season may seem like a long way off but when it comes to summer body preparation you cannot get started early enough. Now is time to start getting ready. The best summer bodies are made in the winter, we’ve had our fun, indulged over the holiday period and let things slip but its time to get back on the proverbial horse and get ready for summer. Get started today with these five winter workout tips.
- Establish a baseline
First things first, it’s important to know where you are starting from. The season of indulgence can take its toll on your fitness so you need to assess the damage before you start. While planning your workouts add a session to test the level at which you reach failure point (the point at which you physically can’t do more) for the exercises you want to focus on. So see how long/fast you can go with your cardio before you have to stop, how many push ups, bicep curls, bench presses etc you can do before you hit failure.
Get a realistic idea of your starting point so you can measure your progress as you go!
- Add workouts wherever possible
Fitting in workouts can be tough, especially during busy periods, finding ways to add extra cheeky mini exercise sessions into your day can make a massive difference in working on your body. Try to fit in a ten minute yoga session in the morning, go for a run on your lunch break, hit the stairs instead of the lift when you can and try and add a bike ride or run into your day. Avoid being sedentary whenever you can and you’ll be amazed at the impact on your body!
- HIIT training
High intensity interval training is one of the single most effective ways to see insane results, fast. The idea being that shorter bursts of high intensity training is more effective than longer workouts – and research is backing this up! Not only does HIIT training burn more calories for longer than standard aerobic workouts, it can boost your endurance, if more effective due to the constantly changing exercises and has a better track record for people sticking with it!
- Get a buddy
Research consistently shows that having a workout partner significantly increases the success rate of consistent exercising. Try to boost your workout by ensuring that at least once a week you are working out with someone else. Make plans to go to the gym, take a bike ride or go for a run and push each other! Make it competitive, it’ll boost your workout and make it more fun.
- Set yourself a challenge
Humans are goal-orientated beings, thriving off challenge and love to be pushed to excel! Take your summer body workout to the max by setting yourself a challenge that will push you to you limits and beyond. Sign up for a race, an obstacle course, a triathlon or an active holiday. Give yourself something to work towards and make it tough! Don’t make it easy, make it tough, and set a reward for its completion.
Use these five winter workout tips for your hot summer body. As a final tip, don’t forget to closely watch your diet and take supplements, for maximum success!
