Ways to intensify your strength and cardio workouts.

No Time? No problem.

Strength Training

Bored with your workouts? Reached a plateau? Try these techniques for adding variety and increasing the intensity of your program.

• Supersets. Do two or more exercises for a single muscle group without rest in between. For example, do a set of shoulder presses followed immediately by lateral raises. Or choose two different muscle groups that are close together-like biceps and triceps, chest and back, or quads and hamstrings.
• Breakdowns. This one calls for weight machines. Pick a weight that challenges you for six repetitions like a triceps pushdown at 60 pounds. Do as many reps as you can. Once you reach muscle fatigue, reduce the weight to 30 pounds and do as many reps as possible (between 4 and 8).
• Stripping. Similar to breakdowns, this technique is done with barbells. Say you normally do a set of 6 bench presses with 145 pounds. Place two 25-pound plates on each side of a 45-pound bar. Do as many reps as you can. Then have a partner quickly strip one 25-pound plate from each side and continue to fatigue.
• Down the Rack. Place dumbbells on a rack with 5-pound or 10-pound increments between each pair. Choose a weight you can use for about 8 reps. Do as many reps as possible, then quickly grab the next set of dumbbells and repeat. For even greater intensity, decrease the weight once again and do a third set.
  

Cardiovascular Exercise

Want to breathe new life into your cardiovascular program?

• Vary the frequency, duration, and intensity of your workouts. Be sure to warm up for 5-10 minutes at a low intensity first. Then stretch before you get started, as well as when you've finished your workout.
• Aerobic Zone Training. To increase endurance, train in the aerobic zone at 70 80 percent of your maximum heart rate (max HR). A quick, easy way to determine your heart rate is to subtract your age from 220. So if you're 30, your predicted max heart HR is 190 beats per minute.
• Interval Training. This is not for beginners.** Alternate intervals of lighter intensity like walking with relatively hard intervals like running or jogging. The light intervals should be done at 50-70 percent of your max HR, while the hard intervals can rage from 70-100 percent of max HR. Intervals typically last anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes each.
• Composite Training. This method combines elements of both cardiovascular
  and strength training for total body fitness. Start by walking on a treadmill for 10 minutes, slowly increasing the speed and grade to a moderate level. Walk briskly over to a weight machine and do as many reps as you can in 45 seconds no more than 12. Walk quickly back to the treadmill. Continue for 90 seconds. Go to the next weight machine. Repeat these steps until you've completed 10 to 12 weight stations.
  

*Please check with your doctor before beginning any strenuous exercise.

**You should first get cleared by a physician before training at an intensity greater than 80 percent of max HR.