What Do I Do When I Go To The Gym?

By: Brandon Gaydorus

​One of the most common questions I get asked is "What Do I Do When I Go To The Gym?".  I mean after all, don't we want to get the most out our time at the gym.  We might as well give it everything that we have when we're there! 

Ahhh?? Well in all seriousness, I think we could all agree it's no fun going to the gym and not knowing what to do.  Therefore, I will make this article as simple as possible.  In return, to give you'll a better understanding of how to design workouts properly!

Warm-Up:

The goal of the warm up is to prepare the body for the movements in the workout and to increase the tissue temperature of your muscles.  So, lets think about this........

We are going to need our hips, shoulders, and core to be working properly to handle an overload on the muscles safely.  Simple enough?

Now time to break it down! 

In a full body workout we...

1.) Squat
2.) Hip Hinge
3.) Push
4.) Pull
5.) Carry

Therefore in a warm-up, to target all these movements. We could do something like....

1.) Toe Touches
2.) Body Weight Split Squats w/Rotation 
3.) Shoulder CARs
4.) Scapular CARs

Technically, we hip hinged, squatted, and primed the mobility of our shoulders.

But wait!!! I thought you said we had to increase the tissue temperature of our muscles? Your right, now it's time to get the body moving.  We can call this next circuit a warm-up circuit.  In this next circuit it's important to do some sort of power exercise, core, glute/hamstring, and coordination pattern.

You could do something like.....

Power - Medicine Ball Slam
Core - Plank
Glute/Hamstring - Single Leg Hip Lift
Coordination - Bear Crawl

Okay, so now your ready to workout! So, do we actually lift weights now? Yeap, you guessed it! To make sure we get a full body workout, we are going to follow the format listed above......

An example of this workout would be:

A1.) Push: Push-Up (4x8)
A2.) Hip Hinge: Kettle Bell Deadlift (4x8)
A3.) Pull: Seated Row (4x8)
A4.) Squat: Goblet Split Squat (4x8 Ea.)
A5.) Carry: Farmer Carry (4x30 yds.)

Making real changes with your body happens through strength training and proper nutrition. So, now you have something else to do besides walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes and leave! Have fun and make sure to have your local personal trainer or health coach check your form, to ensure safety and the most bang for your buck out of your time at the gym.