The record previously stood at 8,940, held by Kenta Adachi of Japan. Before this, Australian-born Jaxon Italiano had performed 8,008 pull-ups in 24 hours, which included breaking the 12-hour record with 5,900 reps in that timeframe. Italiano had been assisting Martin with his training in the run-up to the record-breaking attempt.

Martin attempted his first pull-up challenge back in July 2023, live streaming his efforts. Posting to X, he told his followers that despite approaching the attempt ‘without any fear’, he began to have doubts around the three-hour mark. ‘I started to develop a level of physical, mental, and emotional pain that never did I ever imagine feeling. My hands were bleeding from everywhere, my legs were sore from simply jumping slightly, and my right shoulder was tearing every minute I jumped to do a pull-up.’

From this point onward, Martin documented his training process, sharing the highs and lows, as well as the physical transformation of his body as he racked up tens of thousands of pull-ups in the process.

 

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The official world record attempt, which took place on September 7th, was monitored by invigilators from Guinness to ensure that each rep met the mandated standards – beginning from a dead hang position with arms at full stretch and ending once Martin’s chin had passed above the bar.

Raising thousands of dollars for Project Purple, a charity dedicated to pancreatic cancer, Martin successfully beat the previous record around the 19-hour mark, with five hours still remaining on the clock. He went on to perform hundreds of additional reps in the following hours but ultimately stopped with almost three hours left to spare, citing injury fears. In a post to X shortly after the feat, Martin shared images of his heavily calloused hands.

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The post A gamer has shattered the pull-up world record by performing 9250 reps in 24 hours appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

ONE OF THE biggest – and most controversial – dividing lines between Gen-Z gym-goers and their millennial and Gen-X counterparts is the use of phones in the gym. A fierce debate is currently raging online between trainees who use social media to share every detail of their workouts and those who firmly believe that even glancing at your phone in the gym is akin to a workout war crime. Until now, this has largely been a cultural divide, mostly boiling down to personal preference. But now scientists have chimed in with new research, which shows that using your phone ahead of your workout quite literally makes you weaker and decreases your performance.

The study

Participants in the study were brought into the gym and asked to perform a workout to failure. Two groups were formed: a neutral control group, who watched a documentary for 30 minutes prior to the workout, and a second group who were tasked with simply browsing social media for 30 minutes before hitting the weights.

All participants were experienced in strength training and tasked with performing three sets of squats, each set to failure, using around 80% of their 15RM, with 3 minutes of rest between sets.

The results

Despite seemingly inconsequential differences – after all, both groups were simply looking at a screen and passively consuming information – the social media group performed significantly worse than the documentary group, completing on average 15% less work and reporting a higher perception of mental fatigue during the test. All subjects were monitored for motivation levels, intra-set mechanical variables, and blood lactate levels, with no significant differences recorded between the groups. This led the researchers to conclude that the differences in performance were solely psychological, possibly due to increased mental fatigue from social media use.

What does this mean for us?

This research highlights that even if you’re firmly in the “no phones in the gym” camp, you may still be suffering from the brain-draining effects of social media, simply by scrolling through Instagram in the hour leading up to your workout.

Unfortunately, this study did not explore different timelines for social media usage before workouts to determine the optimal time to stop scrolling. However, based on this research, it would be wise to log off at least 30 minutes before your first lift if optimal performance is your goal.

It can also be inferred from these findings that the mental fatigue caused by the bombardment of attention-grabbing stimuli we encounter every time we log onto social media could be affecting our performance, both physically and mentally, in other areas of our lives. Therefore, limiting screen time before engaging in activities that require our full attention and energy is probably a good idea.

Is there a hashtag for that?

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.

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The post Checking your phone before the gym actually makes you weaker, new research shows appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University analysed how training close to failure or not impacts muscle growth and strength in the main muscles used in an exercise. The good news for those pursuing beach muscle is that muscle size – or hypertrophy – does seem to benefit from training closer to failure.

“If you’re aiming for muscle growth, training closer to failure might be more effective. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you adjust training volume by changing sets or reps; the relationship between how close you train to failure and muscle growth remains the same,” said Michael C. Zourdos, Ph.D., senior author and professor and chair of the Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion .

