1. The Plank
Think of being at the top of a push up position; now drop down onto your forearms. That’s a plank. It will challenge your abdominals and is much safer on your spine than traditional crunches. Try it to see why the world’s leading back specialists and Canadian professor Stuart McGill calls this exercise the best core exercise
2. Recording your workouts
By logging your training sessions you can provide yourself with a goal every workout, whether it be adding weight to the bar, or repetition to your sets. It is also a good way of charting your long and short-term progress
3. Changing your routine
I have come across countless people that simply get bored of their workouts. Changing up your routine every 6-8 weeks keeps things fresh and it also tends to cause your body to adapt to the new stimuli
4. Lifting explosively
Lift slowly, move slowly. Always try to lift, push, pull your weights as fast as you can while using proper form. At the same time control the resistance when lowering the weight to maximize your muscles work output.
5. Improving your mobility
Think of mobility as flexibility in motion. Dynamic exercises like arm and leg swings help to warm up your muscles and increase the range of motion around a specific joint. They can be done as a warm up, cool down, or by themselves.
6. Training the posterior chain
Posterior chain simply means the muscles on the backside of your body, from your upper back all the way down to your calves. Along with the core muscles, keeping these muscles strong, mobile and flexible will make sure you have excellent posture and keep you strong as an ox.
7. Exercising in a standing position
This activates the core musculature more than when lying down on a bench or on the floor. Try doing a standing chest press with a cable machine or a standing overhead shoulder press to see what I am talking about
8. Training your hips
If you spend most of your day sitting, chances are you have tight hips and a weak butt. Performing dynamic movements to open your hips, it WILL save you money on future physiotherapist bills.
9. Using a foam roller
A foam roller will help keep your muscles and surrounding fascia healthy, it will help improve your flexibility and mobility and break up any scar tissue you may have. There are many benefits to using a foam roller. I strongly suggest Googling it if you have not heard of one. It may save you from future injuries.
10. Talking less and training more
Unless you are lifting super heavy weights for your one rep max you should try to keep your rest periods around 60-90 seconds. You muscles don’t need much more time to recover. You should be curling dumbbells, not your blackberry when you are at the gym.
