![]() ![]() Also, an exercise road map is more esoteric - a goal - as opposed to an actual large sheet of paper that, in my childhood, if I folded it incorrectly and put it away would have driven my father insane! Whatever your choice of exercise and whatever your goals, having the right road map is critical. Limited on time? Hit your major muscles and get the biggest bang for your buck. Going for size (hypertrophy)? Try lighter weights (not light) with higher reps. Going for strength? Try heavy weights with lower reps. Knowing your goals in the gym also helps when developing your road map. HIIT workouts can be used with running, rowing, swimming, biking, and more. Instead, you’d do high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts (jog/run interspersed with bouts of sprints). If you wish to lose weight (fat), then jogging wouldn’t be a great choice. If your goal is to improve your cardio performance, then slower, steady-state cardio comes into play. ![]() This is true for runners/joggers as well. Your workouts also will differ depending on your goals. That’s where a personal trainer (yours or the gym’s) comes in handy. There is a whole science behind days, muscles, time under tension, reps, sets, etc. That way you have the same amount of time to work out, but you have less muscles to work, so each muscle gets more attention. If you have the time, you can divide your workouts into upper body and lower body workouts on different days. If you’re going three days a week and you’re doing a full-body workout, start with your larger muscles first (quadriceps/thighs, hamstrings and glutes/back of your thighs/butt, chest, back, etc.) then work your way to the smaller muscles (triceps, biceps, calves). So, what’s my point? In the case of going to a gym and hitting the weights do your homework or talk to the gym’s resident trainer. But unfortunately, once he arrived, he immediately got lost. He did make the effort to hit the weights. After all, he did make the effort to get to the gym. I felt bad for the guy jumping from one muscle (group) to another without intention. The idea is “exercise with intention” and knowledge (and know where you’re going next - a la the road map). You can go from shoulders to triceps to biceps and keep your blood flowing in one general area. When I say “proper order” please know there are multiple directions and choices one can make. Your road map would be a definitive goal and choice of exercises… in proper order. I strongly recommend using a “road map.” For those of you younger in years, a road map is like Google Maps, but on paper - a very large piece of paper that folds a dozen times, in a specific way like a Rubik’s Cube, into a handy, semi-pocket-sized pamphlet. One advantage, I guess, is that if you don’t know where you’re going, you can never get lost! They were, in essence, “all over the map”. They just seemed to be randomly choosing exercises. Basically, they went from their biceps to their quads (thighs) and then to their lats (back). Unfortunately, one common occurrence (a weakness) I’ve noticed is what I call “random lifting.” This is where someone may do a biceps curl and then go over to the leg press machine and then head over to the lat pull. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I saw one guy who was considerably bigger than me, but curling much less than I usually do. I noticed one young woman who lifted five times the amount of weight I did on the leg press. When working out in the gym, we naturally observe other people’s workouts. ![]()
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