It’s tempting to let your fitness routine slip when work takes you away and there’s no gym around, or if you’re stuck at home with the children, but a few easy-to-do exercises will keep you ticking over.  ALL YEAR my clients are faced with challenges that threaten consistent training.  It is this consistency that will yield results when it comes to building a better body.

The problem affects everyone, from business executives on over seas trips with no access to gyms to housewives unable to do their workouts because the kids are off school for the summer. So here is a routine suitable for everyone. It stimulates the burning of fat using exercises that demand the body to increase its calorie expenditure.

Tips for workout success:

Exercises are performed in a four-station circuit: A1 (rest 10 seconds), A2 (rest 10 seconds), A3 (rest 10 seconds), A4 (rest two minutes) and then repeat.  Choose options to suit your level of fitness: beginner or advanced. Beginners should start with two sets/circuits of each exercise, building up to four.   Tempo: to achieve the appropriate training stimulus, you must adhere to the precise speed of the exercise, as explained below.  Each exercise should take a maximum of seven seconds to complete.

A1. Front lunge

Hands on hips, take a big step forward, keeping an upright posture, and let your knee travel forward until the back of your leg squashes your calf. Push back with front leg.

• Alternate sides.
• Do 10-12 reps on each leg
• Tempo: travel forward to the count of four, back in two.
• Rest: 10 seconds.

A2. One-legged hamstring push-up

Lie with your back on the floor, with your weaker leg on a chair and cross your legs in an old-style number four. Lift your lower back and mid section by contracting the muscles on the back of the leg that’s on the chair.

• Alternate sides. (Tip: If the weaker leg can only finish seven repetitions, only do seven on the other leg.)
• Do 10-12 reps each leg.
• Tempo: lift to the count of two, pause at the top for one second, lower in two.
• Rest: 10 seconds.

A3. Single-leg squat

Hands on your hips, bend your right knee and place your foot on a chair or step so it is positioned behind you. Maintaining an upright posture, lower your body by bending your left knee. Raise the body by straightening the left leg. Perform all reps before switching legs.

• Do 10-12 reps.
• Tempo: down in three, back in two, pause for one second before starting again.
• Rest: 10 seconds.

A4. Press ups

Hands outside shoulders, lift your chest bone, elbows above wrists; keep your body tight and straight. Bend elbows so chest touches the ground and then straighten arms.

• Do as many reps as possible.
• Tempo: down in three, back in three.
• Rest: 120 seconds.

Tip of the week

Inch-by-inch it’s a cinch; yard-by-yard it’s hard! Make short-term immediate goals in order to accomplish your long-term goals so you can continually monitor your progress. It takes 21 days to develop a habit so once you accomplish one short-term goal it inspires you to move onto the next one.