In the study, researchers estimated the number of repetitions in reserve, which means how many more reps you could have done before reaching failure. They collected data from 55 various studies and ran detailed statistical analyses to see how different reps in reserve levels affected strength and muscle growth.

While aiming for failure builds muscle growth, results of the study, published in the journal Sports Medicine, found that how close you train to failure doesn’t have a clear impact on strength gains. Whether you stop far from failure or very close to it, your strength improvement appears to be similar.

The researchers suggest that individuals who aim to build muscle should work within a desired range of 0-5 reps short of failure for optimised muscle growth while minimising injury risk. For strength training, they advise you work toward heavier loads instead of pushing muscles to failure and stop about 3-5 reps short of failure.

“Training closer to failure enhances the accuracy of self-reported repetitions in reserve,” said Zac P. Robinson, Ph.D., first author and a Ph.D. graduate of FAU’s Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion. “When people estimate how many reps they have left, this perception influences the weights they choose. If the estimation is off, they might use lighter weights than needed, which could limit strength gains. On the flip side, our meta-analysis shows that training closer to failure also leads to greater muscle growth. So, for the average individual, training close to failure may be the best option – as it seems to improve the accuracy of our perception of effort as well as gains in muscle size. Moreover, training near failure may also improve psychological factors like visualisation, which are important for achieving maximal strength.”

The bottom line: if your mission is adding size, failure is an option.

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The post Want bigger muscles? Study says push to failure appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

A MINUTE AGO, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) was king. Now that gut-it-out-and-get-the-glory work might need to share the crown with slow and steady efforts, thanks to what they do for your body, your longevity, and maybe even your mind.

These are the famous zone 2 workouts – keeping your heart rate between about 70 and 80 per cent of its maximum – that runners, smart gym-goers, and everyone with a podcast is talking about these days. Think of zone 2 as the range between easy and moderate cardio, where you can carry on a conversation but someone on the other end of a phone would know you’re not sitting down. (Find out more on how to know you’re in the zone by checking out the chart below.)

What happens in zone 2 powers up your endurance, your lifting routine, and your general performance as a human being, proponents say. It may even help fend off cancer and diabetes. Here’s what to know about the zone.

How an easy effort brings you gains

Endurance athletes, such as marathoners, cyclists, and Ironmen, have long understood that zone 2 training is a key to performing well on race day. Look at Eliud Kipchoge, the world’s fastest marathoner, who spends four days a week running in zones so low that any decent runner could keep up with him. Lower-zone training yields high results in endurance sports, says Mike T. Nelson, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., owner of Extreme Human Performance, possibly “because the athletes aren’t out there just trying to fry themselves crazy every single day.” A long Z2 effort today leaves room for more time on your feet or in the saddle the next day. But another huge perk of Z2 training, no matter your sport, is the adaptations your body is making deep within your cells.

It all goes back to your mitochondria, the parts of your cells that generate ATP – that’s the fuel that drives muscle contractions. With age, your mitochondria get kind of like old dog fur: sparse, damaged, and inefficient. “Zone 2 cardio basically helps build your mitochondria,” says Kenneth Jay, Ph.D., a sports scientist who’s done research with the National Research Centre for the Working Environment in Copenhagen.

All this Zone 2/mitochondria research started in an effort to improve athletic performance. Scientists found that two key drivers of that performance – the ability to clear lactate more efficiently and the ability to oxidise fat better – both depended on those cellular powerhouses. “These things can only happen through the mitochondria,” says Iñigo San Millán, who’s been researching mitochondria for decades and is affiliated with the University of Colorado School of Medicine as well as with the UAE Team Emirates cycling team. Understanding that, researchers drilled down into what exercise intensity could improve mitochondria the most. “And that was zone 2,” San Millán says.

Lactate is a byproduct of using glucose for energy. It ultimately decreases the pH in muscle. “That decreases the velocity and force of the muscle contraction,” he says. Getting better at clearing it allows you to be stronger and more powerful.

Another big benefit of robust mitochondria, fat oxidation, means your body gets better at using fat as an energy source during endurance efforts. This can help stave off fatigue. In the future, maybe there will be a pill to help build mitochondria. “But right now, the only way we know of to improve mitochondrial function is to move,” he says.

