Activity log - resistance training and flexibility workout

Explanation:

Tamir suggests spending half of your 40 minutes on strength training. Increasing your muscle mass increases your basal metabolic rate (meaning your body burns more calories at rest), and strength training can also help prevent injury, improve posture, and more, he explains. “I would do strength training before cardio because you’re going to be fresher at the beginning of the workout,” says Tamir. “You’ll have more energy to lift heavier weights, and you won’t be wobbling all over the place.” This means you’ll be able to put more energy into every exercise.

For the strength portion of your 40-minute routine, Tamir suggests pairing a lower-body exercise (like a squat or a deadlift) with an upper-body exercise (like a bent-over row), and a core exercise (like a plank). How many reps you do of each will depend on your goal and current fitness level. To gain muscle mass, you should aim to do 6-12 reps of each, and the weight should be heavy enoughthat the last couple of reps are challenging, but you can still keep proper form. After doing all of the reps for each of the three exercises, you'll rest for 30 to 45 seconds. Then you repeat that set a total of three times.

It should take you roughly six minutes to cycle through all three sets, which means you have 14 minutes left. Continue this pattern, selecting a different pairing of moves to complete, until your 20 minutes are up.

Tamir also suggests utilizing strength moves that work both sides at the same time, or bilateral moves. Unilateral moves, which work each side separately (like split squats), are great for ensuring the muscles on one side aren’t doing more of the work, but since you need to do one set for each side they’re not ideal when you’re short on time.