Find a gym within a 15 minute walk of home—even if it's not as full-featured as a more distant facility. Any farther away than that, and your chances of sticking to an exercise routine slide considerably.
Instead of the usual 30-seconds-on, 30-seconds-off approach, run or pedal intensely for 2 minutes, rest completely for 1 minute, and then repeat that sequence four more times. That's only 10 minutes of training! Even with a warmup and rest periods, this is only a 20-minute investment. In one experiment, participants doubled the amount of work accomplished in a session in just 6 weeks.
Advice: How Can I Be More Productive at the Gym?
Before you bench press, lay a rolled-up towel down the middle of your upper body so that one end is at the center of your chest. Aim for this end of the towel on each repetition. Concentrating on accuracy ensures that you'll have control of the weight, says Craig Ballantyne, C.S.C.S., author of Turbulence Training.
The benefit: You'll learn to lift fast under control, which will translate into greater strength when you do a normal bench-press workout, says Ballantyne.
Examples: Use 1½-pound PlateMates for dumbbells instead of jumping up in 5-pound increments. On the barbell, use 2½-pound plates instead of the 5- and 10-pounders you'd normally add on.
Instead of sitting around working your mandible between sets, exercise another body part. "Supersetting helps you use your time better," says Douglas Lentz, C.S.C.S., director of fitness for Summit Health, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. And, if you do it properly, it builds more muscle.
For the best results, alternate lower- and upper-body moves, such as a leg press followed by a lat pulldown. That way, each muscle group has time to recover between sets. Alternating upper- and lower-body exercises also keeps your heart rate revved up and stimulates your circulatory system, so you deliver more oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to your working muscles and burn more calories.
Listen to your mp3 player while running on a treadmill. Music will motivate you and keep your mind off the monotony of running indoors. The editors of Runner's World recommend that you never wear headphones outside, even on running paths, lest your groove distract you from potential dangers like rottweilers and traffic.
After you log 500 miles, the midsoles are bound to have deteriorated. Most quality running shoes will last anywhere from 300 to 500 miles. Heavier guys should replace shoes more often. Lighter guys can let the mileage run up a little more. And since shoes don't come with built-in odometers (yet), write the date of your first run somewhere on the inside with a permanent marker. It'll make it easier to figure out when that pair has reached the end of the road.
Many men work out too long, says Ed Laskowski, M.D., co director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center. Try cutting your exercise time in half by following one of our 15-Minute Workouts. If you're just starting out, train your full body three times a week with 1 set of 12 to 15 reps per exercise. That's enough to build muscle, he says.
"Lower-back problems often stem from tight gluteal muscles," says Nate Green, a personal trainer in Whitefish, Montana. His solution: a foam roll. "Your muscle tissue is like a rubber band. If it has a bunch of knots in it, you won't be able to stretch it very far," says Green. By using a foam roll to alleviate these knots, you'll make your muscles more pliable--and quickly relieve back pain.
If you rest your hands on the bars of a stair climber only for balance, you’ll save time while blasting away fat, says Brian Holdsworth, director of fitness at the Healthplex Sports Club in Indianapolis. "The ideal movement is with your body upright, with just a slight lean forward," says Holdsworth, "as if you were leaning to walk up a flight of stairs but not bending over."
Holdsworth also says to step slower on the machine. "It'll make you work harder, your heart rate will be higher and faster, and you'll be able to maintain your time in the training zone longer," he says. The result: You'll burn more fat.
This iron-free workout is ideal before you jump into the shower before a date, says Scott Rankin, C.S.C.S., a trainer in Toronto. Perform as many pushups as you can in 1 minute. (Keep count.) Without resting, move into a modified pushup position, your knees on the ground. Do as many repetitions as you can in 1 minute. (Keep count.) Then, hold yourself about 2 inches off the ground for 20 seconds—or as long as you can. That's one superset. Rest only long enough for the burning in your muscles to subside, then repeat the superset twice. Your goal is to not let the amount of either type of pushup drop by more than five each superset. If you can do more, your rest periods are too long.
Instead of resting or slowing down between sprints, fill the gaps with basic weight exercises. "This is a great way to do strength training for guys who hate it," says Jim Liston, C.S.C.S., of Catzsports.com. And vice versa: Can't make time for a cardio day? Now you don't have to. Try this circuit without resting between exercises and complete all five rounds.
Perform this workout, from Mike Mejia, M.S., C.S.C.S., as a circuit, moving from one exercise to the next without rest. Pause 60 to 90 seconds after each circuit, and do three circuits in all. Do the workout 3 days a week.
Stand with your legs straight and your hands flat on the floor in front of you. Keeping your legs straight, walk your hands forward as far as possible. Then take tiny steps to walk your feet forward to your hands, ending in the starting position. Repeat the movement for a set of five repetitions.
Don’t do crunches? Do your regular weight-training routine—on your feet. "When you weight-train standing up, your abs have to work to stabilize the spine and keep you upright, giving you more bang for your buck," says Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., a personal trainer in Santa Clarita, California. So, if you normally do leg presses, do squats instead. Lying leg curls? Do Romanian deadlifts. Seated biceps curls? Stand and curl. Whatever the move, make sure the stabilizing muscle tension stays on your abs, not your lower back.
To fully engage your abs in about 5 minutes, do one set of each exercise below in the order shown, with no rest between.
Lie on your left side and prop your upper body up on your left elbow and forearm. Then raise your hips until your body forms a straight line from shoulders to ankles. Brace your abs for 30 seconds. Repeat on your right side.
Lie on a Swiss Ball, with your lower back contacting the ball and both feet on the floor, knees bent about 90 degrees, hands touching behind your head. Raise your chest up and slightly forward in a crunching motion. Do not pull on your neck. Stop when the middle of your back loses contact with the Swiss ball. Pause, then slowly return to the starting position. Perform 8-12 repetitions.
Don’t have a spotter at the gym? Try a strip set. "Select a weight with which you can do three to five repetitions, maxing out on the last one," says Michael Mejia, C.S.C.S., a trainer in New York City. "Then quickly get up, strip off 20 percent of the weight, and press again." Do three or four of these strip sets, reducing the weight by 20 percent each time. According to Mejia, you'll push your pecs as much as you would with a few repetitions of a heavy weight, minus the messy weight-room decapitation.
Sharp heel pain when your feet hit the floor in the morning means you stepped on the remote, or you're suffering from plantar fasciitis. It's a common tear of a foot ligament. These stretches can help you hit the ground running as fast as Usain Bolt.
"After any prolonged period of rest, the plantar fascia ligament tightens and is susceptible to tearing when you step down," says Timothy Downs, D.P.M., a podiatrist in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. Before leaving horizontal, cross the leg of your injured foot (let's say your right) over your left leg. Pull the toes toward your right shin. Hold for 10 seconds, rest, and repeat nine times.
Lean against a wall, put the aching foot in front of the other, and point the toes of your back foot toward the heel of your front foot. Your back leg should be straight and your front knee bent. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat nine times.
While sitting, roll a bottle under the arch of your foot to keep your ligaments loose.