A Typical Day at the Gym

Man these dreary days are sooooo hard on your motivation. I actually managed to go to the gym TWICE today, but I still couldn't get myself to do any cardio. Haha. But since a lot of you have asked what I DO at that awful/wonderful place, I will attempt to de-mystify my trips to the gym. Today was a little atypical so I'll tell you what I generally do, first.

So generally I plan on being there for about an hour if I'm just working out by myself. I've found it's better/easier to start with cardio because you're fresh so you work harder, and once you get the adrenaline going its easier to convince yourself to keep going. So I'll do at least 10 mins on the stair master, and then at least 20 mins on the elliptical. I do the "speed intervals" on the stair master and "calorie burner" on the elliptical. Then I'll focus on a certain muscle group/body part and do 3 sets of 12-15 reps. Usually I'll try to alternate one set with a set of abs. So, if I am working my back; I'll do 12 repititions of the incline row, 15 half crunches, and then do that 2 more times. I usually try to do at least 3 different machines. I never do free weights unsupervised just because I'm not comfortable enough with them without professional guidance. Haha. Anyway, depending on how I'm feeling, I'll go to the little section with the mats and do another 3x15x3 of abs. Some days I'm super motivated and sometimes I feel I've done enough. Like if I flaked out on the elliptical I'll make myself kick my butt on the ab mat.

"uuuuuuhh... How am I supposed to figure out what the machines DO? And then how do I do it?" I admit some of those look more like torture devices than a vehicle of self improvement, but they usually have labels that explain how to use them and which muscles they target. The ones at my gym have a man that has the muscles highlighted red to show which are used, and then has the names listed underneath. Some machines even have "primary" and "secondary" muscles listed. My gym has the machines all grouped together by which muscles they use which was really helpful when I started. I wanted to do shoulders but didn't know what to do so I asked(novel concept, right?) and Nichole told me to go to the left half of the second row and anything there would work my shoulders. Don't be afraid of looking stupid, because despite what they might try to make you believe, or is easy to convince yourself, even the most buff guy in there didn't just walk into a gym for the first time and know how to do and use EVERYTHING. I mean I've been a member for 4 months now and there are still machines I haven't tried. Some because I already have a few that I really like for that muscle group, some because they look boring and even some that still look scary or I KNOW are out of my league. There are some that I've tried once and said "ummm....no." Again, it comes down to self awareness. Know what your abilities are, but always push yourself forward. Go for 10 reps when you've been doing 8, or try that machine that you saw a girl using last time who looked like she was on your level. There's a difference between observing and noting those around you and gauging their ability in relation to yours, and then comparing yourself to someone and being discouraged when you're not as fit as them. Everyone has to go at their own pace.

Anyway, off my soapbox...where was I? During my training sessions, we usually target a muscle group and do a variety of things to work that area. With Nichole usually we do a lot of very targeted exercises using a mix of machines, dumbells/free weights and weightless exercises[squats, etc]. With Josh We do less weights and more weightless stuff. Like I mentioned before, "weightless legs" is trainer speak for you-will-hate-your-life exercises. We also box which is such a good arm workout and is also really good cardio. I really love personal training. It's slightly masochistic but I'm always excited for them and they usually kick my butt so hard. It's really nice not having to decide for yourself what to do, and having a coach to motivate you.

Today I actually had a training session with Nichole, and then I went back for one later in the day bc I was going to try to squeeze in with Josh but I ended up not eing able to. I ended up just working back and abs, solo. So I actually did legs in the morning and then back in the afternoon which is really strange for me. I also started my afternoon workout with abs, which was also weird. But I was being lazy and indecisive so I just did abs until I could make up my mind what I wanted to do. I just made myself DO something and then I got in the groove and got motivated. ...but not enough to walk my butt upstairs and get on an elliptical. Lol My work schedule changed so I can't train tomorrow like I wanted to so I basically just fit 2 days of weights into 1 day and I'll just do all cardio the rest of the week bc I'll be busy.

2 other things that I feel are really important to an effective gym session: water and music. I always drink at least a big glass of water before I work out and a full bottle during my workout. Make sure you stay hydrated!!! Also, I definitely recommend setting up a playlist or pandora station to listen to during your workout. My "gasolina" radio station on pandora has gotten me thru lots of tough spots during cardio. Nothing to pump you up like Latin beats and booty-shaking rap songs from the 2000s.