These cellular improvements can help you make gains in lifting, too, by aiding your recovery between sets. People without healthy and plentiful mitochondria “just don’t have the capacity to regenerate ATP fast enough to repeat something. And what they are repeating is half the output of what they were doing at the beginning, so they’re not getting the stimulus that they could,” Nelson says.

Building mitochondria might not get you ripped, but it deserves a lot of cred given that “mitochondrial dysfunction” has been linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Shoring them up with Z2 essentially gives you a more efficient engine to get through life on. “It’s like a hybrid car,” explains Stephen Seiler, Ph.D., a professor of sports science at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway, who’s studied the effects of high- and low-intensity zone training in athletes. Redlining your workouts saps battery power. “You can run off the battery for a little while, but to pay it back, you’ve got to have your main engine.” Consistent Z2 work not only helps you recover better between sets or workouts, but it also helps you get better at everyday challenges: a family hike, an extra-long-haul rush to your flight gate, or a grueling workweek.

Does Zone 2 work have to be cardio?

In general, yes. That’s because a big benefit of zone 2 cardio is that it helps keep your heart strong and, basically, stretchy. When you lift heavy, your heart’s left ventricle – the one that pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of your body – gets tough, too. Heavy loads make your heart contract in a way that causes it to lay down more muscle fibres. But it lays them down inside the chamber, so there’s less room for blood. (Don’t get smug, endurance folks; a huge amount of cardio makes yours too thin and can leave you vulnerable to issues like atrial fibrillation.) Zone 2 cardio moves blood through the heart in a way that keeps walls at a healthy thickness and stretchiness, so it functions better, says Jay.

How do you know if you’re in zone 2?

Zones were developed according to the different energy systems that are utilised at different exercise intensities, explains San Millán. It’s important to train all of the zones (outlined in the chart below) he explains. But when you’re aiming to shore up your mitochondria, 2 is the one that you want.

It’s hard to give an exact percentage of max heart rate (MHR) for zone 2, as it’s different for everyone. Someone who’s not trained might hit zone 2 at 60 per cent of MHR, while someone who exercises regularly might hit it at 70 to 80 per cent of that.

San Millán uses plenty of fancy equipment for research. But when it comes to finding your zone 2, he says you can do it just fine without all that. Use the talk test: if you can speak just like you’d do at your desk or in a quiet place, you’re in zone 1. If you are breathing a little harder and the person on the other end of a phone call would know that you are working out, that’s zone 2. If you are forcing it and having a hard time keeping conversation going, that’s 3. (Squeaking out only yes or no answers tends to be zone 4 or 5.)

How much time do you need to spend in zone 2?

There’s debate on exactly how much time you need in Z2 to get the benefits. If you’re mostly sedentary now, any amount of low-intensity movement will help. If you’re somewhat or very fit, experts typically promote a minimum of 30 to 40 minutes of zone 2 cardio twice a week. (For endurance athletes, 80 per cent of total training volume in Z2 is a good guideline). San Millán thinks you need even more to really get the mitochondrial benefits that can help performance, stave off chronic illness, and improve lifespan. “In my opinion, you need at least 300 minutes a week,” he says.

The trick is not turning that cardio workout into a sprint endorphin rush. Once you start pushing the intensity, different training adaptations are taking place. And that’s not what you’re looking for in these workouts.

Zone 2 is chat-paced work, so bring friends. Fit people might need more than a casual walk; hiking and rucking uphill can get you there. Keep it interesting in the gym by giving ten minutes each to the rower, bike, and treadmill. The key is control. “There is a warrior aspect to this as well,” Seiler says. When you have the discipline to stay in the zone, “there can be a Zen there in going out and finding your rhythm and not be influenced by the person who runs past you that day,” he says.

When it comes to creating a more efficient engine, easy really does do it. It’s not like you can’t have go-hard-or-go-home workouts; you need those, too. But being smart about adding a little low can feed your high.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health US.

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Don’t be discouraged if you feel like you haven’t noticed the results you were after immediately. There are lots of changes happening behind the scenes that are worth celebrating.

