Simplifying workouts
What to do when you don’t know how to workout!
Most of us have good intentions of working out, getting fit and living a better lifestyle. But sometimes we just don’t know where to start. You step into the gym and the amount of gym rats and gym equipment is overwhelming; of course you’re convinced everyone is looking at you, judging your every movement (they most certainly are not). Or let’s say you’re more of a workout at home type, but you just feel lost or don’t have the equipment needed. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
You can simply pick 3-4 movements and cycle through them. Tabata is a workout technique often used and it consists of working for a total period of time (4 minutes) on one movement with a work period of 20 seconds and a rest period of 10 seconds within that four minutes. It’s a simple technique that gives you a big bang for your buck. You can combine 3-4 movements (total of 12-16 minutes) and you’ll be certain to get a sweat on. Another option is just picking a certain number of “rounds” and working through movements for a set number of reps, a technique often used in CrossFit workouts. Whatever you choose, as long as you’re getting to near-fatigue with your movements within 5-30 reps, you will see a change in muscle strength (and a change in body composition).
Here are some movements to pick from:
Squats (with or without weight)
Push ups (full or modified or push up on an elevated surface like a counter)
Burpees
Shoulder taps in a plank
Plank dips (side or front plank with hip rotations)
Lunges
Step ups
Bridges/Hip thrusts
Squat jumps
Jump rope
Mountain climbers
Inverted push ups (legs elevated or knees up on an elevated surface to simulate handstand push ups or shoulder press in the absence of weight)
Dumbbell or barbell clean and jerk, shoulder press, or deadlifts
Bike sprints or running sprints (if you don’t have cardio equipment or space, you can do any form of continuous movement such as in-place hops with an imaginary jump rope, high knees in place, marching in place, jumping jacks etc)
A workout may look like this:
20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest for 4 minutes for each movement:
Squat jumps
Push ups
Plank dips
Sprint on stationary bike
Or like this:
5 rounds
Lunges x 15
Inverted push ups or push ups x 8
Burpees x 10
Jump rope x 50 single unders (jump in place if you don’t have a rope)
Never be afraid to modify your workouts, start small and build up slow. I’ve always worked out at home, rarely setting foot into a gym, mostly due to making a financial choice to invest in my own home gym and also due to my long shifts at work (which have recently shortened thankfully). Last year I completed a solid year of Street Parking workouts, an at-home workout plan that varies in intensity and duration based on your goals and your abilities. It encompasses something I’ve always believed in which is using what you have available to you, modifying your workouts based on where you’re at physically and working out at home for ease of building routine (especially if you have kids at home or a difficult schedule that does not allow your typical gym routine). Another mantra Street Parking uses is “better than nothing”; meaning when you feel you can’t get the work done or don’t want to, just do something, because it has to be better than nothing. Some days I feel like the battle is brutal to get the workout done, but what I’ve decided is if I start and I feel like I want to stop, I will. If not, I keep going more often than not, I always keep going!
Recently, I decided to continue on with my typical CrossFit workouts with some general strengthening & endurance intertwined, and have continued to use my knowledge as a PT to modify and work around injuries.
My hope for you is that you are encouraged and realize physical fitness does not have to be overly complex (unless you have some intense goals), but the idea is to just get moving and get started in the right direction! Of course, I’ll always encourage you to find a great PT to help you work around any injuries and build up a baseline strength as we are the masters of modification and progression.
Anyway, as always thanks for reading. Go get outside, enjoy life, laugh, pray, and move your body!
Shannon Calenberg, PT, DPT, OCS, CMPT
*This is not medical advice and does not substitute consultation with a medical professional.
*My writing here is completely separate from my employer.