After over indulging during the holiday season, millions of us will this week embark on some form of fitness plan to try and beat that festive bulge. It’s the time of year when every gym up and down the country is jam packed with new members. Personal trainers will be working overtime while sales of celebrity workout DVD’s skyrocket.
January can be a tough time – the hangover from Christmas before returning to work after a couple of weeks off, not to mention the hole in your bank balance that can leave the best of us feeling a little glum. However, don’t worry if the idea of expensive gym memberships, treadmills and soap star workouts leave you feeling utterly miserable, all is not lost.
Fortunately, there is a whole host of ways for you to get in shape without paying for gyms, personal trainers, gimmicky exercise equipment or having to endure a single second of the latest exercise DVD from some failed X-Factor contestant, Big Brother reject or Essex based reality TV ‘star’.
Simply by using your own bodyweight as resistance as part of a short intensive workout routine, you can give yourself a highly effective workout that will burn calories, pulverise excess fat and increase your strength and flexibility. Not only that but bodyweight workouts can be done anywhere and won’t cost you a penny!
The other great thing about bodyweight exercise is that it is so versatile. Some of the most popular bodyweight exercises include press ups, pull ups, squats, lunges and burpees and with these come a multitude of variations. A bodyweight workout can also easily be intensified by increasing the number of times you perform each exercise, decreasing rest times or by including the exercise as part of a timed interval routine.
The Workout – The Calorie Blaster
Before performing any workout, make sure you have properly stretched and warmed up. Skipping or jogging for a couple of minutes is a good way to start your warm up.
A good workout for beginners, try to complete as many rounds as possible in 8 minutes of:
– 10 press ups
– 10 squats
– 10 sit ups
– 10 lunges
Depending on your level of fitness you can make this workout easier or harder by decreasing or increasing the number of repetitions for each exercise.
The Watch: New Balance NX990
Say hello to your new personal fitness instructor! Whilst the New Balance NX990 won’t scream and shout at you to get to work harder, its impressive array of features will help you achieve your fitness goals in other ways. Its calorie burn counter and heart rate monitor will ensure that you know exactly how hard you’re working. The other bonus of this watch is that it also comes with easy to use software that enables you to download data direct to your computer. The one downside is that this is only available to PC users, sorry Mac fans. It also comes with a fully rechargeable battery and chest strap that has been digitally coded. This means that you won’t pick up any heart readings from those working out around you. Prices start from £120.
The Workout – The After Burn
This workout will not only help you burn calories all day long, it will also increase upper and lower body strength and leave you feeling energised.
Complete 4 rounds of the following:
– 16 walking lunges
– 9 pull ups
– 12 press ups
Don’t forget you can increase or decrease the intensity of this workout by altering the number of times you perform each exercise.
The Watch: Polar RCX5
Whilst you probably won’t be wearing the Polar RCX5 to a dinner party, its slim lightweight design isn’t going to get in the way when performing intensive exercise routines. Its big bright display offers great readability even when you’re on the move. The buttons are also well placed and easy to operate. However, its key feature is what it can do with measuring stats and numbers, especially when it comes to measuring heart rate. The Polar RCX5 takes delightfully detailed readings of your heart rate and can even be used to calculate your level of fatigue as you workout. You can also setup sports/workout specific training plans. All the data can then be synced to Polar’s web app, which allows you to track your progress and keep up to date with recovery times. It will even track the number of steps you take each minute. The Polar RCX5 is like having your own personal endurance coach living on your wrist! Prices start at around £220.
The Workout – Death by Burpees
At first sight, this Crossfit inspired bodyweight workout might seem not all that challenging. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The burpee is arguably the ultimate bodyweight exercise, which is why it is used by elite military units, law enforcement organisations and superheroes the world over. The movement itself is actually quite complex and there are a number of things you need to do make sure you get it right. The video here explains how to perform a burpee correctly and also discusses different burpee variations.
