Have you ever wondered what order you should do your strength training exercises in, if it matters what muscles you work first or if you should mix up your routine each time? I asked our new contributing personal fitness trainer and coach Jason Onserud (check out his bio here) to give us the answers. Here’s Jason…

When you’re starting a resistance training program, there are guidelines to consider when you plan your routine. If you follow them, you’ll see better progress and reduce your risk of injury. You should change your training program every 5-8 workouts to prevent reaching strength plateaus and reduce the risk of injuries like tendinitis.

1. Start with your weak spots. The strength of the muscles you train at the beginning of your workout will improve the most. So if you feel your shoulders are weaker than your chest muscles for example, do the shoulder press before the chest press.

2. Train larger muscle groups before smaller muscle groups. For example, do squats (quadriceps) before sit-ups (rectus abdominus) and chin-ups (latissimus dorsi – upper back) before curls (biceps). If you train smaller muscles first, you’ll fatigue the auxiliary muscles and in turn limit your ability to train the larger muscles to the fullest. Read the rest of this entry »

I took a new class the other day that incorporated the Body Wedge–basically it was sculpt on an angle. The Wedge is like an incline bench except it’s made out of soft foam material which adds a challenging level of instability (and it’s more comfy to lay on!). With it, you can work pretty much every muscle in your body (back, butt, triceps, shoulders, etc.)

During the class we stood and sat on the wedge, lifting weight with dumbbells and body bars. We also laid on it for ab work. If you’ve ever done ab exercises on the incline bench after months of doing crunches on the ground or tried lifting weights while standing on the Bosu, you’ll know what I mean when I say the extra incline and instability really helps you feel the burn!

The Wedge didn’t seem like a dramatically different fitness tool, but it will work your muscles in different ways, so try it the next time you want to mix up your strength routine.

I have to work late. I’m too tired to go to the gym before work. I have to prepare for tomorrow’s meeting. I’ll get a workout in tomorrow. I’m too stressed out. Sometimes excuses can be a lot easier to find than motivation. But guess who works out six times a week? Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

According to Fitness, she does cardio six days a week and adds in strength circuits on three of those days. If Rice can fit an intense workout into her busy schedule, I think we all can.

Now why don’t you try the strength circuit created by her trainer Thomas Tomlo? It’s an intense full body 30 minute workout. You’ll do everything from 60 second bursts of push-ups to combo moves with free weights like lunges with a lateral raise. Check out the full workout on Fitness.com.