Quick-fire workouts to feel the burn

While working out at home might be ideal for some, it’s not the first and best option for others even despite it being one of the safest ways to stop the spread of coronavirus.

If you thought that you had mastered training but you are now bored of your go-to easy-at-home workouts that don’t give you the fire you need, it’s time to try quick-fire or rapid workouts.

There are many benefits of quick-fire workouts. Aneeka Buys is also known as Fitgirl and is a personal trainer and Under Armour Athlete.

She says from a health perspective, rapid fire workouts can stimulate your immune system, strengthen your anti-inflammatory defences, keep you stronger, healthier and optimise your bodily functions. Rapid-fire interval weight training can also improve blood vessel function. Better blood flow means a stronger heart and a longer life.

With regards to a rep range, the range depends on your goal, says Buys. You have to know what you want to achieve with such workouts. Do you want to build muscle, improve athleticism or drop body fat? All these goals will have different methods to attain them, she adds.

For muscle building, you would want to keep your rep range at 5-8 reps with the last 3 being difficult to complete. Move between exercises very quickly – you should be able to do a 3 exercise circuit within a minute. Then rest for 1 minute.

To improve athleticism or fitness, 1 minute on and 1 minute off intervals are great.

Pushing to your maximum pushes your VO2 max (maximum amount of oxygen you can utilize during exercise), thus improving speed and endurance.

For fat loss we want to go high rep – low resistance. A 3 exercise to 30 second rest ratio works well here.

Rember, a quickfire circuit would include multiple muscle groups, allowing one major muscle group to rest while the other works. An example of the flow could be: Chest press/one arm row/squat.

It’s also important to note that changing your workout programming is important.

The human body is highly adaptable – just as quickly as the body responds to a workout physiologically, it adapts to it too. “When your body is accustomed to moving a certain way or according to certain programming, you will not see as much physiological change. Try to change your programs every 3 to 4 months to achieve maximum results,” says Buys.