There are a lot of people who make a resolution to go to the gym out of guilt or to socialize but there are some who are finally getting the guts to change their lives. And then I realized: Everyone has to start somewhere. No, this isn’t a romantic tale, I saw a woman on a treadmill one row over busting her butt at 4 mph. I suppressed a scream, put down my water bottle, and started to stretch.Īs I was warming up I scanned the room – I’m a pretty notorious people watcher – and I saw her. The person next to me was reading the Economist, which I think takes a fair degree of concentration that obviously detracts from athletic coordination, and he was walking at 2.7 mph. So I walked into the gym Tuesday night, grumbling about the crowds, and settled on a treadmill. There is never a wait for a cardio machine and the weight area, which takes up the entire bottom floor, is usually deserted. I’ve been there at 6 pm and maybe 10 treadmills are in use. It’s brand new, modern (the treadmills have iPod charging docks and TVs), huge and doesn’t have a lot of members yet since it’s pretty expensive (luckily, I could piggy back onto a family plan that my mom has up in Pennsylvania and I pay next to nothing to be a member). You have to understand that my gym is unusually peaceful. I spent a good chunk of Tuesday dreading going to the gym because I was convinced it was going to be overrun by people who had no interest in exercise but were there to suppress feelings of guilt. I’ve been guilty of harshly judging people who join gyms in January but something changed this year. Or if you're not looking to think at all tonight, just follow the plan below it hits all of your major muscle groups and will help you add muscle and build strength while burning fat, all without having to fight a meathead for equipment.Some people call them “Resolutioners” and some call them “January Joiners” and some call them “those people who hog the treadmills for 45 minutes to slowly walk shuffle”. No matter which exercise you choose, those movements will make sure you get a full-body workout. The study was done using fan bikes because the machines allow you to go full bore without getting hurt.įinally, if you're ever unsure of what to do, all you need to recall are five fundamental movements: the squat (bending at your knees), the hip-hinge (bending at your hips), the push (pressing weight away from your body), the pull (pulling weight into your body), and the plank (locking down your core to resist movement in your spine).įor example: lunges, then deadlifts, then pushups, pullups, and a plank. For example, you've probably heard of "Tabatas," a fast and loud 20-seconds on, 10 seconds off protocol that researchers found can skyrocket your fitness in just four-minutes-if you're willing to go as hard as possible. It also pays to show some love to the cardio machines that everyone else hates, Spatz says.Those tend to be the stairclimber, fan bike, versaclimber, and Jacob's ladder, which force you to work harder than the treadmill. Same goes for a dumbbell or kettlebell row instead of a barbell row, or a goblet squat instead of a barbell back squat. For instance, a kettlebell floor press can substitute for a barbell bench press. With just a couple of free weights in hand, it's easy to achieve the same results you'd see from more popular exercises that require weight stations and bulky equipment. If your fellow gym-goers raided all the dumbbells, look for kettlebells-in many newer gyms, they're just as abundant and not always as popular. (3 sets of up to 20 reps is a good starting point for any of these moves.) When possible, adding some free weights to the mix will also help. Worst case: You set a timer for 30 minutes and do as many reps and sets as you can. First, claim a small chunk of real estate-and by small, we mean as little as three by six feet. That's enough to do bodyweight movements like air squats, pushups, hip raises, and planks, says Harski. "And yet," he says, "they manage to be some of the fittest people in the world."įor trainers like Spatz and Harski, a good workout comes down to a few very simple, excuse-proof principles. And if you know what you're doing, you can pull off those two feats literally anywhere using simple, timeless movements.Ĭonsider your average soldier, says Greg Spatz, a doctor of physical therapy with Resilient Performance PT in New York City. Spatz works with various branches of the military and points out that soldiers don't always have access to fancy gyms in most places they get deployed. But most weights and pieces of machinery are there to do one of two things-work your muscles, or work your heart rate, Harski says. "People have this idea that certain pieces of equipment are magical," says Cliff Harski, training director at Fitwall.
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