Strong is the New Skinny
Health and fitness expert Clare Stobart shares her top ten game-changing workout tips for getting lean
Fire up your muscles! To increase the effectiveness of your workout, activate your glutes. Glute activation can be a combination of warm up exercises that you do at the beginning of your workout to switch on your muscles. To activate my glutes, I do the following exercises:
Glute bridges, glute kickbacks and donkey kicks.
It’s worth the weight. Weighted exercises are by far the most effective option for getting lean and seeing results. Compound exercises such as squats and deadlifts work the largest muscle groups in the body.
At the bar. Lift heavy! Put more weight on the bar. It’s not going to make you bulkier; it’s going to make you stronger and leaner.
Mix up your rep volume. Alternating each week between heavy lifting and high reps is the most effective way to get lean. When I do my squats and deadlift sessions, I work to this schedule:
Week 1: 4 to 6 reps with heavier weights
Week 2: 9 to 12 reps with lighter weights
Week 3: 4 to 6 reps with heavier weights
Week 4: 9 to 12 reps with lighter weights
Make the last two reps count! Put more effort into these two than any others to ensure your fast-twitch muscle fibres are fully engaged and you are getting the most out of your workout. Don’t forget – pay attention to your technique.
Fuel up. Protein allows your muscles to recover and grow after you have been active. By ensuring you always have a post workout meal, or a protein shake to aid recovery, you are using food to fuel your goals.
Take BCAAs to get lean and stay lean. They’re essential amino acids and work by increasing your endurance and decreasing post workout soreness. Take them during your workout to give you that extra edge on your workout.
At the end of your resistance/weight training workout, finish with an interval session. By powering through some HIIT at the end of your weight training session, you’ll metabolise any fat stores left behind enabling you to burn away more body fat. I will often finish my weights session with five sets of hill sprints or sled pushes.
Keep a fitness journal. Jot down in your journal the workouts you complete by including the exercises, reps, sets and weights to keep you motivated and ensure you are always improving. A journal I use is The Gym Edition Exercise Journal
Let’s soak. A magnesium salt bath after your workout will help with the recovery of your muscles and flush out toxins assisting you in getting leaner quicker. Personally, I enjoy Better You Magnesium Flakes.
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