March 2006March 2006
How To Get More from Your Workouts
Intensity and Variety are our friends. Here are some ideas to amplify your exercise and challenge yourself.
Sometimes increased intensity means faster. To stay within a safe range of motion on the knees and other joints, the movement must be slow enough that you can control the momentum and perform the moves correctly. Doubletime marching is common in military training. For variety you can use small simple moves like for a short doubletime boost. In aqua aerobics you can bike or cross country or jog. In cardio you could have a fast-as-you-are-comfortable sprint of double time jumping jacks or marching. On the step aerobic bench you can charleston at your own sprint speed.
Sometimes increased intensity means slower and deeper. Super low impact and full range of motion exercises like squats are great for this. Try holding a different pattern to really feel it and add some variety. Instead of side squat 2 counts, together 2 counts, you can try side 3 together 1. Wow what a different. You just increased the work by 50% on that squat when you went from 2 seconds squatting to 3 seconds.
Other times intensity increases with a hop or jump. High impact moves like one leg hop-kick, or ever more intense two leg jumping jacks, are great to mix in with the low impact routines for extra intensity and variety. Always stay in control, don't let momentuam or gravity get the better of you.