Ok, let’s take a look at the workout. With a continuously running clock you will perform one burpee in the first minute, two in the second minute, three in the third minute and so on until you are unable to perform the number of burpees required in a specific minute. For example:
1st minute = 1 burpee
2nd minute = 2 burpees
3rd minute = 3 burpees
4th minute = 4 burpess
etc, etc
10th minute = 10 burpees
15th minute = 15 burpees
The ‘death by…’ workout routine is a great way of performing any bodyweight exercise and also works especially well with pull ups and press ups. Try performing this routine a couple of times a week in order to see results quickly.
The Watch: Tissot Racing Touch
A great all rounder; like the burpee is a serious fat blasting exercise, the Tissot Racing Touch is a serious piece of kit. The enabled touch screen surface means you can easily read split times or change routes with one simple touch of the screen. It also includes 11 other features that can be activated by a single touch including lap info, a backlight and logbook setting that can save up to 99 different lap times. It can even track the time of someone competing against you. Other features include a tide calculator and a compass for hiking. At around £400 think of the Tissot Racing Touch more of an investment rather than a mere ‘sports’ watch.
The Workout – Just Sprint!
This short, intensive sprint workout uses the Japanese Tabata Protocol, which has fast become the darling for those cardio-haters everywhere, mainly because the workout is over so damn quickly – four minutes to be precise.
First used by the Japanese speed skating team, the Tabata system was devised by Dr Izumi Tabata and is a highly intensive interval training protocol. Each interval in the Tabata system consists of 20 seconds intense exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest. This is then repeated for a total of 8 rounds, resulting in four minutes of exercise. During the 20 second intervals it’s really important that you go all out or as hard as you can, working close to your maximum capacity or ability.
For this workout, perform Tabata sprints, running as fast you can for 20 seconds before resting for 10 seconds, continuing for 8 rounds. This workout can be performed on a treadmill but you’ll probably prefer to try this one outside, either in the park or on a running track.
The Watch: Casio G Shock GD-200-1ER
Not only is this watch affordable, it’s also built for interval training and offers a sleek design for the more fashion conscious watch lover. It will help whip you into shape and achieve your fitness goals. The G Shock can store up to 60 records in its memory, which includes date, split time and lap. You can also set the repeating countdown function to give you an audible alert each time you need to slow down or speed up for an interval – perfect for Tabata training. The watch’s coolest feature is its illuminator, which turns on automatically as you turn your wrist towards your face!
The GD-200-1ER usually retails for around £80-90.
The Workout – Tabata Something Else
The Tabata system can be used for any exercise and is one of the most effective ways to burn calories and reduce body fat and get in shape. This workout also uses the Tabata system and includes a variety of bodyweight exercises, including some that were featured in the previous workouts.
As with all the exercises make sure you warm up properly before you workout.
20 seconds – Sprinting on the spot
Rest 10 seconds
20 seconds –Jumping Jacks
Rest 10 seconds
20 seconds – Squats
Rest 10 seconds
20 seconds – Press ups
Rest 10 seconds
20 seconds – Sit ups
Rest 10 seconds
20 seconds – Lunges
Rest 10 seconds
20 seconds – Burpees
Rest 10 seconds
20 seconds – Plank
The Watch: Nike+ GPS Sports Watch
The Nike+ GPS Sports watch is perhaps one of the awesome sports watches out there. Its super slim design (just 16mm thick) and modern sans serif display makes for a great looking watch. Powered by a TomTom GPS chip, the watch can easily be linked to the Nike Plus shoe sensor or a POLAR heart rate monitor. Capable of tracking your speed, the number of calories you burn and your heart rate (if used with a heart rate monitor), it can also count laps or rounds. Despite its multitude of features, one of the best things about the watch is its interval timer, which is really simple to use.
The Nike+ GPS can be connected to your laptop and its online software is just as stylish as the watch itself. The watch can also act as your own personal motivator by serving up helpful reminders if you haven’t worked out in a while, as well as giving you inspiring messages of support before, during and after your workout. Let’s face it, who doesn’t want to be told how great they are? Prices start around £149.99
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