Just know, exactly how long it takes to see results from your workout routine will vary from person to person. “There are numerous factors that contribute to these timelines,” says Kurt Ellis, C.S.C.S., owner and coach at Beyond Numbers Performance. “Factors such as genetics, age, gender, type of training program, and lifestyle indicators can impact how soon someone will see changes.”

Here, Ellis digs into a few of these key elements, shares some of the results you can expect to see and when, and offers other perspectives on what it means to “see results” so you can celebrate your wins through every stage of your journey.

How long does it take to see results from working out?

You might assume that seasoned gym-goers would see results sooner because they aren’t new to this game, but that’s not necessarily the case, according to Ellis. “Beginners will usually experience results sooner than more advanced athletes because both their baseline level of fitness and training age [how long you’ve been working out] is lower,” he says.

Think of it this way: If you’re a beginner staring at a ladder from the floor, there are more rungs to climb, and therefore more levels to reach – and with each rung, you’re making progress. Whereas more advanced athletes may have already hit some of the lower rungs and milestones and have less distance to travel to the top.

There’s also the matter of neurological adaptations, a.k.a. “newbie gains.” When beginners start strength training, neural adaptations will lead to rapid progress in strength (and to a lesser degree, muscle growth). That early progress is exciting, but it only lasts so long (and probably won’t take you up to the point of accomplishing your larger training goals, anyway). Once you go beyond that initial progress and maybe even hit a plateau, it’s important to remember that you’ll still see results – just more slowly than you did at the start.

One often-cited study from 2009 shows that it takes a minimum of 18 days for someone to form a habit once a decision to change a behaviour is made, and that goes for athletes of all kinds, explains Ellis. So you might consider that timeframe your first benchmark toward progress—and that should be celebrated. Deciding to work toward something, make changes, and commit to them is no easy feat.

From there, “typically you can see tangible changes – whether it be body composition, change in resting heart rate, etc. – within two to six weeks,” says Ellis. That breaks down to roughly two to four weeks for beginners and four to six weeks (or more) for more seasoned athletes, he adds.

Signs you’re getting fitter

Even if weight loss is your goal, the number on the scale is certainly not the only meaningful metric to measure against your progress. (Not to mention, the benefits of fitness and staying active go far beyond just your weight or how you look.)

Neurological adaptations

Lots of the initial “results” from your workouts are happening on an imperceptible, cellular level. As outlined above, whenever you ask the body to do new or challenging things – trying a new sport, learning crow pose in yoga, or merely starting a workout routine for the first time – the brain has to create new pathways to signal the body to perform in ways it hasn’t before. “Neurological adaptations are changes that take place within the nervous system, which play a very important role in improving strength, coordination, motor learning and overall performance,” explains Ellis.

“Neural plasticity [the brain’s ability to adapt and evolve] allows you to continue developing new pathways throughout your fitness journey,” says Ellis. “Because of this, it’s beneficial to manipulate different variables in a training program such as incorporating a variety of movements and some novelty and proper training stimuli. It’s important to continually build on progress to strengthen and stimulate these neural pathways.”

The easiest way to do this is with a pre-made training plan. You’ll know exactly which exercises to do, when to up the intensity, and how much to rest. Get a personalized recommendation from our library of training plans using our Workout Finder below.

Energy

Also, “one of the earliest changes that people would notice is a change in energy levels,” says Ellis. Just as microtears in your muscles caused by strength training help the body to repair, grow, and come back stronger, there’s a similar process for your energy levels. Exerting yourself during a workout might make you feel taxed during a session, but this challenge actually signals to your body to produce more mitochondria, the energy stars of your cells, according to Harvard Health.

Mood

Also, thanks to the release of feel-good hormones like endorphins during exercise, your new fitness routine can also give you a mood boost. Physical activity of all kinds releases endorphins, but research is still evolving as to what type of training or workout intensity gives you the biggest endorphin rush. For example, one 2017 study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology suggests that high-intensity training is the way to go if you’re looking for that “exercise high.”

Sleep

Another big result you’ll likely notice fairly early after beginning a new fitness routine or training program is better sleep. Don’t underestimate this as a key factor to your overall health. Adequate rest can be a crucial factor for maintaining motivation for training both in the short and long term, according to one small 2013 study.

