Rethinking Exercising/Working Out
I used to hate working out. I kind of still do, but I’m slowly starting to enjoy it.
I have an incentive since my girlfriend loves swimming in the morning, and also leads the workout group with her resident class some nights of the week. We woke up at 5am so she could go swim 35 laps at 530am this morning, and that was after a particularly rough night with the group last night. She swam at Missouri and played softball and volleyball in high school. So basically, she is a dream girl and I am not a dream guy. She says she can beat me up, I have to prove her wrong. I don’t have to beat her up, I just have to be strong enough to stop her from beating me up.
That is not the reason I find myself enjoying exercising, though. I paid for a personal trainer. It was $400 for 10 sessions, which seems completely reasonable. It has been worth every dollar.
My trainer owns the gym within walking distance of my mom’s house. We meet every Friday. Every time we meet, he gives me these workouts that are just fun and make sense to me. I’ll list them below in a second, but the main reason it has changed my perspective on exercise is because it’s a full body workout every day. I don’t feel like I’m just doing one muscle/area for one day. I am going in to do everything in 45-60 minutes. That’s a total of 75 minutes if you count going to the gym and coming home plus stretching and running.
After a few weeks, I started to think to myself, Why hasn’t it always been like this???
For example, when I do a squat, on my way up I do a shoulder press or side raise with dumbbells. It’s been revolutionary for me. It’s so simple. Why did I make things hard on myself? I’ve always known that I get strength from my legs and can use that to strengthen my upper body.
When I play basketball, I make sure my feet are set straight towards the rim and step into my shot before releasing. There’s a motion to it and the momentum propels me forward. I used to practice running three pointers the way people practice half court shots. I would take those shots in rec games to the chagrin of my coaches and teammates, but it would go in because the motion makes it easier on your arms when you shoot since your legs are doing all the work.
Anyway, why haven’t I been applying this to working out/building muscle?
Better late than never!
The workouts are generally like this:
-squat + press/raise
-ab workout
-lunges
-rows/curls
-step ups + press/tricep
-other ab workout (if you did Russian twists initially, do leg raises here to work out the other part of your abs)
-pushups
-lunges
This isn’t exact, it’s just me trying to summarize what my trainer has everyone in his gym do. And from what I’ve seen, it’s completely changing what I’ve always seen as the traditional way of going to the gym. It’s nothing groundbreaking (it’s always existed), but it’s such an efficient way to work out. Most of us are busy, working adults. We’re not all meatheads looking to go from machine-to-machine with two hours at our disposal.
Here’s five different workouts we’ve done so far. Now that we’ve done a few, I don’t do the same things from each workout, but pick and choose from ones I enjoy doing:
Workout 1:
-squat/press (push above ahead) (3 sets of 10)
-traditional sit up (3 sets of 10)
-lunges in place/stationary (10 on one leg, 10 on other, 3 sets)
-push ups (3 sets of 10)
-step ups (have one foot up, step up with other foot and do press with that arm too. 10 on each side, 3 sets)
-cable rows/pull (10-15 reps on both arms, 3 sets)
-crunches (3 sets of 10-15)
-walking lunges (no set reps, but maybe 3 sets of 10-15 yards of lunges)
Workout 2:
-Jump squat (3 sets of 10)
-sit-up with shoulder press (when at top of sit up, do a shoulder press, 3 sets of 10)
-step up with tricep press (same as above step up, but when stepping up, do a tricep press. 10 for each leg, 20 tricep presses total, 3 sets)
-cable bicep curl
-dead lift alternating legs (grab a plate [I do 35 lbs at the moment], stand with your legs apart, holding the plate, bring the plate to your right foot, then bring it to your stomach, then bring the plate to your left foot. Do both sides 10 times. 3 sets of that)
-sliding pushups (3 sets of 10)
-open and closed abs (hands out and meet your legs, 3 sets of 10)
Workout 3:
-lunges while holding a plate out (10 each leg, 3 sets)
-one arm Russian twist (hold weight in one arm and do 10 reps, then switch arms, 3 sets)
-squat with side dumbbell raise (3 sets of 10)
-step up with shoulder press (3 sets of 10)
-sit up while point arms to the ceiling
-squat/flip dumbbells/press (3 sets of 10)
-staggered hand position push ups (3 sets of 10)
Workout 4:
-alternating shoulder press
-ball raises with knees (put a fitness ball in between your knees, squeeze, bring to 90 degree angle for ab workout, 3 sets)
-step up holding plate straight out (10 each leg, 3 sets)
-lawn mower (in squat/dead lift position, with one arm, hold a weight and act as if you were starting a lawn mower. 10 each arm, 3 sets)
-iron cross aka side weight hold up and do in place lunges (3 sets of 10)
-ab wheel
-overhead squat
Workout 5:
-squat/Russian twist at top with medicine ball
-Russian twist with a medicine ball
-step up shoulder press (10 each side, 3 sets)
-one arm rows/suspension cable trainer (10 each side, 3 sets)
-walking lunges with a plate thrust (distance, 3 sets)
-narrow/wide pushes
-jump lunges (10 each leg, 3 sets)
-ab leg raises (raise 1 leg, raise other leg, raise both. 3 sets)
Ok that’s it! I just wanted to share something that I’m excited about after never, ever being enthused about it. I used to hate hearing the word “gym,” in fact I still kind of do. Now, I find myself starting to go at least 2-3 times a week.