You woke up early. The kids are still asleep. You knock out a few important tasks and now you have about 30 minutes to exercise.
You want to feel good for the rest of the day and have tons of energy.
You want to build a strong body that will keep your bones healthy and keep your metabolism working well.
Maybe you want to drop a few pounds or you want to build a little cardiovascular stamina so you can keep up with the boys on the weekend ride, hang with the kids playing pick-up basketball, or outlast your kid playing tag?
So, what should you do with your 30 minutes of exercise time? More specifically, what type of workout will give you the biggest bang for your exercise buck?
Cardio? Yoga? CrossFit? Boot Camps?
Typical cardio (unless you’re doing sprints) will not provide the intensity that you need to make changes in your body composition. Getting on the elliptical for 30 minutes while you read the paper isn’t going to cut it.
Yoga is great and I love yoga but unfortunately, similar to cardio, you don’t get your heart rate up high enough to elicit a change in your body. It you want to get more flexible, yoga is awesome. If you want to change your body and get stronger and fitter, yoga alone won’t do it.
Many of the group fitness classes I see today are getting the intensity part correct, whether it’s Crossfit, or any of the high intensity group classes I see at the popular big gyms.
The only problem in a group setting is that it’s impossible to know what exercises are good for you and your specific history and what exercises might be doing more harm than good. A perfect example of this that I see all the time – Let’s say you have nagging shoulder pain from years of computer work or maybe an old injury, you’re most likely going to have problems pressing the arms overhead or performing a push-up with good form. When you’re then told to do 20 burpees followed by 20 overhead presses, I’m not so sure that’s the best thing for your shoulder.
Special Opportunity
If you want to know your own physical limitations that might be holding you back from achieving your fitness goals, I can help you. Included in our online coaching program is a comprehensive movement screen that will expose areas of weakness and dysfunction. It’s vital you nip these things in the butt before they develop into a full blown injury down the road. We can do this test no matter where you are in the world.
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Olympic lifts using the barbell like deadlifts and squats are amazing at building strength, but they are technical as hell and if done incorrectly, can be quite risky.
The main point is that there is no reason that you have to learn advanced lifting exercises in order to get fit, feel good, and drop a few pounds. If you want to get into advanced lifting, that’s awesome, find a good coach and get ready for a beautiful slow journey.
But, if you want a simple, super effective workout that you can do at home that will burn fat and build muscle, keep on reading.
Here’s Your Game Plan: 20-Minute Dumbbell Strength Complexes
A dumbbell strength complex is a series of strength exercises performed at high intensity with little rest in between exercises. It will give you the most bang for your exercise buck.
You’ll actually get many of the benefits of typical cardio with this type of workout. And you’ll receive all these additional benefits of strength training that you WILL NOT get from traditional cardio, yoga, or other aerobic exercise:
- Stronger bones
- Better functioning metabolism
- More lean tissue
- Better body composition
- Better hormonal balance
- Greater control of blood sugar
The list goes on and on.
How To Do Strength Complexes?
Set a timer, grab the dumbbells and get after the exact reps and perform as many rounds that you can without putting the dumbbells down.
See below for an effective workout you can do. We need to push hard, and get the heart rate up to make the change we’re looking for.
How Often Should You Do Strength Complexes?
This type of workout performed 3x per week with proper recovery, nutrition, and sleep and you’ll be stronger, fitter, and leaner in a matter of months. You have to remember, exercise is still stress, so a little bit is great, but too much exercise (over-training) and it can lead to problems. For most of you, over-training isn’t an issue, but it’s important to note that more is not necessarily better. Longer is not better. As a mentor of mine Dr. Jade Teta says “better is better.”
==>Click here for an example of a better workout you can do right now <==
Learn To Know The Difference Between Discomfort and Pain
No matter what type of exercise you choose to do, remember to always listen to your body and if something doesn’t feel right, stop. There is no pride in pushing through pain and getting injured.
Now, don’t get me wrong, this type of exercise is hard and plenty of you will feel discomfort – you might experience a burning sensation in your muscles, you’ll feel your heart pounding through your chest, and your lungs might be gasping for air trying to keep up with the body.
That’s OK. Discomfort is good. This is what makes us stronger.
On the other hand, intense, sharp pain is bad. You need to have the self-awareness to know the difference. If you do feel sharp intense pain, stop and go get checked out by a professional.
Final Note – Be Cautious
Remember, sitting at a desk doesn’t prepare you well to perform many exercises. You’ll most likely have limitations in your shoulders and you’ll need to be careful with pressing exercises like push-ups and bench pressing.
Your hips are most likely tight and weak as well which makes squatting with correct form challenging. When you go to squat, your back might round or your knees might cave in.
These are 2 commons signs that you have limitations present in your body. And if you were to add weights, high reps, and then perform a bunch of reps when you’re body is fatigued (which is exactly what happens in most high intensity group classes), you put yourself at high risk for injury.
This is why I don’t recommend group fitness classes for a lot of my clients. It’s just not worth the risk.
Priority #1 is always being able to move well with the proper range of motion in all major joints. This means flexibility must be PRIORITIZED before engaging in more demanding exercises with weights. You also have to make sure you prepare the body well by doing a proper warm-up every time.
This is where a 5-min morning stretching routine like THIS ONE can be a game-changer. Doing the stretching daily will allow you do the high intensity training more effectively and help you stay injury free.
Special Opportunity
If you want to know your own physical limitations that might be holding you back from achieving your fitness goals, I can help you. Included in our online coaching program is a comprehensive movement screen that will expose areas of weakness and dysfunction. It’s vital you nip these things in the butt before they develop into a full blown injury down the road. We can do this test no matter where you are in the world.
Spots are limited so make sure you click here if interested.
Nick