Other benchmarks to consider to track workout results

In addition to some of the more lifestyle measures like energy and sleep, if you’re someone who is looking for something a bit more measurable, Ellis suggests one of two quantitative benchmarks depending on your fitness goals.

For those looking for results from strength training, you could track progress against absolute strength. This is often measured by the one-rep max (1RM) test – the heaviest weight you can lift in a single exercise, such as a bench press or a barbell squat, for one rep at the full range of motion and with proper form. (If you’re newer to strength training, we suggest you test for a three to five rep total, then use a training load chart for a one rep max rather than going all-out for a single rep.) You could also look at your progress in relative strength, which takes your body into account, looking at how much you can lift compared to your body weight, says Ellis. Simply divide the weight lifted by your body weight to find this measure.

If you have more endurance and cardio-focused goals, the universally used metric to measure progress is your VO2 max. This essentially measures how efficiently your body is able to use oxygen. But know this: Accurately tracking your VO2 max requires lots of fancy equipment and is best done in a lab setting. Luckily, due to the demand of athletes wanting a more realistic way to assess their numbers, many fitness trackers and smartwatches offer a VO2 max estimate, which you can use to track your progress.

Use SMART goals

Remember that when it comes to thinking about your workout results, how you set your goals initially can make a big difference. “Setting SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) goals are major keys to success,” says Ellis. “Athletes will typically see long-term, sustainable results when they include process goals along the way to their big-picture goals.”

Think about it: Getting swole or “getting abs” involves so much more than simply working out. “Highlighting the importance of other aspects, such as sleep quality, proper nutrition principles, and joining a community, go a long way in setting habits that can change the trajectory for your overall well being for the better,” he says. Once you can think of your workout routine as being just one aspect of a more comprehensive healthy lifestyle, you might have an easier time staying patient.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health US.

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IF YOU WANT bigger biceps, you’ve clicked on the right article. We’re not here to waste any time, either. If you want to know the true benefits of bigger, stronger arms, you can click here.

But for now, let’s get straight to it. You want bigger biceps, let’s go.

Here’s how it works: this high-frequency bicep training approach is designed for short-term use (3-5 weeks) to deliver an intense new stimulus. The protocol is deceptively simple, yet highly effective, targeting your biceps with a substantial workload every single day

You’ll perform this protocol on top of your regular training. If you follow a full-body training plan, you’ll perform this work at the beginning of each session following the priority principle. If you use any sort of split regiment, on days that are heavily leg focussed, perform the bicep work at the beginning of your session. On upper body days, where you may be performing other pulling movements (think chin-ups and rows) perform your bicep work at the end.

The bigger biceps protocol

This couldn’t be simpler. Each day you’re going to perform 100 bicep curls, using a weight you could curl for around 20 reps before you hit failure. Your goal is to perform all 100-rep – with impeccable form and controlled tempo  – in as few sets as possible, resting for no longer than 5-10 deep breaths between each set.

If you reach the point where you can perform all 100 reps in 5 or less sets, up the weight.

If you can’t make it into the gym each day, even for a quick 100-rep visit to curls-ville, invest in a resistance band that you can step inside of and curl at home, at work, or anywhere else you find yourself. The key here is consistency and frequency. If you have dumbbells at home, follow the same protocol and use the same weight dumbbells when you’re in the gym in order to properly chart your progress. Curl both dumbbells at the same time, aiming for a big squeeze at the top of each rep and a big stretch at the bottom.

Movement options

Standing Dumbbell Curl

Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides (A). With minimal momentum and keeping your upper arms tight to your body, curl both dumbbells upwards, turning your palms inwards until your pinky fingers are near your shoulders (B). Squeeze here and reverse the movement under control.

Standing Barbell Curl

If you have access to an ‘EZ bar’ use this. The design of the bar makes it much more friendly for your wrist and shoulders over this high-frequency period.

Stand tall with your bar, your palms facing towards you, shoulder-width apart (A). With minimal momentum, curl the bar upwards towards your chin (B). Squeeze here and lower the weights under control. Repeat.

