You get to the gym, and maybe have an idea of what muscle groups or exercises you’re going to hit, but you’re not sure where to start..
Which exercises or muscle groups should you hit first? Should you warm up with cardio? How long should the workout be? Let’s unpack some of the basics when it comes to setting up your workout!
HAVE A PLAN!
The very first step to setting up your workout is to have an idea of what you want to accomplish. Maybe you just want a stronger bench press, or bigger quads, or bigger and stronger everything. Either way, having a goal in mind will make things like exercise selection, and overall, workout design, much easier.
Before we get into the workout itself..
THE IMPORTANCE OF WARMING UP!
It should go without saying, but warming up is important. A lot of people (myself included at one time) tend to skip out on getting a good warm up before a workout.
Simply jumping into a workout – especially if you’re using heavier weights – puts not only your muscles and performance at risk, but more importantly, your joints, tendons, ligaments, etc, also at risk
This is important because a bad enough injury to one of your joints, for example, could potentially be permanent. And not only could forever cause issues with that part of your body, but would also then prevent you from efficiently training that area again, if at all.
Good ways to warm up are, of course, some light cardio, or stretching. But even better ways to warm up are by doing some dynamic movements with the parts of the body planned for training.
Simple examples:
- Arm circles forward and backward to warm-up the shoulder joints
- Lifting the knee and rotating the leg in a circular motion for the hip joint
- Using bands or very light weights for arm curls & extensions to warm up the elbow joint – band extensions are great for those who experience elbow pain when bench pressing
- Slow and controlled bodyweight squats to warm up hips & legs
There are various ways to warm up. The point is.. It’s important, so just do some damn warm ups!
FIRST EXERCISE TO DO
Usually, compound movements, or exercises, that will require the most amount of effort, should be performed first.
Compound movements are the exercises that involve multiple muscle groups/joint actions, and also typically target the biggest muscle groups: Legs, Chest, Bac
These are exercises such as:
- Deadlift – lower back, hips, glutes, hammies
- Bench press – chest, front delts, triceps, shoulder & elbow joint
- Squats – quads, glutes, hip, knee, and ankle joint
- Overhead press – front & side delts, triceps, shoulder & elbow joint
Performing compound movements first is effective because using multiple muscle groups while everything is “fresh” will lead to more optimal performance on those lifts. For example, you wouldn’t want to blast some heavy tricep extensions and then try bench pressing, because now your triceps – which assist with the bench press – could be a limiting factor in your overall performance.
This should also be aligned with your goals. For example, if you have the specific goal of increasing deadlift strength, on the days when you’ll be deadlifting, you would want to do that first. This way you’ll have the most energy for the most important lift, and it will be easier to manage and track your progress.
After you crush the first and most important exercise, the rest of the workout really depends on you and your goals. Usually someone might perform another compound lift, or get into some isolation work – bicep curls, shoulder lateral raises, leg curls, etc
You don’t have to workout for hours and hours, or do every exercise there is for each muscle group. Technically, if you only cared about getting stronger on one particular lift, you could just put the work in for that lift and then be done for the day. However, most people usually also want to work on other areas, as well
HOW MANY TOTAL EXERCISES SHOULD YOU DO?
For the particular muscle groups you hit in a given workout, a general rule of thumb is to hit at least 1-3 exercises per muscle group, per workout.
Overall, 3-5 total exercises is really all you need to have a good workout. Depending on goals and preferences, you could go more or less.
A workout could look like:
- 1-3 compound exercises w/ 1-2 isolation exercises (bicep curls, tricep extensions, leg extensions, etc)
EXERCISES PER GOAL
STRENGTH GOALS
Building strength doesn’t require long workouts, a ton of volume, or training to failure. Instead, strength is a neuromuscular system adaptation. Essentially, it’s your nervous system working with your muscles, bones, etc, to overcome a force
That being said, a model for strength building (per exercise you want to get stronger at) could look like such:
- 1-3x per week; performing 1-5 sets of 1-5 reps; 3-5 min rest periods
If simply building strength is your goal for particular lifts, you don’t have to worry about spending a ton of time in the gym, or going 6 days per week, as long as you’re hitting your planned lifts consistently and efficiently enough.
HYPERTROPHY OR “BODYBUILDING” STYLE GOALS
If your goal is to build, sculpt, and shape your body like the Greek Gods then hypertrophy training is your best bet!
