09/09/2019
How do you structure a workout routine? In this post I explain the 4 major components of every well designed workout.
They are:
Step 1} Warm up: there are a million ways to structure a warm up and the best is dependent on what YOU need most. But, generally, I like to start each warm up with a bit of cardio, 5 to 10 mins on the elliptical, treadmill or bike. This can be followed up with some foam rolling for trigger point release on tight areas (hips flexors, glutes, rear delts, pecs and calves). Then followed by some dynamic stretching exercises for (hip flexors, shoulder and pecs. And finally adding in some activation exercises like (glute bridges, shoulder wall slides, walking lunges, etc) to “cement” it all together. Warm up should be no longer than 5- 15mins.
Step 2} The Main Move is your main “strength move” of the day and is gong to be your heaviest lift. Depending on your goal you can do one or two big lifts on a given day and ideally choose a compound exercise like squats, deadlifts, bench, chin ups, lunges, etch that recruits a metric ton of muscles and builds brute strength.
Step 3} Accessory Work is your lighter exercises that aren’t as taxing as the main move and largely contribute to muscle growth and definition rather than just pure strength. Basically all exercises work here. Just keep the eights lighter than the main move and focus on feeling the muscles work, not trying to use “momentum” to move the weight. 2 to 3 accessory exercises per day is plenty.
Step 4} Finisher can be exercises like kettlebell swings, farmers carriers using a dumbbells or hexagon bar, slade push, steady state cardio..etc. And finishers can also be mobility based, strength based, metabolic based, or a combo of all 3. Either way, choose what best suits YOUR current goals and you can’t go wrong. Personally, I’ve found a combo of all 3 tends to work best as you get best of all worlds.