Resistance Band Curl

Stand in the centre of a resistance band and hold both ends at waist height (A). Keeping your upper arms still slowly curl your hands up towards your chest, squeezing your biceps hard at the top of each rep (B) before slowly lowering your arms back to a dead hang and repeating.

If you notice any signs of overuse such as sore elbows or wrists, beyond simple (and expected) DOMs during this period, cease the protocol immediately.

This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.

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“I can get angry within games,” says the premiership-winning captain, six-time All-Australian representative and lululemon ambassador, who thankfully is in a very pleasant mood as I chat to him today after a shoot in Melbourne’s Glen Iris. “But I try to make sure that I’m peaking on game day, which means the other six-and-a-half days of the week I try and show no aggression, almost the complete opposite. I’m a little bit calm day-to-day. It’s all about peaking for two hours.”

The reason Gawn needs to turn into the Hulk for two hours each week makes some sense when you take into account the position he plays in Aussie Rules. The ruck is one of the most physically and mentally exacting occupations in all of sports. “You have to stay aggressive,” Gawn says. “We have upwards of 100 contests per game, which is definitely the most out of any position and you’re going up against another 110-kilo animal. You have to be aggressive from minute one to minute 120.”

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If a ruck contest is akin to two rhinos bucking on the savannah, durability is understandably critical to succeeding in the position, says Gawn. “You have to be able to play long minutes, get hit a lot and play every week,” he says. “So that’s the durability, which can really test you, especially early on in your career when your bones and muscles aren’t quite grown up.”

To cope with the immense physical load of his position, Gawn prioritises muscular endurance in the gym. “I’ve had to learn how to enjoy weights,” he admits. “Especially in my position, it’s something that I’ve had to become pretty good at. Any mix of cardio and CrossFit is better, for me, than doing a heavy set of bench.”

On the track, Gawn and the rest of the Dees naturally do a lot of interval work to prepare for the relentless nature of a game predicated on short, intense efforts. “I love running. I’d love to just go for long runs,” Gawn says. “But we’re probably not doing anything further than 500 metres straight. It’s a lot of interval running, a lot of get up, tackle, bump, do a rep contest and go for a 200-metre run, then do it all again.” In preseason, Gawn says, sessions might last up to four hours. In season, he does 5-6 km of short efforts in an hour on the track.

Despite all the work, in a sport as attritional as AFL injuries are inevitable; you almost need to factor them into your training plans. This season saw Gawn sidelined with a lower leg injury for two weeks. Without a structured plan, these setbacks can be mentally sapping, Gawn says.

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“There are a couple of different things I use for this,” he says. “One is my household. I’ve got two kids who couldn’t care less if I’m injured and they rely on me to be a fully fit dad so there’s no real excuse there. It’s like getting told to harden up without getting told to harden up, by your own kids.”

He also likes to remind himself that he gets to train and look after his body for free, in fact, he’s paid to do it. “I got injured earlier in my career and one of the mindsets I always had was that if I wasn’t playing football, I’d be paying 50 bucks a week membership at Fitness First and I’d be training at 5 am,” he says. “Here I get to do it in the best facility, getting paid to do it at a reasonable hour while watching my mates train. That mindset has always held me in good stead.”

His latest injury, a hairline fracture at the base of his right fibula that occurred in the Demons’ Round 17 win against West Coast, was easier to deal with than, say, a hamstring strain, he says. “With the injury I had this time I couldn’t do anything about it,” he says. “It was a broken bone, it was an impact injury. I’m getting older, there’s no hiding away from that. But anything soft tissue, you almost blame yourself a tiny bit. You wonder if you could have done something different. The fact that this time was a broken leg, my mindset was completely different. I was like, ‘Ah, well I couldn’t do anything about it. I’m fully fit. It’s just a bit of bad luck came my way’.”

At 32, Gawn is conscious he doesn’t have too many more seasons ahead of him. Of course, he’d dearly love to add another premiership to the one he and the Demons won in 2021. But he also wants to prioritise family in this last chapter of his career. “I don’t know when my retirement’s coming, if it’s one year, if it’s two years, in that case I’d like to win two more premierships,” he laughs, when I ask him about his remaining goals. “But I’ve always been keen, ever since I got elected captain, to leave the club a better place by the time I leave. And I’ve now got a three-year-old who can really start to enjoy being involved. So, to bring smiles to those people near and dear to me is the goal for the next three years.”

