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How To Heat Up Your Gym Routine For Winter

In recent years, there has been a rise in hot fitness trends, with the US leading the way with hot Barre, Inferno Pilates, heated cycle classes and hot TRX classes

Since Bikram Choudhury founded hot Yoga more than 40 years ago, hot workouts have gained popularity as they promote increased flexibility, increased calorie burn and a detox along the way too. 

Trying a hot group fitness class is definitely one way to warm up your gym routine, but there are a few other ways you can heat up your workout and reap the benefits too. 


Heat it up with HIIT

High Intensity Interval Training involves short bursts of high intensity exercise, followed by a short period of rest. The idea is to train as hard as possible during the high intensity phase – increasing your heart rate, switching on your muscles and burning big calories as you go. If you maintain this intensity during every round, it is guaranteed your body temperature will rise and the workout will be worth it!

Nigel Stepto, associate professor in exercise physiology at Victoria University recently said “five minutes after a HIIT session, you’re likely to be sucking wind, have an elevated heart rate and the adrenaline is still pumping. You’re likely to be breathing hard with a high body temperature.” 

Heat it up with bigger movements

The bigger the exercise the harder the body has to work to complete it. Try heating up your winter workout with some big movements – aim to complete compound exercises (exercises that use more than one muscle group at a time) that use big muscle groups.

The benefits you’ll get from big movements that train the whole body include:

  • Increased strength

  • Burning more calories in less time

  • Increased cardio fitness

  • Greater flexibility 


Heat it up with circuit training

Circuit training is a perfect way to work every muscle group in the body, get a combination of cardio training and strength training and burn lots of  calories. You can put any combination of exercises together, use as little or as much equipment as you like and invite a gym buddy to because you can create enough stations for everyone! 

Circuit training is to keep moving from one exercise to the next with as little a break as possible – keeping your muscles switched on and heart rate elevated throughout the session to reap maximum results and turn up the heat on your training.


Heat it up with something new

There’s nothing like a change in workout style to shake up your fitness and heat up your session! If you’re stuck in your ways at the gym it’s likely that you’ve reached or worked through a plateau or two by now and what better way to challenge your body and warm up your gym routine than trying something new.

You could: 

  • Try speeding up your cardio or adding interval sprints

  • Increase your weights and decrease your reps in your resistance training

  • Change the direction you move – if you usually complete squats, try lunges so you move forward and back rather than just up and down

  • Try a group fitness class or sign up to personal training with a Goodlife Fitness Professional

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