What Should I Do at the Gym?

September 6th, 2010 | Posted in Fitness tips | No Comments » | Share this article

I spend a lot of time explaining why you don’t have to go to the gym, but I don’t want to make any of my readers who do go to the gym feel left out. Just because there are lots of alternatives to gym-going doesn’t mean you aren’t doing an amazing thing for your health and fitness by signing up at a gym!

But if you are going, what should you do? It’s amazing that we’re still kinda debating this issue in 2010, but it’s true — there’s still a lot of disagreement out there about what constitutes the best way to get in shape at the gym, and a lot of that is informed by some of those still-prevalent myths floating around out there.

So here’s what I think you should be doing at the gym!

Do the “Right” Kind of Cardio

Please, please, please don’t come to the gym and just use a stairmaster for 60 minutes on a low setting. Please don’t! I’m begging you!

Not only is this exercise repetitive and something your body will eventually get too comfortable with, but the only challenge you’re giving yourself is an attempt to fight off deadly boredom! Going to the gym shouldn’t be a monotonous slog — it should be a big, energizing, give-it-your-all challenge!

That Means High Intensity Interval Training

If you really want to hit those cardio machines hard, do High Intensity Interval Training instead. Almost every good treadmill, bike, and yes, even the stair machine has an intervals setting.

You’ve probably seen it before: it’s the one with the little rest periods followed by the intense, high-activity-level periods. Repeat 5 or 6 times. There are variations that slowly up the intensity until you hit one last push, but don’t bother with those — get yourself moving right away!

I’m not kidding here: 20 minutes of this kind of cardio is way better than 40 minutes of the old-fashioned “slow burn”, where you’re just watching that little “calories” meter (ever so slowly) tick its way up to an arbitrary total. You don’t need that! Science has shown that the high-intensity work, even though it involves less actual time spent, is intense enough that it represents an exponential increase in results. So do it instead!

And Never Leave the Gym Without Doing Weight Training

Make this your absolute, can’t miss, never-break rule. Do not come to the gym and just do cardio. Don’t even come to the gym just for High Intensity Interval Training, as good as it is. Make sure you get some weight training in somehow!

Cardio is everywhere. Cardio is walking. There are so many ways you can integrate a bit of cardiovascular activity into your life that the idea of paying for a gym membership in order to do only cardio training is crazy!

You’re paying for those machines, those dumbbells, those barbells, and those free weights over there. And if you give them the attention they deserve, they’ll pay you back — big time.

What Does Weight Training Give Me That Cardio Doesn’t?

• Faster Results. You keep burning fat after your workout because your muscles demand it.
• Better fat loss. Building lean muscle and getting toned is a way better way to cut fat — far better than counting cardio calories.
• That toned, lean look. You don’t get the kind of look I have or the kind of look any strong, lean, sexy person has without some strength training.

Tell Me About It!

What are your favorite gym strategies? I want to hear your routines — what works for you, what doesn’t, what you avoid — so leave me a comment and let’s start talking!