Go to any commercial gym and you see it all the time.

People performing set after set of one exercise before moving onto the next exercise, it just takes forever!

I know, I used to be the same meathead who’d take 15 minutes to do 3 sets of 10 on the bench press…

What a waste of time!

Such diminished results!

And so…boring!

What’s the answer?

Fitness Boot Camps

Check out the video below to see some of the circuits we use (for advanced campers).

For a FREE 1 week trial to one of our Sydney Boot Camps and a FREE Quick start Fat Loss Kit, please visit www.bootcampsydney.com.au

Train hard!

Dan

Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Training Sydney
Boot Camp Fitness Sydney
Corporate Fitness Sydney

If your goal is to lose fat and build lean muscle alternating exercises between different body parts and keeping the rest periods short is the best way to go.

Performing straight sets of a strength exercise one after another with long rest periods is a thing of the past (unless your body builder or power lifter).

The problem with performing straight sets one after another is it’s an extremely inefficient way to order your exercises.

In the majority of commercial gyms you’ll often see someone perform a set of 10 reps of an exercise – let’s say bench press. They crank out a set of 10, have a chat with a mate, go to the water bubbler, watch some MTV, stretch, have a wipe down with a towel and then moll back to the bench for the 2nd set. They could spend up to 15 minutes just to perform 3 sets of one exercise! 4 exercises will take an hour.

A much more efficient way to train is utilizing the alternating set format. Here you’ll perform an exercise, have a short rest, perform another non competing exercise, have a short rest, perform another non competing exercise and so forth.

Using this format allows you to train more than one area of the body, gives each muscle more time to recover between sets and allows you to fit more exercises in per workout, the result – more fat loss.

There are several different ways to perform alternating sets…

Tri-sets: Alternate between three different exercises (e.g. push, pull, and lower body such as push-ups, rows, and lunges)

Supersets: Alternate between two different non-competing exercises (e.g. upper body and lower body such as push-ups and lunges)

Circuits: Alternate between four or more different exercises

Though all these options are good, I believe circuit training is by far the best option.

Here’s one of my favourite circuits to help demonstrate why this template is so efficient.

It’s called the 50-10 Five bodyweight Circuit: Alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for all five exercises in the following 5 minute circuit:

1. Push ups

2. Squats

3. Step ups

4. Chin-ups

5. Reverse crunches

Perform this bodyweight circuit up to four times for a 20 minute total body fat-melting workout.

As you can see in the same 15 minutes it would have taken to perform 3 sets of bench press you would have fitted in a staggering 15 different exercises.

Circuit training is an excellent way to simultaneously burn fat and build lean muscle.

This style of training also creates the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss by exercising at maximal intensity separated with short rest periods.

In the upcoming weeks Ill be showing you some great videos of circuits we use at our boot camps.

Train hard!

Dan

Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Training Sydney
Boot Camp Fitness Sydney
Corporate Fitness Sydney

Struggling with losing those last few kilos? I often get asked the same questions about fat loss and after reviewing their nutrition and exercise log I see the same mistakes made time and again.

Here are a few of the most common mistakes I see people make and how you can solve them…

1. Not calorie counting. To lose weight you must create a calorie deficit through exercise and nutrition. A calorie deficit basically means you burn more calories than you consume. You can’t out train a poor diet, you need to know how many calories you’re consuming on a daily basis – otherwise how are you supposed to know whether you’ve created a calorie deficit? Everyday keep a nutrition log of your diet.

2. Not training consistently enough. When training for fat loss you need to increase your metabolism, the higher your metabolism the more calories you’ll burn. If you don’t train consistently enough your metabolism won’t increase to desired level. Consistent training has a cumulative effect resulting in more calories (fat) being burned. Train a minimum of 3 times per week.

3. Drinking too much alcohol. This one ties in with fat loss mistake number 1 but deserves special mention. Alcohol is full of empty calories with no real nutritional value and will therefore increase fat storage.

Drinking too much alcohol reduces the amount of fat your body burns for energy and while the liver is metabolizing alcohol you’re unable to metabolize fat. If you’re trying to lose fat – you need to completely cut out alcohol.

1 glass of wine (average): 130 Calories
Regular beer: 150 Calories
Pre-Mixed Smirnoff Raw, (all flavors): 230 Calories

4. Not changing your exercise program regularly enough. Ever wondered why you hit a plateau? Typically you need to mix up your program after every 6 exposures. Once you’ve performed the same exercise for 6 times or more in a row you need to;
a) Change the exercise
b) Change the reps
c) Change the sets
d) Change the tempo (lifting speed)

If you have any questions please feel free to post a comment below.

Train Hard!

Dan Clay

Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Training Sydney
Boot Camp Fitness Sydney
Corporate Fitness Sydney

A few years ago back when I was working in the gym I’d never heard of sandbag strength training.

It sounded something they’d do in strong man contest, I didn’t think I’d be able to use sandbags with my clients.

However when I left there to start up my outdoor personal training company I was searching the internet for ways I could still challenge my clients but without using barbells and dumbbells.

I didn’t fancy using resistance bands, I’ve never been a big fan of the type of bands you see in commercial sport stores, they may be O.K for your grandma but personally I think if your young fit and able you can lift proper weights.

The 1st day my sandbags arrived I headed off to the builders wholesalers and bought 2 x 20kg bags of sand and went to the park to fill em up and have play with some basic lifts.

I figured 40 kg would be conservative as I usually lift heavier in the gym.

But…

As soon as I threw the sand bag up for a clean it came down on my chest like a ton of bricks, lifting a 40kg sandbag feels totally different to a 40 kg barbell!

After a few reps my forearms were beginning to throb then after a few more reps my heart was pounding, I knew I was gonna be in for tough workout.

To be honest after a 30 minute total body workout I was totally exhausted, this type of training hit me in a totally different way than I was used to in the gym.

The workout…

Sandbag clean and press x 8
Sandbag zercher squat x 8
Hanging knee raise x 8
Push up sandbag row x 8
Sandbag Turkish get ups x 8
Sandbag reverse lunges x 8

Perform exercises in a circuit and repeat for 2 sets, rest 30 seconds between exercises.

Like kettlebells sandbags are great for challenging both strength and endurance simultaneously and because the bag is unstable and moves around your body has to use more muscles to control it.

Sandbags are excellent for outdoor or in home training and compared to dumbbells and barbells they’re cheap.

I’m not saying sandbags should replace dumbbells or barbells but I’d definitely recommend adding a sandbag to your arsenal of tools.

Click here to check em out….. Sandbag Strength Training

Train Hard!

Dan Clay

Dangerously Fit Personal Training
Personal Training Sydney
Boot Camp Fitness Sydney
Corporate Fitness Sydney