Max Gawn is a lululemon ambassador

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Max Gawn’s ruckman workout

• Bench press x 10 at 80 per cent 1RM
• Bench press x 10 at 60 per cent IRM
• Ski-Erg – 15 cals
• X 5 rounds

Max Gawn’s game-day eating plan

BREAKFAST

• Bacon and eggs/Bircher muesli

LUNCH

• Sandwich

PRE-GAME

• Fried rice and coffee
• A mandarin and shot of beetroot juice
• Collagen supplement
• Handful of lollies

HALF-TIME

• Mandarin: “This is almost my favourite thing of the game to be honest. My dietitian peels it for me. It’s a beautiful gesture. I walk into a peeled mandarin and I just sit there for five minutes while catching my breath and thinking about the first half.

POST GAME

• Watermelon juice
• Protein shake: “Ideally, I’m getting some sort of protein in. The wetter the food, the better.”

 

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The review

The research published in Sports Medicine and Health Research set out to evaluate the effectiveness of ‘exercise snacks’ (regular short bouts of exercise) on improving physical fitness and metabolic health in sedentary populations. The researchers wanted to determine whether brief exercises can reduce the negative health impacts associated with prolonged sedentary behaviour like sitting on the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.

The methods

The study reviewed existing research on exercise snacks, focusing on interventions that involved short bursts of physical activity repeated multiple times throughout the day. These were conducted in different settings (home, office or school). The review analysed the impact on muscle strength and hypertrophy, aerobic fitness, energy metabolism and the metabolic impacts on markers such as insulin sensitivity, fat oxidation and muscle adaptations.

The results

The researchers found that:

• Exercise snacks were effective in reducing postprandial blood glucose (blood sugar levels after eating), insulin levels, and triglyceride levels. They increased fat oxidation and improved overall metabolic health.
• Exercise snacks led to improvements in cardiovascular respiratory fitness, an important factor in reducing the risk of cardiovascular illnesses.
• Vigorous intermittent exercises, such as stair climbing and sprints, were beneficial for muscle strength.
• Moderate intermittent exercises, like 10 minute resistance training sessions, were particularly beneficial for older adults.

• Exercise snacks could be an effective alternative to longer more infrequent training sessions, maximising the cumulative effect of training volume across the week to increase muscle mass.
• Resistance exercise snacks, performed once or twice daily may help maintain and increase muscle protein synthesis, which is necessary for muscle growth.
• Exercise snacks can increase leg muscle strength and size in older adults without the high intensity of traditional resistance exercises. This could be a safe and effective alternative for older exercisers.

The conclusion

The researchers concluded that exercise snacks are an easy and effective method of reducing the health risks associated with sedentary lifestyles. These exercise snacks can provide a practical, time efficient way of integrating physical activity into daily routines, promoting better health, fitness, muscle strength and size.

What does this mean for us?

Another, larger scale, review published in Sports Medicine has already investigated the effects of exercise snacks and highlights the health benefits of including them in our day. Now this more recent study has mentioned additional benefits for our muscle mass and strength. In light of this promising evidence, after a quick warm-up we can include hypertrophy snacks by using the following examples once or twice a day:

Hypertrophy Snack for Chest and Triceps

1a) Press-ups x AMRAP (as many reps as possible) and 3 sets / 20 seconds rest

1b) Bench dips x 15 reps and 3 sets / 20 seconds rest

Hypertrophy Snack for Legs

1a) Air squats x 20 reps and 3 sets / 20 seconds rest

1b) Stair sprints x 1 minute / Walking lunges x 20 reps and 3 sets / 20 seconds rest

Hypertrophy Snack for Full Body AMRAP 5 Minutes

Dual dumbbell squat x 5 reps

Dumbbell push press x 5 reps

Dumbell Romanian deadlift x 5 reps

Dumbbell bent over row x 5 reps

This article originally appeared on Women’s Health UK.

Related:

New research says that strength training will add years to your life

4 progressive overload methods you can use to build muscle without adding weight

The post Try hypertrophy snacks for muscle gains in minutes appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.