Australian personal trainer and bodybuilder Kris Porthill is based in Shanghai. Last year he was crowned Mr Universe, Mr World and Mr Australia and now he has joined forces with TALK to reveal his top training tips.

I thought I’d discuss a couple of training principles that might spice up your training. One is for cardio fitness and the other is for muscle gain.

The first is PHA – peripheral heart action – which is the basis of many circuit classes. It can be completed in 60 minutes or less, and uses all the muscles, including your heart. When training your upper body, blood flow is focused on the muscles above the waist. If the focus is then shifted to the lower body, the blood must be shunted down quickly to the lower limbs, requiring increased energy expenditure via the contractions of the circulatory system.

A simple plan would be two rounds of: ten push ups, walking lunges, lat pulldowns, step ups and dips, followed by five to ten minutes of walking or jogging on the treadmill. Then do another two rounds of ten bicep curls, squats, tricep pushdowns, weighted lunges and shoulder presses, followed by five to ten minutes on the rower. You can add your own exercises, but make sure the focus alternates from upper to lower, followed by an active recovery cardio exercise. Perform this twice a week, including warm up, cool down and stretching, and you have given your body a great work out. You can switch in new exercises to keep it interesting and it’s great for working out with a friend as you alternate exercises.

There are varying views on hypertrophy (muscle growth). Myofibrillar hypertrophy happens when you lift progressively heavier weights and the muscle fibres become stronger and thicker. This is pretty much guaranteed. Another theory yet to be scientifically proven (but it has worked for me) is sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, or the volume within the muscle cell increasing. This is done by pumping the muscle and increasing the blood flow to the area. Not training for the burn, but a full range repetition with the focus on the squeeze.

To use this method you should focus more on a slow and controlled repetition speed. Use a weight that allows at least eight repetitions, and isn’t so heavy that you need to bounce or ‘cheat the weight up’. Your main objective is to isolate the muscle and fill it with blood. Start the next set early, before you have fully recovered. This type of training is a welcome change to using heavy weights that can, after extended periods, stress the joints. Exercise is for life, and this might just be the thing to push you out of your comfort zone towards levels of new growth.

To contact Kris with your questions, or for more information about personal training in Shanghai, email: [email protected]