15 Ways To Upgrade Your Gym Workout

Back from your holiday? Gym routine gone? Christina Macdonald explains why it's still the best place to be if you want to get back in shape.

- Christina Macdonald

Your weekly Spin class might have been the furthest thing from your mind while you soaked up the sun, but the holiday season is over and the gym can promise new classes, variety and, best of all, a chance to lose those post-holiday pounds. Gyms are evolving fast to offer you a new, sophisticated and effective way to get results. Mix up your training, try different classes, get involved with a personal trainer or devise your own mini circuit sessions. Here are 15 ways to kick-start your gym workouts, boost results and have fun while you get fit…

01. TRY BOOTCAMPS… INSIDE!

Such is the success of outdoor bootcamp classes, they’re now coming to the gym floor. ‘We’re seeing a lot of “outdoor-style” activity in the gym,’ says Technogym master trainer Steve Harrison (technogym.com). ‘It involves plenty of space, running drills, small group interactions and shorter, sharper classes.’ Bootcamp classes are varied, improving your cardio fitness and stamina as you’ll be running, doing intervals and encountering obstacles. You’ll also boost strength using dumbbells, resistance bands or your own body weight.

TRY: David Lloyd’s Orangetheory class (davidlloyd. co.uk). It’s claimed to burn 500 calories a session.

02. COUNT TIME, NOT REPS

If you want to burn more calories, forget about counting the number of reps for each set of an exercise – try ‘time under tension’ instead. This means thinking about the timing of your exercises, rather than simply counting reps. This style of workout will also improve your strength. A study published online in the Journal of Physiology showed that slower lifting movements create more strength – spend twice as long lowering the weight as lifting it for best results.