Training 101— Hitting the Gym

 

A question I have come across in a variety of forms is how anyone starts training or rather what should be an ideal start for a training regime. This is especially true of people who hit the gym for the first time. Often you will find someone with a real good physique or some-one built like a tank (I know this I am one of those tanks) throwing up un-godly amounts of weight like u would throw peanuts and want to emulate them. Instructors with poor knowledge or with no knowledge of exercises and body dynamics compound the problem with really poor exercise program design that more often than not weans people away from exercising than anything else. 

People coming to the gym are of 2 types. One set of people are whom I would call the “cardio warriors” (Note the sarcasm and derision) and the others are the confused lot. I call people confused in the gym purely because they come with no real goals set for them other than the usual losing weight nonsense. 

So how then should one go ahead to begin a journey into the gym? Simple question that has a complex answer. I shall break up the answer into two parts, the pre gym phase and the gym phase.

 

The Pre-Gym Phase:

 

• The first and the most important thing is goal setting. By goal setting I mean realistic achievable goals. So “losing weight” as a goal is as random and flawed as the concept of weight is (another day another post!) and hence is not a real goal. On the other hand say losing 5 kg in 6 months or fitting into an old pant a couple of inches lower is a more realistic goal and hence achievable. 

• Get your self measured. Take measurements of your problem areas and make a note of them. I would recommend making a training journal or a log book with your goals and your measurement clearly written. All the great physiques of the past and present have done this very successfully and I see no harm in adapting something good. 

• Have a general health check-up done. This is mandatory especially for people with poor health history. Also doesn’t hurt to know where you stand health wise also. 

• Scout out good gyms around where you stay. Most good gyms offer trial sessions. Make use of them to have a feel of the surrounding, the machines available, and the kind of people around. Also make use of the time to assess the instructors, check if they can help you achieve your goals. 

• Once you have narrowed down on a gym, pay up and get set go to join!! 

 

The Gym Phase:

 

• Understand one thing, working out is no joke. This has to be taken up very seriously. Be very very careful as there is a good chance you could hurt yourself if you are careless or are over-confident. 

• Dress up appropriately in comfortable clothes and good shoes. I will deal with this issue in a separate post coming up soon. 

• To begin you first day, start with some basic warm up exercises. I would recommend the following, 

1. Cycling on a stationary Cycle – Full Body Warm-Up
2. Push-Ups assissted or free body push ups 2 sets of 10 to 15 reps
3. Free body weight squats 2 sets of 10 to 15 reps 

§         After the warm ups we are now primed to begin our work out. Being the first day, start slow. Use light weights and low rep ranges of around 10 to 15 reps per set. Maintain the same weight throughout the entire duration of the exercise. 

§         I would recommend breaking the work out cycle initially into an Upper-Lower body cycle. The upper body cycle would comprise of chest, back & shoulders. The lower body cycle would include legs and arms. 

§         Once the stipulated work-out has been completed, please spend around 10 minutes in good static stretches. It has been scientifically proven that static (deep stretches that are held for a specific time) are excellent for increasing body suppleness & injury prevention. I shall suggest some sample stretches below and shall deal with stretching separately. 

§         That ends the work-out.

 

Understand one thing going to the gym is a long term commitment and should be made after careful consideration of ones physical well being and fitness goals. What I talk about and will keep talking about is purely indicative and should under no way be treated otherwise. 

Go on now “HIT THE GYM!!”