5 Ways To Utilize Your Muscles To Maximize Your Performance

Tune into your body’s frequency and you’ll maximize your performance and accelerate recovery so you’re always winning.

1. Rub yourself up the right way to preform more reps

A little rub goes a long way. A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that warming your hands in between lifting sets increases the number of reps you can perform. When women, who averaged a 1-rep max of 115lb for the bench press heated the temperature of their hands to 113°F, they increased the number of reps they could do by 13-17%. While they’re no magic lamp, rubbing your hands will see you getting more fat burning reps into your workout.

2. Try ice for your post-workout recovery

Icing an injury can prevent swelling, thus abating your injury woes, but have you ever thought about how you could take it up another level? Well, a study in the American Journal of Physiology shows that immersing your whole body in an ice bath for 10 minutes after a high-intensity resistance training session can promote recovery. Endure the chill to experience a recovery thrill.

3. Doing less wheely will see you improve your performance

After more speed on your bicycle? Don’t pedal too fast. Research at Oxford University, UK, found that going at 110 revolutions per minute means only 40% of your effort will go into driving the bike forward, and the other 60% will be used trying to spin your legs quicker. Trying to mimic Tour De France riders won’t make you faster, so ease up to improve your performance.

4. You’ll burn more fat by moving a little less

Active rest might sound like an oxymoron, but it will improve your fat-burning interval-training sessions. In between intervals, do low-intensity activity, like walking. “This will allow you to recover to a greater extent than sitting or lying down,” says Amber. See, even moving just a little bit will help you heal quicker so you can work out more regularly and burn more fat.

5. Rinse your mouth out to record new personal bests

This is a trick used in long-distance running. “Simply rinsing a sweet beverage (for example: Gatorade) around in your mouth for 5-10 seconds, without swallowing it, will improve your time,” suggests Amber Kleckner, a doctor of nutrition. You get all the oomph minus the calories.

Find fitness advice and more in every issue of TRAIN for HER magazine.