6 Ways to Safely Intensify Your Workout
Cubii’s mission is to enable approachable fitness for every body. We use the words every bodyrather than ‘everybody’, to emphasize the importance of acknowledging the unique physical differences inherent to each of our bodies. Exercise is not a one-size-fits-all scenario. Rather, workouts should be customized to fit the needs of each individual. One of the primary ways to tailor exercises to your own needs is by employing various methods of intensifying your workouts. This article is intended to introduce you to the many different ways to safely customize the intensity of your workout.
In its simplest description, intensity refers to how hard you work, or how much effort you expend performing a given exercise. When you’re new to an exercise it is always a good idea to start at a low intensity. This allows you to feel out the mechanics of the exercise and monitor how your body reacts to the movement. Starting with a low intensity also allows you to practice proper technique in order to maximize your workout results and avoid injury. As you practice a routine, the exercises become easier and the need for adding intensity becomes apparent. Progress is sustained when you continually utilize new and different ways to challenge yourself. Maintain progress in your own exercise routine by using these 6 ways of safely adding intensity to your workouts.
- Increase Resistance For weight training, one can increase resistance by simply adding more weight. Cubii compact ellipticals are designed with adjustable levels of resistance so you can dial up or down the intensity of your workout with the simple turn of a knob.
- Try Variations of Exercises Sometimes adding a variation to the movement of an exercise can increase the intensity of that same exercise. For example, performing a chin up with a pull up bar can be drastically more difficult by simply rotating the direction your palms grip the bar. Cubii offers variations of elliptical based exercises through Smart Cards which offer demonstrations and illustrations of workouts along with multiple variations of technique. Additionally, Cubii Studio+ offers unlimited access to over 300 expert-guided, on-demand workout classes to walk you through exercises and variations that enhance your Cubii workouts.
- Increase Your Pace By increasing the amount of work performed and decreasing the amount of time it takes to do it, you can customize the intensity of your workout. When it comes to weight training, this could mean increasing the amount of reps performed in a given amount of time. For a seated elliptical workout, increasing pace would be accomplished by increasing the number of strides within a certain amount of time. These elliptical ‘sprints’ are a regular challenge in our free, monthly Wellness Journiis available through the Cubii mobile app wherein participants follow daily challenges aimed at various aspects of wellness.
- Decrease the Duration of Rest Between Exercises After completing any given exercise, your natural response is to breathe a sigh of relief and take a break. While this rest is crucial to allow your body to reset, if you shorten the length of your break and get right back into your exercise, you will increase the intensity of those subsequent movements. Just one example of how Cubii Wellness Journiis utilize this intensifying effect is by incorporating challenges that make the user move straight from pedaling into chair squats, then straight back to pedaling again without any breaks.
- Engage Your Core When we engage and tighten our core, we not only increase the intensity of a workout, but we improve our posture and form while performing movements. This provides support for the lower back and decreases the risk of a workout related injury. So even while the compact elliptical is targeting your legs, it is important to tighten your core while pedaling to get the most out of your workout.
- Target Multiple Sections of the Body If you’ve become accustomed to a certain exercise and are now wondering how to make your workout more effective, try incorporating workouts that target multiple sections of the body at the same time. The Comfii Grip Hand Weights Class Pack gives you all the tools and instruction to safely introduce free weights into your elliptical workouts to provide a total-body exercise targeting the upper- and lower-body.
Approachable fitness for every body regardless of age or ability requires the element of customization, and adding intensity to a workout is a great way to personalize your path to wellness. Utilize these 6 methods and you can safely intensify any workout for maximum effectiveness and enjoyment.
