OnFitness Magazine - May/June 2014 - 49

MYTHS

Stretching before exercise improves performance. Maybe not. The jury is still out on this. If you begin by
stretching too far you could injure yourself; muscles are not as warmed up as they would be if already exercised.
Connective tissue is not loosened up when you just get up and begin a stretch. Some people, women especially,
are already hyper-ﬂexible and would be better advised to focus on building strength to stabilize their joints
rather than stretching because they already have good ﬂexibility. Stretch after working out by breathing deeply
and holding a stretch at a comfortable point for 10 to 15 seconds and repeat.

SMART
TRAINING

Bodyweight squat

Make sure your knees are not caving inwards. They
should track directly over your toes. Wiggle toes at
the bottom just to make sure your weight is fully
in your heels. Press into heels
and stand all the way up
to vertical, fully opening
the hips.

DIFFERENT
ROUTES TO
FAT LOSS

________

Box jump
Assume a relaxed stance facing the box approximately an arm's
length away. Arms should be down at the sides and legs slightly
bent. Using the arms to aid in the initial burst, jump upward and
forward, landing with feet simultaneously on top of the box.
Immediately drop or jump back down to the original starting
place; then repeat the sequence, jumping back and forth from
ﬂoor and box as fast as possible.

Wild supersets

Must supersets be the same 'ol same 'ol
all the time?

BY EMMA NELL

What is a superset?
A superset involves performing one
resistance exercise followed immediately by a second resistance move.
There are different kinds of supersets.....
.....A compound set is a superset that
targets the same muscle group, such as
a set of bar dips followed by medicine ball presses.
A triset is a superset consisting of three consecutive
exercises, such as a leg extension/leg press/squat jump.
A giant set is four or ﬁve exercises done back to back:
bench press/bent-over barbell row/pushup/chin-up.
Some common supersets are:
> Bench press/bent-over row
> Lat pull-down (or pull-up)/pushup
> Squat/box jump
> Leg extension/leg curl
> Bench press/pushup
> Triceps press-down/biceps curl
Less common supersets might be:
> Squat/split-squat
> Deadlift/pull-up
> Leg press/squat jump
> Shoulder or chest press/lateral raise

If you've been having your client perform supersets
that fall under one of the previous categories, perhaps it's
time to introduce the trainee to supersets that you normally would never even think of.
Let's get wild
Trainees should always be properly warmed up. The
following supersets will expedite ﬁtness and strength
gains, and the burning of body fat. Some of these wild
supersets should be done only by people with trained
bodies rather than novices.
Prior to the sets, make sure that all the equipment
that's needed is already set up nearby so that there's no
time expended fetching equipment.
Deadlift to bench press
This may not seem all that unusual, but let's face it:
When's the last time you saw anybody doing this, let
alone a personal trainer having a client do it?
For best efﬁciency, have the barbell set up right by the
bench press station. Right after the bench press, the
trainee goes straight to the barbell and pulls. The bench
doesn't have to be done ﬁrst; if the trainee prefers, the
deadlift can be done ﬁrst.
Deadlift to sled push
This one is fabulous. The caveat is the set-up. If
there's an area to deadlift right near the sled track, that
would be great. If it takes some moments to get from the
deadlift station to the sled, that's ﬁne, but it shouldn't
exceed 20 seconds.
The trainee bangs out their best deadlifts, then

One school of thought
believes that the best
way to lose fat is to keep
moving in a resistance
exercise session (like
jogging in place between
lat pull-downs); that
sitting between strength
training sets is taboo
because it will lower the
heart rate; that no
matter what you do,
"keep moving" the entire
time is the mantra.
A second approach is to
perform strenuous
bursts of lower-bodycentric movement that
last around half a
minute, alternating with
longer periods of easy
movement, such as
leaping like a frog across
the short end of a
gymnasium, then
walking the remaining
portion, then leaping
again at the starting
point.
A third modality is to lift
weights intensely with
rests of 45-60 seconds in
between.
A fourth scheme is to
toss in six, 60 second,
nearly all-out aerobic
bursts throughout your
strength training
session, each one
immediately following a
strength training set. So
after the incline bench
press, you run hard
around the gym's track.

4 9 W W W. O N F I T N E S S M A G . C O M | V O L 1 4 N O 6 | 2 0 1 4

Stand with feet shoulder width apart. Hinge your
hips back as your weight shifts into your heels and
your hips lower to 90 degrees or below.

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OnFitness Magazine - May/June 2014

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