The crew at Work Train Fight is happy to share the following post from our very own awesome Mark Sayer. Below, he shares an easy hack to start your own strength program. Mark tells us how to cut through all the BS out there, and get down to real, effective training. For more, check out his blog at: www.sayerfit.com. Enjoy!
Information Overload
A major obstacle when starting to exercise is the overwhelming amount of information out there. The amount of exercises can be daunting, especially to someone new, or intimidated by tackling the fitness journey.
If there were only four exercises in the universe, how much less confusing would it be?
(Right answer: a lot)
One of the most common questions I hear from people is:
“What do I do?”
On a quick aside, if I don’t know you personally and you ask me this question the answer will always be: “you should buy a session from me, as in with money, because this is my job.” But I digress. With so many machines and exercises at your disposal, the question should be:
“What don’t I need to do?”
One helpful trick I like in terms of exercise selection is what Coach Dan John refers to in his book Can You Go? as the “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” a scenario where you are allowed only three 15-minute workouts a week outside of your cell. What exercises would the workouts consist of?
The Space Station Dilemma
Personally, I don’t like imagining being in prison. So lets reword this as “The Space Station Dilemma.” You’re a brilliant scientist on a space station with access to the gym for only three 15-minute sessions a week.
My personal workout would be: three minutes of foam rolling and “smashing” with a lacrosse ball, a two-minute dynamic warm up, 5 minutes of strength that hit the four universal movements (push/pull/hip-hinge/squat), a 4-minute HIIT cardio session and a 1 minute cool down.
If you don’t have access to a coach, what I just outlined makes for a great starter program, paired with individual tweaks and considerations for your state of health.
I am not the first person to make this statement, but it bears repeating:
Leave a Reply