David Lloyd

Do you have the goal to lose some weight and/or tone up?

Do you have limited time when visiting the gym?

Would you like to know the most effective and efficient ways to exercise for weight loss and toning up so you can maximise your time in the gym?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions, the following information will be extremely beneficial for you!

Most of us know that a safe workout consists of the following components: a warm up, some main exercise, perhaps some resistance, perhaps some cardio or both, and a cooldown. However, what is less understood is the best methods for doing each component of the workout. Let me share with you what these are.

Warm Up: One of the most effective ways to prepare for an exercise session is to do a movement-based warm up that consists of full body dynamic stretches. Such movements could be a squat with a reach, a lunge with a twist or a ViPR step over squat. Dynamic stretches will facilitate tissue lengthening, co-ordination, balance, an increase in blood flow as well as stimulation for the mind, making the exercises more engaging and fun! Perhaps the most important benefit of a movement-based warm up is the variety that dynamic stretching provides, which will typically require more energy, therefore immediately contributing to the calorie burn of the session.

Main exercise: The main exercise session should be split into two main sections.

1. Resistance: For weight loss and toning 6-8 full body exercises should be selected. These exercises should be performed so they fatigue you between 8-15 repetitions or just before 60 seconds of execution. Two sets is best for time-efficient results. Some example exercises could be a squat with a row, Power Plate cross pull, step up with shoulder press or ViPR step with upper cut. Minimal rest is best and ideally the exercises would be performed as a circuit. This ramps up our metabolism, maximising calorie burn! Six to eight full body exercises done for two circuits should typically take 20-30 minutes.

2. Cardio: The best method to do cardio for weight loss and toning is intervals. Like resistance work, it ramps up our metabolism making the total calorie burn far greater than steady state 'fat burning zone' exercise.  An excellent routiine would look like this: 1 min hard, 1 min easy x5. Total 10mins. As you get fitter you can add one interval on each session building to a total of 10 intervals which would take 20mins. When doing cardio pick your preferred machine, however do vary the machine you use every couple of weeks to keep challenging the body; this will maximise burn.

3. Lastly then, we finish with a cooldown. Some excellent ways to achieve this and promote a fast recovery include some light movement, followed by some static stretching, perhaps on the Power Plate followed by a couple of Power Plate massages. Bliss!

A workout done as described should typically take 45-50 minutes making it achievable in lunch breaks and short windows of time. It will burn a huge amount of calories per session and, more importantly, create a massive increase in metabolism, leading to a long-lasting post exercise calorie burn. That's right, burn calories when you have stopped exercising!

If you would like some guidance on getting such an exercise programme, speak to any of the trainers today.