Curated By Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S.
Few things can short-circuit gym gains like boredom. Boredom can creep into our workouts easily, too, because we often fall into a repetitive rhythm of counting reps and sets and weights of the same movements over and over.
Thankfully, there are some easy ways to inject much-needed “fun” into your sweat sessions. This doesn’t mean reinventing your workouts, because the critical moves we’ve shown you all year (think: dumbbell presses and Romanian deadlifts) will forever drive muscle and strength development. But subtle tweaks near the end of your workouts, often during your arm movements, can instantly invigorate your training.
File these three tricks away for those days when you’re struggling for workout motivation. They’ll help you give your training a little TLC – and keep you on track for summer gains.
COMBINE MOVES
Bored with one exercise? Try blending it with another ultra-similar movement, creating a combination of moves that attacks one muscle group. This works especially well for isolation movements, like biceps curls. Start with a single rep of biceps curl, then follow with a hammer curl. Aim to do 3 sets of 8-10 total reps.
TWEAK THE PATTERN
A subtle change to an exercise will give you something to look forward to – and may bulletproof you against injury. That’s the idea behind the L-raise, a blend of lateral raise and front raise. Overhead presses are key to building shoulder strength. But the L-raise can build shoulder stability while stealthily challenging your core, too. Try it for 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps per side.
ADJUST THE TEMPO
My favorite way to energize my workouts: I find ways to feel the muscle I’m training. Building that mind-muscle connection often happens best when I’m focusing on every phase of a rep, and that happens well on half-full movements. A half-full movement stacks a half-rep and a full-range-of-motion rep back-to-back. You’ll do fewer total reps with this method, but still pile up muscle-building time-under-tension. Try it with this skullcrusher, aiming for 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps.
Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S.
Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., is a certified trainer with more than 10 years of training experience. He’s logged training time with NFL athletes and track athletes.
His current training regimen includes weight training, HIIT conditioning, and yoga.
Ebenezer has had multiple prestigious positions including serving as a sports and tech columnist for the New York Daily News.