King Leonidas turns to his fellow Spartans and asks them what their profession is and in one voice they reply ‘AA-OOH’. Simpler times. If you were born a Spartan, fighting in wars and warrior like persona was all that defined you. You would know what kind of body and fitness levels are required to survive in your profession. Ripped up body shape and high endurance stamina was the only way to survive in field of battle.
Modern day Spartans don’t have it that easy and most of the time are clueless about what kind of body shape best fits their profile. So often a full 1 year gym membership gets shelved right after the 2nd week because of a wrongly planned gym workout routine. Trying to pull off big lifts and not working your way through it can be disastrous. For example if you’re going to the gym for the upcoming annual marathon run then your gym routine would be very different to somebody who is working for the annual strongest man competition.
Your body and mind are very much like a homeostatic machine, always on the lookout for comfort and consistency. So, starting off with minor adjustments in your routine would fly under the radar. Here’s how you can build on your gym workout routine:
Three strikes and you’re out:
First things first, build a habit of making it to the gym. It’s perfectly alright if you’ve had a long day and don’t feel like working out, just walk straight in and talk to your buddies about their work ethics in the gym and leave if you want. The important thing in your early days is to establish a habit of making it to the gym every day and in no time going to the gym would be part of your comfort zone.
Try your best to workout at least thrice a week with a day’s gap between them, preferably Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Here’s a guideline to how you can schedule different exercises during your workout days:
- Monday
Work on a warm up routine of 3-5 minutes by rope jumping, jumping jacks and few hundred meters on the treadmill or the stationary bike.
2 sets of squats of 12 repetitions with and without the barbell.
Similarly 1 or 2 sets of shoulder press of 12 repetitions with and without the barbell.
Rest for 1 and a half minutes between each set.
- Wednesday
Warm up routine of 3-5 minutes by rope jumping, jumping jacks and a few hundred meters on the treadmill or the stationary bike.
3 sets of Deadlift of 12 repetitions with barbell.
3 sets of Chin ups/ pull ups of 8 repetitions.
Rest for 1 and a half minutes between each set.
- Friday
Warm up routine of 3-5 minutes by rope jumping, jumping jacks and a few hundred meters on the treadmill or the stationary bike.
1 set of squats of 12 repetitions without the barbell and 3 sets of equal repetitions with the barbell.
3 sets of bench press of 12 repetitions with the barbell.
Rest for 1 and a half minutes between each set.
Build your workout regime through these baby steps and in no time you’ll be ready to match the big guys in your gym.
