How To Design A Work Out - Part 5, the little details.

Filed Under Cardio, Exercise, Gyms, Work Out

Thisentryis part 5 of 5 in the series SERIES - How To Design A Workout

This post is part of a series

How To Design A Work Out - Part 1, dividing things up.
How To Design A Work Out - Part 2, the exercises.
How To Design A Work Out - Part 3, cardio basics.
How To Design A Work Out - Part 4, cardio options.
How To Design A Work Out - Part 5, the little details.

We’ve been building a workout together over the past few days. We’ve gone over weight training and cardio. Today, we’re going to cover all the small details that you may not be aware of but which should make your workout experience a bit better.

Stretching

Stretching is important both before and after a workout. I try to do five minutes of general stretching before I start my workout. I then finish my weight workout with five minutes of stretching specific to the area I just worked out. I find that I avoid many of the aches and pains associated with a hard workout when I do this.

Warm up and cool down

This is sort of like stretching before and after your cardio. You really shouldn’t just start running at full speed. There should be a warm up period before your cardio where you go a bit slow, to let your body get used to the movement. Then cool down period after your cardio to let your body have a chance to slowly return to normal. I usually spend five minutes walking before and after my treadmill running workout.

Increasing intensity

We all like making progress, but how do we make progress at the gym? Well, by increasing intensity. You can do it by increasing difficulty or increasing quantity. With weights, increasing difficulty means increasing the weight while increasing the quantity means increasing the number of reps or sets. With cardio, increasing difficulty means increasing speed or resistance while increasing quantity means increasing time. I have a little spreadsheet that I use to keep track of my workout numbers. It’s not very sophisticated, but it helps me remember what I did last week so I can try to match that or beat it this week.

Just remember that this isn’t some kind of competition. You don’t have to improve everything every week. An easy goal to try for is to make one improvement every other week. That means every two weeks you will take one of the components of your workout and improve it. That could mean an extra minute on the elliptical, 5 more lbs on your biceps curls, 1 more rep of squats and so on. Just go for little improvements. Believe me, they add up over time.

Hydrate

Don’t forget to drink water. No, you don’t need a gallon bottle to drag with you everywhere you go. Just stop at the water fountain every 15 to 20 minutes or so.

Change It Up

Don’t be afraid of changing your routine. I see a lot of people who get stuck in a workout and never change it. Your body will adjust to this workout and stop improving over time. So make some differences. Just like I try to improve something every two weeks, I also try to change something every two weeks. Try a different exercise, do your legs workout on Monday instead of Wednesday, try the stationary bike for a day or take a spinning class for an hour. All of these things will keep your body engaged and they’ll keep you interested.

Safety

Remember that you’re trying to be healthy here, which means avoiding injury. This means be safety conscious. Don’t use machines that look broken. Ask someone to spot you if you’re not sure you can lift the weight. If you feel a pain somewhere, stop your workout. Try to walk it off. Does it seem like something temporary? Is it coming back every time you make a certain motion? If you have a chronic pain, something that comes back every time you work out, go to a doctor.

Make Friends

This is the best part of a gym, there’s people around you who are all interested in the same thing you are. Think about that for a second. You’ve just decided that health and fitness are important, and so has everyone else in the gym. Don’t think of them as people to ignore or obstacles on your way to the treadmill, these are valuable resources. They’re potential friends and workout partners. They’re people you can ask for advice. They’ll help encourage you, motivate and challenge you.

That’s it. Every tip I have for a successful workout. Next week we go over some tips on eating healthy. Until then, be healthy!

Series Navigation«How To Design A Work Out - Part 4, cardio options.

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