Happy Hump Day, GymGeeks!
Hopefully everyone is super energize and ready for the downward slope into a long Memorial Day weekend. I just wanted to share something this morning that’s not necessarily a Gym Pet Peeve, but more of an observation I’ve made over the past month that I’ve spent at my new gym.
Now, I’m all about having a routine. For me, it’s up at 4:00 AM, at the gym by 5, at the office from 7:30 until 4:30, lather, rinse and repeat. On an even more micro level, my gym routine is stretch, light cardio, lift and then a cool down stretch. I leave some ambiguity by saying lift because I let that be dictated by what my goal is. Right now, it’s strength, so my lifts revolve around the “Big 3″: bench press, squats, and deadlifts. We’ll get into why those are the most important lifts for size and strength a little bit later today.
The reason I bring up goals is because I always see people doing the same thing every day. For example, there’s a couple who always do ab routines and light cardio. I’m not one to ever dog or be a jerk about someone working out (in fact, I respect every single person who shows up for wanting to get into better shape). The only conclusion I can come to is that they don’t have a specific goal in mind.
If it’s weight loss, sure cardio will help, but doing crunches every day is not going to help. In fact, it’ll be counterproductive since your body will adjust much quicker and get you to that plateau effect in no time. At that point, all you’ll be doing is mimicking a hamster on a wheel.
I guess the bit of advice I’m trying to get at today is have a specific goal in mind when you want to make a change to your lifestyle. Today’s posts are going to be for those who want sports-specific exercises in their routine (mainly because I’m in the mood after a Miami Heat bashing of the Pacers last night). For some, that’s a goal that they want to attain. I remember a time where I wanted to be built like Ben Roethlisberger, until I realized I’m not 6’4″ and 245 lbs. and probably never would be, but I could at least focus on the agility and burst of speed elements of an NFL player.
Boy am I glad he plays for the Heat…
With that being said, what goals do you set for yourself in the gym? Do you want to be able to dunk like LeBron? Do you want to look like Ryan Reynolds (or Jessical Biel, for my female GymGeeks) in “Blade Trinity?” Hell, do you want to just look good for the opposite gender? These are all things that are worth striving for. The key is to have a goal, research the hell out of it and follow through!
Now let’s go kick some ass today!
Jonathan
I know my chest/triceps/calves day tomorrow will be a killer thanks to Phase 1, Week 4 of Jim Stoppani’s “
