How to spend the most efficient hour at the gym..?
So you walk through the gym doors, swipe your key tag, what now...Yeah sure hop on the treadmill and run aimlessly. Run until your knees hurt, develop hatred for the gym and exercise completely defeating the purpose. Waste time, money, get discouraged and we're right back to ground zero. I’ve seen it happen too many times. We have to hit the gym with a game plan, a purpose otherwise we get lost and then we find the couch at home. The goal of this write up is to give you not only help you confidently navigate the gym but empower you when you arrive at your facility.
Warm-Up (2-3 mins)
First things first, as soon as you make it to the gym give yourself a pat on the back!! Seriously, that is the hardest part of it all, ARRIVING! But now that you are here lets make the most of this outing. 7 times out of 10 you have a sedentary job or have had a sedentary day. So we must get the body warm, let the body know "its time to move” . Dynamic stretches such as Frankensteins, high knees, arm circles, hip circles, walking quad stretches etc. This will get your heart rate up, blood circulating to the muscles, engage the abs and give you some time to get mentally acclimated. Now in a perfect world you grab that rolly stick (pics below) and roll your legs in the sauna, get out, foam roll, on top of that get some dynamic stretching in. This is what I do, haven't had a pulled muscle or really any injuries & I'd like to keep it that way ! So I go the extra mile to warm up and it also feels good. Now the foam roller is awesome because it is dynamic, engages the core, increases HR and induces myofascial release! Now we know that most bodily releases are usually good and this has been a go to of mine since introduced to me in college (the foam roller). Side note- Andy Deck is genius and a stud. I wanna say his IG handle is @andydeck. But, Myosfascial release is a safe and very effective technique that usually involves applying gentle, sustained pressure into a myofascial connective tissue to loosen stiffness and even eliminate pain in muscles. Sounds intimate I know but this can be easily achieved via a foam roller and you rolling whatever muscles you are going to work that day. I have even graduated to a pvc pipe simply because a normal roller feels like a pillow at this point. So between this couple minutes you are now ready to hop on your cardio apparatus.
CARDIO (12-15 mins)
Now were getting to the bread of the sandwich. A few notes on cardio, running long distances only makes you better at running long distances. So if that's your goal, get after it! But for the rest of the world we are looking for gains and most importantly save some time. #timepoverty . The most effective form of "fat burning" cardio is most certainly High Intensity Interval Training commonly known as HIIT. Based on tons of research this enables you to truly get your bang for your buck when pushing through some dreaded cardio. One study from University Ontario suggests that you can burn off more body fat with even less than 15 minutes of HIIT than slow steady state cardio (Macpherson 2011). This study had male and female participants follow one of two cardio regimens for 6 weeks. One group ran slow steady state cardio for 30-60 minutes 3 times per week. While the other group did 4-6 30 second sprints with 4 minute rest 3 times per week. That"s HIIT with an extended rest interval. The group doing the sprints lost twice as much body fat as the steady state group despite the fact they did total of only 6-9 cardio minutes per week. The sprint group also picked up a pound of muscle. So not only are we sparing muscle but building it vs steady state which controversially uses protein/amino acids after a certain duration. Example: 30s sprint 1 min rest 30s sprint 1 min rest 30s sprint 1 min rest. Now you can do this in a plethora of ways from actually sprinting, altering the incline on the treadmill, or increasing the cross-ramp on the elliptical. I will truly breakdown cardio in another article. The example above was a 6 week program so consistency is always the key variable. So be diligent in whatever regimen you decide. There are no quick fixes in longevity and sustainability. Be patient your are not going to get shredded overnight as you did not g get out of shape over night. It took consistency to get outa shape as well.
Strength Training (30 mins)
Hopping off that apparatus your muscles should be ready! We all know a warm muscle and epinephrine always leads to a good pump. This is the “meat” of the sandwich! For my vegans this is the “black bean patty”. Although 30 minutes for the resistance training aspect may seem short. But if you minimize rest periods and approach the workout thinking solely about optimal effectiveness it'll be more than enough time. A few key components to optimize results would be to use large muscle groups, minimize rest periods, and super set or better yet circuits! Research suggest that multi-joint free weight exercises such as a squat, bench press, shoulder press, bent over row will maximize the number of calories burned more than machines or single joint exercises such as a bicep curl. Simply put multi-joint exercises use more muscle groups, such as those that assist and stabilize the muscles and joints involved. Obviously the muscles you work the more calories you burn. One study shows participants who did a barbell squat vs the leg press burned 50% more kcals (Tower et al.2005). So two objectives in one, eliminate your rest periods with super sets. Research from Syracuse University reported that participants super setting chest/back, biceps/triceps, quads/hams increased the number of kcals burning during and an hour after the workout by 35% more than subjects who targeted the same muscle groups but did not super set (Kelleher et al.2010) . For instance, my personal training sessions are 35-45 mins long typically and we do chest/back/legs. Push ups/TRX rows/squats, bench press/seated row/step up, push/pull/legs. When we pull we work our back and secondarily our biceps. When we push (chest) we use primarily our pecs and triceps. Legs essentially use ¾ of your body because with out your abs being directly engaged, you'll fall. So I hope you can see 30 minutes is more than enough time. Plus your busy! So get after it and get outa there!
CARDIO pt.2 (12-15 mins)
Unless your on one of those fad diets you have two slices to your sandwich. So this last piece my be most essential for your recovery. One of the greatest subconscious deterrents of working out is having the walk funny due to that kick ass leg workout! Folks begin to subconsciously equate pain and embarrassment with the gym and of course, you don't go. So to help prevent such a slippery slope get that last bout of cardio to help remove all the lactic acid that took place during the calorie crushing strength training session. Cardio post resistance training will flush out the bi products of muscle trauma and reduce the effects of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). Despite cardio being the last thing you want to do on leg day it'll make those wobbly legs feel better immediately and the next few days. And the last benefit of this HIIT cardio bout to finish is an increase in your Resting Metabolism Rate (RMR) will now be higher for up to a day! Simply said, you will be burning more calories sitting at work (doing nothing) hence the name "resting metabolic--metabolism".
Cool down (2-3 mins)
Before you rush out the gym hop in your car while your HR and BP is up and risk passing out, take a few moments to cool down. Let your body return to homeostasis. This can be achieved via a nice cool down stretch. I told you to be dynamic before, but now is the time to chill out and perform static (stand still) stretches like the butterfly. Focus on the muscles you worked as this will help reduce DOMS as well. A slow foam roll is awesome too, Have fun!!
Below is a picture of the foam roller to the right and the "rolly stick". Use the stick on your muscles like your rolling dough. Foam roller is tough to describe, reach out for more details there.
RLH3
Sources:
Macpherson, R.E.K., et al.2011. Run sprint interval training improves aerobic performance but not maximal cardiac output. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 43(10:115-122.
Tower, D.E.,et al. 2005 National Strength and Conditioning Associations Annual Meeting, Las Vegas.
Kelleher, A., et al. 2010. The metabolic costs of reciprocal supersets vs. traditional resistance exercises in young recreational adults. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 24(4);1043-1051
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