Happy Spring Total Gym team! Master trainer JayDee back to give you an awesome, effective, and dynamic 5-minute upper body blast.
What is the biggest excuse mere mortals have for not working out? You guessed it - “I don’t have time”. But not you because you own a Total Gym. You already save tons of time by not having to go back and forth to a gym, find parking, check-in, put your stuff in a locker, wait to use a machine, chitchatting, etc. On top of that, as you’ll soon see, because of the versatility of your Total Gym we can train every muscle in your body in a minimal amount of time just by changing your body position and the angles of execution.
You may be thinking, “JayDee, can I really get an effective work out that will produce results in only 5 minutes?” I will teach why the answer is an emphatic YES! The three keys are your focus, intensity, and your consistency.
Let’s explore these:
Focus: Working out is like anything else you do in your life. The more you focus on what you’re doing (the more present you are) the more you’ll get out of it. I’m reminded of this at the gym when I see people doing their reps while they’re watching TV or talking on the phone (the most obnoxious offense). As I’ll explain in the video, this is simply focusing on the muscle that is doing the movement, being cognizant of excellent form, and visualizing that muscle stretching in one direction and contracting in the other (with my squeeze and hold technique). The GREAT news is you only have to be totally present and focused for five minutes!
Intensity: I’ll make this one simple. On every exercise, I want you to choose a level on your Total Gym in which you will totally fatigue by 10 repetitions. Don’t misconstrue this and just count to 10 repetitions and stop. Always take the muscle you’re working to fatigue. But if you get to 17 reps to hit that wall, guess what? Yep, way too light so raise your Total Gym’s level. Conversely if you can’t even knock out 5 reps with good form, it’s too high. Use that aforementioned focus because this will change as you get stronger so you’ll have to adjust the level accordingly.
Consistency: If you do this simple workout 2 or 3 times per week, you’ll reap the benefits. My favorite benefit is maintaining your metabolism as you age. The biggest reason your metabolism goes down after about age 30 is muscle atrophy. “If you don’t use it, you lose it!” If you doubt this fact, look at what happens when someone has a cast on their broken arm for just 8 weeks. They cut the cast off and wow! The great news is we can prevent this or even reverse it! Our bodies are amazingly resilient.
Here are the 5 exercises I chose for this 5-minute workout:
To keep this workout fresh and keep your muscles guessing and thus progressing, I will demonstrate how your versatile Total Gym allows us to make quick and easy changes to add dynamic variability:
What is the biggest excuse mere mortals have for not working out? You guessed it - “I don’t have time”. But not you because you own a Total Gym. You already save tons of time by not having to go back and forth to a gym, find parking, check-in, put your stuff in a locker, wait to use a machine, chitchatting, etc. On top of that, as you’ll soon see, because of the versatility of your Total Gym we can train every muscle in your body in a minimal amount of time just by changing your body position and the angles of execution.
You may be thinking, “JayDee, can I really get an effective work out that will produce results in only 5 minutes?” I will teach why the answer is an emphatic YES! The three keys are your focus, intensity, and your consistency.
3 Keys To An Effective Workout
Focus: Working out is like anything else you do in your life. The more you focus on what you’re doing (the more present you are) the more you’ll get out of it. I’m reminded of this at the gym when I see people doing their reps while they’re watching TV or talking on the phone (the most obnoxious offense). As I’ll explain in the video, this is simply focusing on the muscle that is doing the movement, being cognizant of excellent form, and visualizing that muscle stretching in one direction and contracting in the other (with my squeeze and hold technique). The GREAT news is you only have to be totally present and focused for five minutes!
Intensity: I’ll make this one simple. On every exercise, I want you to choose a level on your Total Gym in which you will totally fatigue by 10 repetitions. Don’t misconstrue this and just count to 10 repetitions and stop. Always take the muscle you’re working to fatigue. But if you get to 17 reps to hit that wall, guess what? Yep, way too light so raise your Total Gym’s level. Conversely if you can’t even knock out 5 reps with good form, it’s too high. Use that aforementioned focus because this will change as you get stronger so you’ll have to adjust the level accordingly.
Consistency: If you do this simple workout 2 or 3 times per week, you’ll reap the benefits. My favorite benefit is maintaining your metabolism as you age. The biggest reason your metabolism goes down after about age 30 is muscle atrophy. “If you don’t use it, you lose it!” If you doubt this fact, look at what happens when someone has a cast on their broken arm for just 8 weeks. They cut the cast off and wow! The great news is we can prevent this or even reverse it! Our bodies are amazingly resilient.
Here are the 5 exercises I chose for this 5-minute workout:
- Chest Press
- Back Rows
- Overhead Shoulder Press
- Biceps Curls with lower back strengthening and a bonus hamstring stretch
- Kneeling (or seated) Triceps Extension
To keep this workout fresh and keep your muscles guessing and thus progressing, I will demonstrate how your versatile Total Gym allows us to make quick and easy changes to add dynamic variability:
- Bi-lateral to uni-lateral to Static Equilibrium (completely unique to the Total Gym!)
- Changing the angles of movement or the angle of your body
