When taking time out of your busy life to get your workout in, you want to ensure you are making the most out of your valuable time in the gym. I am going to provide you with 3 ways you can be more productive in the gym. This will ensure you are hitting all of your bases, so you leave the gym feeling stronger, less joint pain, and increased mobility.
1. No sitting around!
If you can only get three 45-minute work outs in per week, you need to utilize every minute. Sitting around on your phone between sets isn’t a productive use of your time. Either pair up exercises (supersets) or add in some active mobility. For instance, if you are doing squats, rather than sitting around between sets, mix in another muscle group that wont effect your squats, pull ups are a great option. If you would rather focus on one exercise, mix in some mobility between squats. Working on some intra-set ankle mobility is an effective way to time your rest, and improve your next sets range of motion. Those are just a few examples to keep you productively moving for the duration of the workout.
2. Warm up Efficiently.
Walking on the treadmill for 10 minutes isn’t as effective as a proper warm up sequence. By following the RAMP warm up protocol, you can be sure your body will be ready to workout, this will also help minimize injury.
R. Raise: Get warm, spend 3-5 minutes on the bike, stepper, incline treadmill, or even skipping rope.
A. Activate: Turn those muscles on! If you are doing a lower body session mix in some banded hip adduction and planks to “activate” the muscles you will be using in your session.
M. Mobilize: Much like activate, this is highly relevant to what you are doing. For instance, if you are doing deadlifts, getting a bit of hip and hamstring mobility in prior to lifting can help. This can be leg swings or an active pigeon post.
P. Potentiate: Prime your nervous system to handle load by moving quickly! If you are going to be bench pressing, a great way to potentiate is by doing some med ball throws or slams. Explosive movements that are relevant to you exercise is key to a good warm up.
Now that should old take you 10 minutes, but it is a lot more productive than 10 minutes on the treadmill scrolling through Twitter
3. Have a plan.
You need to have a solid idea of what you are going to be doing in the gym and why. This will not only make your workouts more motivating by following a goal-oriented plan. Having a structured workout plan means each workout builds off of the last. You won’t be doing random exercises, then wondering why you have developed a knee problem. Your structured training program will ensure you workouts are productive and are apart of a bigger picture.
If you are feeling rather lost or even intimidated by going to the gym, reach out to me and I will build you a custom plan, fit to your goals and abilities, designed specifically for you. Click HERE to apply to work with me today!
