If you are wondering how to power up your fitness routine, you’ve probably already taken on exercising as your regular activity. This means you are well aware of the benefits that come with physical activity, including weight control, disease prevention, a positive effect on mood and energy, and better sleep.
Experts recommend getting at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous cardio during the course of a week. If you have a specific goal, such as losing weight, a minimum of 300 minutes a week is recommended. Also, we all need to strength train major muscle groups at least twice a week.
Depending on your fitness level and your current workout routine, there are ways to power up your workout routine and improve your results.
Get the Timing Right
Timing is important in exercise as it is in life. While most people don’t pay attention to the rest period between sets, it is, in fact, one of the most significant principles of physical activity. Taking a break lasting from one to three minutes between strength training sets is essential for properly building muscle, burning calories, and avoiding injuries.
The best way to time your rest period is by checking the gym clock or your wrist watch because a cellphone might get you distracted with text messages or social media. There are some timing rules the National Strength & Conditioning Association recommends, depending on your goal:
- If you want to boost muscle growth, rest between 30 and 90 seconds between sets.
- If your goal is to be stronger, rest between two and five minutes between sets.
- If you want to increase muscular endurance, take a 30-second pause between sets.
Exercise More Frequently
Training frequency is an important factor in the results of your efforts. Most workout programs include training each body part once a week so that those parts can rest and recover before the next training session. However, you can increase the frequency of your training and exercise the same body parts twice a week. With a pause of a couple of days, the muscles would have the time to recover but would still have the incentive to grow stronger without such a long time between workouts.
This doesn’t mean that you need to do the same intensity and amount of workouts on the same muscle twice a week. Break it down into two days. For example, if you currently do eight sets of chest exercises once a week, split that amount into two workouts of four sets.
Fuel Your Workouts Properly
To get the most out of a workout routine, you need to watch what you eat and, if necessary, complement that diet with nutritional supplements. Even if your goal is to lose weight, you need food to give your body the energy to work out. Skimping on meals can cause fatigue, lower bone density, and reduced muscle mass. This can increase your recovery time and put you at risk of injury. It can even cause issues in your menstrual cycle.
Here are some nutritional rules to follow:
- Include healthy carbs in your diet because they give your body energy during long and high-intensity training sessions. The recommended amount for an average daily workout for a woman weighing about 70kg is between 200 and 340 grams a day. For longer workouts, you will need six to ten grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight.
- Physically active people should eat between 1.2 and 2 grams of protein per kilogram of their weight. Some of the best sources of protein for powering up your workout are soy products, poultry, eggs, and legumes.
- Eat one to three hours before working out.
- Restore energy after a workout by eating a high-protein snack within 15 minutes after the session.
As for nutritional supplements for active women, you need those that will help you gain lean muscle faster and speed up the fat-burning process. Because of their digestibility, stimulative power, and ability to improve endurance, the most frequently recommended supplements include:
- beta-alanine
- whey protein
- fish oil
- casein protein
- caffeine
- calcium
- vitamin D
- green tea extract
A supplement that has recently gained a lot of popularity is Turkesterone, mainly because it is a natural steroid normally found in insects and plants. There are several benefits of Turkesterone, including dramatically improved performance, muscle gain, and altering body composition.
Change Your Workout Program
When you repeat the same exercises constantly, your body goes through familiar patterns while your mind checks out. This can result in reaching a plateau and also in becoming bored with what should otherwise be an engaging activity.
To challenge your body and mind, add variety to your workout routine. You can change not only your program but also the weight and volume of the training and the equipment you are using. For example, you can add a twist to your balance training with a foam roller or a ball. Of course, every change needs to be made with regard to your fitness level and training cycle.
Jump!
Some exercises can help you burn more calories while improving your endurance, strength, and speed. Here are some power workouts to try out:
- Jumps: Different types of jumps can speed up the heart rate. You can try long jumps forward with both feet, jumping straight up and landing in a slight squat, or jumping onto a platform with both feet.
- One-legged jumps: If you want to make jumping more challenging, try doing it with one leg at a time.
- Power jacks: Slow power squats, or jumping up and landing in a wide squat and then jumping the feet back together, add power to your training.
- Power lunges: Go down into a lunge and jump up. Switch your legs in the air and land in a lunge.
Involve More Than One Muscle Group
Compound movements engage more than one muscle group and can, therefore, enhance your training. You can lift more weight while burning extra calories. Moving more joints and recruiting more muscles allows your body to move more naturally. Some of the popular compound workouts are lunges, squats, triceps dips, deadlifts, rows, and close-grip pushups. Also, you can combine exercises to engage different muscles at the same time. Some of the examples are deadlifts with a lunge press, squats with an overhead press, and burpees with a renegade row.
Finally, if you are not feeling confident about changing your routine, consult a professional trainer.
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