So, you’re thinking about joining a fitness center for
some serious gym workouts?
One main reason why serious bodybuilders join gyms is
so they can move quickly from one machine to the next to work out with more
intensity in less time. There is something called super-setting when you
perform two or more exercises using opposing muscle groups back to back such as
when, for example, you first do a bench press on the smith machine and then
immediately work your pulling muscles on the seated rowing machine.
Crowded gyms, however, can be very frustrating and
downright annoying particularly when super-setting. This situation may
develop into an irritation that affects how hard you train especially when your
main objective should be to concentrate on performing each exercise with
perfect form. It’s hard to give every rep and set everything you’ve got
when gym etiquette dictates you let others share the machines while you take
your time doing all your exercises back to back for three or four rounds.
There are gyms that resemble underground dungeons
where the smell of sweat wafting through the air is like the salty smell of sea
air at the beach and the sound of weights crashing to the floor after deadlifts
and snatches are like music but the franchised gym you end up going to is
probably not one of them.
A few other
Items of Gym Etiquette
If YOU are the one who needs to use a machine and
someone else is using it, ask to share.
Learn how to use the machines properly.
Don’t use the flat bench press machine for doing curls. If you don’t
know what a machine is supposed to be used for, get some guts and
ask. You won’t be a total newbie for long.
Put the weights back down. If you use a
squat rack, remove all the plates and take down the bar. Put away
all equipment nice and neatly in their proper place. If you’re
finished using the leg press machine, set the pin down to the lowest
poundage. Not everyone is as strong as you.
Keep a towel in your gym bag to wipe your sweat
off the equipment after you’re finished using it.
If you’re using a hand held audio device with
buds in your ears or are wearing a headset, be aware of everything going
on 360 degrees around you all the time.
Don’t be a chatterbox. Show up to lift and
work your butt off.
Don’t give your free workout advice to
others. Keep your expert experience to yourself unless someone asks.
Help spot other people on lifts whenever.
Don’t be offensive in smell or sound. Use
deodorant. Don’t grunt too much and surely don’t use foul language.
Many gyms limit you to 30 minutes on the cardio
machines. Honor that time limit (and towel your sweat off the
equipment).
So now you’re all set to have a good gym
workout. What is a good gym workout? A good gym workout is one that
you accomplished everything you set out to do: You beat the log book on
most if not all of your lifts. This means that for the first set of every
lift, you are either doing more repetitions or lifting more weight in order to
develop the best physique you can.
Once you get to the gym here are a few pointers so you
appear to know what you are doing.
Before You
Start Work Sets
Several warm-up sets are advisable before working
out a muscle hard. Most novice bodybuilders don’t warm up much if at
all. This is true mostly of young lifters. The pattern is
predictable: When you’re young, you have no injuries and don’t feel
that you have to warm up. Then you get injuries in which the next
some years of your career are filled with working around injuries and healing.
Usually only when bodybuilders get older do they get smarter and warm up.
The correct mental approach is sometimes just as
important as the workout itself. Get your head together before
performing a work set. Remind yourself why you’re in the gym to
begin with and what your goals are—that you are there to improve.
Don’t slip into doing mindless mechanical workouts.
Make sure that any equipment you use is sturdy
before you use it. This is especially important when doing exercises
such as the bench press in which there is a potentially crushing weight
above you. Take a quick look at bolts and screws holding the
equipment together. Don’t assume that it’s safe just because the guy
before you didn’t have any problems.
If you walk into the gym with low energy or feel
as if you have flu-like symptoms, the best thing to do is to postpone your
workout for a couple days. If you are training with a partner and
feel good enough to stay, help your partner by spotting and supplying good
motivation to them on their lifts.
Know the
Different Basic Forms of Training
There are several types of routines that can produce
excellent results. Try one for a few months before switching. And
if one of them works for you, why switch? Remember, success is a
combination of hard work and patience. Here are a few types:
The all in one, one day a week workout— you perform a full body workout with at least
10 exercises. Most exercises are done to failure. Rest a week
and repeat. If you are a glutton for punishment who likes a marathon
session, this is for you.
The work a muscle once a week 3 day split—Monday is chest, shoulders and triceps,
Wednesday is back, biceps and forearms, Friday is quads, hams, and
calves. You rest on Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends. This is
a favorite type of split among bodybuilders.
The upper/lower body split workout—Upper body one day, lower body another.
Workout 3 or four days a week. A typical workout split for
powerlifters.
The minimalist high intensity train every four or
five day
workout—You train Mondays, Fridays and Wednesdays. Each workout has
only three exercises being a push, a pull, and a lower body
movement. Monday might be Bench, Chins, and deads. Friday
would be Press, rowing, and front squats. Wednesday would be dips, pull-ups
and back squats. This is a favorite with the high intensity training
crowd. Some say the workout is only good for deloading. Don’t
listen to others. See for yourself.
Summary
After obtaining a gym membership, and before you set
foot inside, you should first familiarize yourself with simple gym etiquette
and the basics of exercise so you seem to know what you are doing. It would be perfect if you could find a gym
that had enough equipment so that you could try different types of gym
workouts. That might mean that you would have to do a little footwork to
see which gyms have a combination of machines and barbells and an assortment of
dumbbells and even kettlebells. Your gym workouts are serious business;
you shouldn’t just plunk down your money unless they have everything you need.