Muscle hypertrophy refers to the size of skeletal muscle
In order to build and shape the body, using both compound and isolation exercises will be the most effective.
The workout setup sample I gave earlier is one perfect example of how to set up a good hypertrophy-style workout:
- 1-3 compound exercises w/ 1-2 isolation exercises; 2-4 sets; at least 6-12 reps; 1.5-2 min rest periods
CARDIO & MUSCLE
Light – and usually shorter – cardio sessions before and/or after a workout are great for getting the body warmed up and cooled down. Walking on the treadmill at an incline, biking, elliptical, etc.
Longer, more intense cardio sessions are best done on either non-lifting days, or at a different time of day than your lifting session, as to not interfere with energy levels before a workout, or recovery just after a workout
SHORT ON TIME
If you’re someone who has a crazy busy schedule, or if you’re in a situation where you have to get a quick workout in, the good news is that I mentioned you really only need 3-5 total exercises in order to have a good workout. Even in extreme cases – and given your goal – you could get a good workout with 1-3 exercises. Other than that, here are some tips for still getting a good workout in, while being short on time..
SUPERSETS
A superset is performing two exercises back to back for one set. It’s usually done with opposite muscle groups: bicep curls/tricep extensions, Bench press/bent over row, squat/shoulder press, etc. This allows more work to be done in less time.
DROP SETS
Say you only have time to do maybe one set of an exercise. Performing a drop set can give you the intensity & “pump” you would get from multiple sets. A drop set is when you perform an exercise – typically starting with a heavier weight – for multiple reps, then you drop the weight and continue to perform the exercise going down in weight and up in reps, essentially until you can’t handle it anymore.
This creates a crazy pump and muscle burn! These are great for, as I mentioned, wanting to hit a certain muscle group but being short on time. They’re also great for if you just want to annihilate a particular muscle group, such as the biceps
CIRCUIT TRAINING
Circuit training is another great way to get a good workout in, while being short on time. Circuits are when you pick multiple exercises (say, at least 3 to 5) and perform one set of each, back to back. Performing one exercise, finishing the set, then going right to the next, and so on, nonstop, until you’ve finished the circuit.
Then, depending on total time, goals, etc, you could take a 1-3 min rest, and repeat the circuit multiple times.
Circuit training is great for being short on time, as well as incorporating cardio into your workout, as circuits can serve as great cardio workouts, too.
ABS
Sure, abs look cool, and are great for vanity purposes, BUT.. there’s a more important reason why they should be added to your workout routine. Your abs are a part of your overall core, which is important to train and keep strong because a strong core helps with posture, balance, and helps to support the spine, but also is important for holding and lifting heavy weights. So, having strong abs and a lower back is crucial for things like heavy squats, and deadlifts
An easy way to incorporate and start hitting your abs is to train them a little bit (5 mins or so) after, or before, each workout – or – ab workouts that are a little longer and more intense (10-15 min) a few times per week.
SAMPLE WORKOUTS
Upper body workout:
- Chest Press – flat or incline – (chest, front delts, triceps) – 2-3 sets
- Dumb bell row (back, traps, rear delts) – 2-3 sets
- Cable lateral raise (side delt, traps) – 2 sets
- Bicep curl – 1-2 sets
- Tricep extension – 1-2 sets
- Abs – 5 mins
Lower body/Legs workout
- Squats – 2-4 sets
- Lunges – 2-3 sets
- Leg extensions – 2-3 sets
- Leg curls – 2-3 sets
- Calve extensions – 2-3 sets
“Push” workout
- Flat bench press – 2-4 sets
- Incline dumbbell press – 2-4 sets
- Dumbbell shoulder press – 2-3 sets
- Chest cable fly – 2-3 sets
- Tricep extension – 2-3 sets
“Pull” workout
- Bent over row – 2-4 sets
- Lat pulldown – 2-3 sets
- Seated cable row – 2-3 sets
- Cable side lateral raises – 2-3 sets
- Rear delt pulls (face pulls) – 1-3 sets
- 1-2 Bicep exercises of choice – 1-3 sets
Leg workout 2
- Deadlift – 2-4 sets
- Leg press – 2-3 sets
- RDL (Romanian deadlift) – 2-3 sets
- Leg extensions – 2-3 sets
- Leg curls – 2-3 sets
- Calves – 2-3 sets