Here’s the latest edition of my regular series of Quick and Easy Health, Physique Transformation and Sports Conditioning tips.
You can put these into action right now to Look, Feel, Move and Perform better.
These tips are organised into 3 different categories:
- General Health & Motivation
- Training (Fat Loss, Muscle Gain, Athleticism & Strength)
- Nutrition
Enjoy!
General Health & Motivation
‘Focus on less’
People often do too much in the gym.
Also, many jump from program to program, or change exercises too frequently.
Make it a point to do two things.
- Pick a few big movements that you can execute correctly, and continually work to become great at them.
- Decide on a specific outcome for your training. Are you trying to lose fat, gain muscle, or get strong? While your approach may have elements that address all of these, prioritise one for an extended period of time.
Allowing yourself time to get better at your main movements, and eliminating competing demands from your program, are both great ways to maximise your efforts and results.
Training (Fat Loss, Muscle Gain, Athleticism & Strength)
‘Try this simple programming tip to add more volume to your assistance exercises’
This is a great way to ensure that you do more work in an exercise over a four-week period.
I use it all the time for a sets and reps scheme on the assistance exercises in a program.
Let’s use a DB Reverse Lunge as the example:
Week 1: 3×8
Week 2: 4×8
Week 3: 3×10
Week 4: 4×10
The key is to set your best set of 8 in week 1 and then use that same weight all the way into week 4.
By increasing volume through the addition of sets first, and then through the addition of reps and sets, we are able to do more total work both overall and in a single set.
This is the benefit of ‘progression’; a recipe for sustained progress week to week.
The bigger the movement, and the stronger you are on it, the more challenging it will be to make this a reality. With that in mind, stick to this scheme for your assistance work.
Nutrition
‘Use avocado oil for a change of pace in the kitchen’
Recently, my Mum introduced me to avocado oil (thanks Mum!).
I’ve been using it in the kitchen, and I love it!
It’s definitely worth trying out as another option to complement mainstays like coconut and olive oil. In addition to tasting great, it offers some other really good benefits.
For starters, it boasts a very high cooking temperature – over 500 degrees to be exact – so it remains chemically stable and doesn’t oxidise easily. This means less risk from ‘free radicals’ which can contribute to cancer.
It’s also got a solid fatty acid composition, which is great news for our cardiovascular system.
Lastly, it not only boasts a plethora of antioxidants itself, but actually helps absorption of nutrients in other foods as well. In fact, this study showed that adding avocado oil to a salad boosted carotenoid (a powerful antioxidant) absorption up to 400%!
I hope you’ve enjoyed the latest edition of my regular series and found it useful.
Thanks for reading and please do share with anyone else you know will benefit!
Feel free to post some of your own ideas in the comments section below and on RHP’s Facebook or Twitter pages, too!
Rich
P.S. – to access every installment of my regular ‘Quick and Easy Ways to Look, Feel & Perform Better’ series, click here.
I enjoy reading through a post that can make people think. Great that you allow people to comment!
Thanks Oli. I agree – there’s such an abundance of poor quality health & fitness info out there. I’m really passionate about putting out top notch content that not only gets people thinking, but also allows them to put useful concepts into practice immediately.
I welcome any and every comment from those that read my blogs and articles – I love to interact with everyone on here!