If you’re someone who’s purchased a gym membership, is ready to go all in but has no idea where to start, I got you. Consider this article as a solo guide to everything you’ll need to know as a beginner gym rat.
Working out is subjective and no one should constrain themselves to just one method. Try all of it & see what works best for you. That being said, there are some things which are the basics & act as the foundation to any workout routine in the world. I’m going to list almost all of these basic principles you need. Get your pen & paper ready.
- Form > Weight :
The number on the weights doesn’t matter. If you feel like 2.5kgs is a good start for you, so be it. Never try to chase the heavy lifting mindset, it gives you injuries instead of results. Whichever exercise you do, first get habituated to how it’s done & do it in the correct form. Start with a weight light enough for you to control throughout the reps without sacrificing the form. As your body adapts to this movement, you can slowly increase the reps & eventually move up to heavier weights.
- Progressive Overload :
This is probably the most useful information you’ll ever come across. When you have your sets & reps for any exercise noted down, it’s time to increase one rep every day you hit that muscle group. For example, if you’re hitting chest & your sets are a 8,7,6. The next time you hit chest, it should be 9,7,6, then 9,8,6 & then 9,8,7. Eventually when you reach 12,12,12, you can bump up the weights by 2.5kgs and start with a 8,7,6 rep range again. In easy words, you increase a rep everyday you do a certain exercise.
- Compound Exercises are Key :
Deadlift, barbell bench/dumbbell press & squats come under compound exercises. These are very important for your physique. Compound exercises are any exercises which train more than one muscle group when you do them. This saves your time and effort, helps you build strength & makes your workout much more efficient. For example, deadlifting targets your traps & lower back while benching majorly targets your chest & then a little bit of triceps and front deltoids. If you include compound exercises into your routine, you are one step ahead in the game.
- Push/Pull/Leg :
No doubt, this is the best routine made till date. It is the most effective, most fun to do and the most organized too. Whichever workout you do, it can be classified into push or pull. Push being the workouts where you have to push the weights like benching, overhead tricep extensions, shoulder press while pull consists of the workouts where you pull the weights like lat pulldown, cable rows, preacher curls and many more. For example, you can hit push on Monday, pull on Tuesday, leg on Wednesday and then repeat the same thing till Saturday & Sunday can be your rest day before you repeat the same routine again the coming week.
- Cardio after Lifting :
Lastly, here comes one of the most underrated secrets to a great physique. Your cardio should only be after you’ve completed your workout. Your energy reserves consist of your fats & the energy stored in muscles. When you do cardio before lifting, energy is used up from both of these reserves thus you don’t have optimum energy levels in your muscles for the best workout & you cannot reap the most benefits of cardio as all of the energy burnt is not coming from fat reserves hence you’re not losing as much fat as you can. When you do your cardio after a workout, all of the energy from the muscles have been used up hence the energy being burnt from the cardio now will only be coming from the fat reserves.