Workouts can be tough so we’ve revealed below our top five essentials you need to get the most out of your workout session.

The Lean Machines

The Lean Machines

A Great Playlist

We all love working out to our favourite motivating or feel good tracks, and I don't know about you but I always feel like I have a better workout with my own music on. Well, it's actually been proved by science that listening to your favourite music "induced a significant increase of strength endurance performance and no effects on maximal strength". So basically if you want to get those extra few reps out then crank up the tunes!

Full Body Movements

If you want to get the most from your time in the gym or working out, then you really should consider using some full body movements or exercises. Why? Simply, the more muscles you move in a workout the more calories you burn. Not to mention you're training more muscles at one time so it's much more time efficient to squat or use burpees than it is to sit on a recumbent bike or use the leg extension machine.

Use Weights

Building on from full body movements, if you take these movements such as a squat and effectively add resistance (weight) like a barbell then suddenly this exercise just got a whole lot more awesome! Now you're in a position to strengthen and sculpt a huge amount of muscles at once, with the primary focus being on the legs and bum. Remember that it takes time to build large amounts of muscle in conjunction with a good diet so don't panic about gaining "too" much muscle, it takes a long time and you're in control.

Water

Water is the elixir of life and actually the powerhouse behind your workouts. Did you know that being just 1% dehydrated impacts your performance! Often when we feel thirsty we are already partially dehydrated to some degree. Combat this by taking a 2L bottle of water with you to work, with a felt pen mark time intervals on it (i.e. 8 am - 10 am or lunch, afternoon etc) with bedtime being the bottom marker and therefore an empty bottle. Use this to hit your water targets and power up your workouts.

Goals

Your most powerful source of motivation comes from your goals, most of us have one big one, the why behind our fitness journey. This for many people might be something they wouldn't want to tell others as it's personal to them and holds a lot of power. For others, it's as simple as I want to look good naked, which is also perfectly valid.

To make your goals easier break them into some smaller more manageable ones, this helps us stay motivated and feel like we're progressing. If for example, you have four stone to lose let's try:

Long-term -  Lose four stone – eight months

Mid-term   -   Be consistent with working out three times a week.

Short-term - Aim to lose 2lb a week (knowing that this will fluctuate week to week)


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