If you play sports all year long you may be in pretty good shape but you may not be in shirtless shape.  Are you in shape for the shirts against skins games?  Who knows who will be watching from the sidelines!  If not it’s time to start working on that as the summer is about to heat up. 

When it comes to finding the right ways to lose that extra chub all it takes is a little extra effort.  An effective way of exercising is interval training.  This is pretty much a period of hard exercise followed by a period of rest.  There are many other articles out there that will get you the specifics on interval training.  I just want to give you some ideas on the exercise equipment that will help you get it done.

A basic item that has been used for years in training boxers and martial artists is the jump rope.  You’re laughing…?  When was the last time you tried jumping rope?  It is a simple cheap device that can get your heart pumping to the max.  Do a 5-10 minute interval training exercise with the jump rope and you will begin to respect it.  You can also get weighted jump ropes to help work out your arms.

Another basic item for interval training and working abs is the medicine ball.  The medicine ball has many variations these days but they all serve the same purpose.  They allow you to use a lot of the small stabilizer muscles in your body.  This will help tighten your abs and the rest of your body while making you more agile on the field.  Medicine balls are also great to use with a partner!

You can also use an agility ladder in your interval training program.  Your sports program may already use this but working it into an interval training program will get you results.  It will help your agility and increase your fat burning capacity.

One item that is required with any interval training is a stopwatch.  You can get a regular stopwatch, a table timer, or the jumbo wrist stopwatch.  The jumbo wrist stopwatch comes with a wrist strap, a lanyard, and a clipboard clip.  I would recommend the jumbo wrist stopwatch just because of its versatility.

So whether your in shape for the shirtless games or not it would be a good idea to try some interval training.  Summer is right around the corner and you don’t want to be one of the players with a shirt on when its 100 degrees out.

For more information and pricing on fitness items that will help you lose some flab go to www.morelyathletic.com.