Men\'s Health Singapore - June 2017

JUNE 2017 77

Step 6:
Sweat the Small Stu
In theory, if you exercise too hard,
your body starts to break down.
That’s called overtraining. But

the truth is there’s no such thing

as overtraining. However, it’s

possible to under-recover.

In 2012 and 2013, I trained

Hack’s Pack, a six-member squad

from Ute Crossfi t that competed

in the Crossfi t Games team series.

They trained 15 to 20 hours a

week – running, sprinting, rowing,

lifting – always at full tilt. Yet they

never became overtrained. That’s

because I hammered this point

home: Training your body is just

half the bat le.

Hard workouts tear up your

muscles. Fitness improves

outside the gym, when your

body repairs itself. More e cient

recovery allows you to train more

often and improve faster.

The Hack’s Pack athletes

followed the four strategies

below, and it paid of in a big

way: The squad won the Crossfi t

Games two years in a row.

f1. Get More Sleep

Poor sleep saps your strength,

makes you more prone to

injury, and messes with your

metabolism. When I work with

people who need to get ripped

quickly, I require them to get

at least nine hours of sleep a

night. How? Hang blackout

curtains to turn your bedroom

into a darkroom, and stash

all your electronics an hour

before bedtime.

f2. Manage Your Stress

Life stress impairs healing, and

RUN A TIME AUDIT

“I don’t have the time” is the

single most common excuse

I hear. I respond with my

infamous time audit: We stand

at a whiteboard and I write a big

168 – the number of hours in a

week. Then we break it down,

as shown below.

Estimate the number of hours you

spend per week on each activity. You

don’t have to be exact. If anything,

you want to err on the high side.

Work: __________ hours

Sleep: __________ hours

Eating: __________ hours

Commuting: __________ hours

Family Time: __________ hours

Errands: __________ hours

Chores: __________ hours

Total: __________ hours

168 - (your total) = hours each

week you have for exercise

BUILD A REP GRID

The second most common

excuse: “I don’t have

equipment.” I train a lot of

Special Forces soldiers – men

who more often than not are

deployed to areas where they

have the same limitations. The

solution: rep grids.

Draw a 10×10 grid on a piece of

paper. Choose a body-weight

exercise – push-up, squat, lunge –

and do a few reps. Write the number

of reps in one of the boxes. Keep at

it throughout the day until you’ve

fi lled the grid. Even if you do just

three reps each time, you’ll do 300

by the end of the day.

your body doesn’t have the

resources to recover from both

life stress and workout stress.

There’s no single best way to

recover from life stress, and we

all have our own tricks. Preston

meditates for 20 minutes a

day. A friend of mine builds

Lego sets with his kids.

Whatever helps you unwind,

do it daily.

f3. Walk

A few years ago, I suddenly

found myself lifting heavier

and running faster. What

changed? I’d recently adopted

a dog, and was walking an

extra 30 to 60 minutes a day.

A daily walk increases blood

fl ow, helping you recover from

tough workouts. It’s also a

low-impact way to burn a few

more calories.

f4. Tend Your Muscles

Life and exercise make some

of your muscles tighter than

others. Tighter muscles

increase your risk of injury.

My clients foam roll and do

targeted mobility exercises

before workouts for at least 10

minutes. I roll my muscles for

20 minutes each night as my

wife and I watch our favorite

TV series, Game of Thrones.

THE THREE BEST CARDIO

WORKOUTS FOR LIFTERS

fThe Treadmill Burner

Run for eight minutes. Then rest

for two minutes as you set the

treadmill to its steepest incline

• 15 degrees is ideal. Now, run
  as fast as you safely can for 45
  seconds. Hop o (feet on the
  rails) and rest for 30 seconds.
  That’s one round. Try for six.
  fThe Top-end Test
  Row for 60 minutes straight,
  trying to cover as much distance
  as possible. If you can hit
  15,400m, you’re a cardio beast.
  fThe Perfect Recovery
  On days you don’t lift, do 30 to 60
  minutes of low-intensity rowing,
  running or biking.

For a three-page workout with

detailed exercise descriptions,

reps and sets, see page 70.

Maximus Stats

Height:1.88m

Weight:114kg

Body fat:10 percent

101kg bench press: 36 reps

Squat:236kg

Deadlift:272kg

500m row:1:16.9

Daily calories:8,000

Favorite muscle

meal: Organic double

cheeseburger