Whether you’re a fitness fanatic or a ‘diet starts on Monday’ person, everyone has visions of their dream body. Hitting the gym is hard work, and just like anything else into which you put a great deal of energy, you will want to maximise your gains.
When you’re trying to lose weight, it’s clear that cardio, dieting and a good fat burner is crucial, but you need to make sure you don’t neglect your physique, and that when you lose the weight, you are left with a sculpted body.
Here are five ways to take your physique to the next level that have been approved by professionals.
Incorporate unilateral exercises
It’s not about having the most muscle, it’s about having muscle in the right areas of your body. In order to efficiently sculpt your physique, it is essential that you train symmetrically, incorporating both sides of the body. Unilateral exercises are shown to improve not only power, but also overall strength when used symmetrically.
The benefits of unilateral exercises include building core stability, increasing resistance to injury, improving balance and so much more. One-arm rows, unilateral dumbbell curls and triceps extensions are all examples of effective unilateral exercises.
Want to really challenge yourself? Try a one-handed push-up. Most people cannot do it but with practice and persistence, it is not out of your reach.
Focus on achieving a tight waist and abs
When it comes to abs, most people neglect them in order to focus on building other muscles, but this is not effective.
Some say that abs are made in the kitchen, right? Well, it’s more accurate to say that abs are created in the gym and revealed in the kitchen – it’s a balance. When developing muscle, it is important to treat your abs like any other body part and not rely on calories to show them.
Compound vs. isolation
Knowing which exercises build and shape the body is essential in order to successfully sculpt your physique and achieve that dream body. Compound exercises work multiple muscle groups at the same time. For example, a squat is a compound exercise that works the quadriceps, glutes and calves.
These exercises help to build mass, burn calories and improve strength. However, you cannot achieve the perfect body without focusing on the finer detail in order to maximise your gains.
Isolation exercises can provide more definition to a specific area, and also help to target areas of the body that are overlooked in compound exercises. Examples of these include dumbbell lateral raises, sit-ups (crunches), tricep kickbacks and bicep curls.
Conquering nutrition is 90% of physique
Each day, your body uses a certain number of the calories you consume to perform basic bodily functions like breathing, pumping blood throughout your body, brain functions, liver functions, and so on. This is called your basal metabolic rate.
Any calories you consume over this amount essentially need to go somewhere and do something. Your excess calories go to building more or bigger muscles, or might be burned off with additional activity or get stored as fat. In order to build muscle and strength, bodyweight training and lifting will ensure these calories to go your muscles.
Increase motivation
Trying to sculpt your physique without the necessary motivation is impossible. In order to be truly motivated, you need to think about what benefits you want from this session. Knowing your goals and what you want to achieve in the next two weeks or two months can be extremely beneficial to your efforts to sculpt your physique.
In addition, you should always be prepared for the gym and have the right gear and mindset. Quality sports wear is key to maximising your gains, so why not shop the his & hers collection from Gym King? Your sculpted physique may be just around the corner…