4 Components of a Great Workout
Do you want to make the most out of your time in the gym? Do you want to have the most effective workout possible?
I’m going to show you: 1. 4 Components Every Workout Should Consist Of
2. How Long You Should Spend on Each Components
3. Exactly What Each of the 4 Components Are
What are the 4 components every workout should consist of?
Every workout you do should consist of 4 pieces:
1. A Warm-Up
2. A Strength Exercise
3. A Few Muscle Building Exercises
4. A Conditioning Exercise
How much time should you spend on each of the 4 components?
Assuming you’re doing a 45 minute workout, which is what I recommend to my clients, your time should be spent like this:
Warm-Up- 5 -10Minutes
Strength Exercise- 10-15 Minutes
A Few Muscle Building Exercises- 10-20 Minutes
Conditioning Exercise- 5-15 Minutes
What Exactly Are Each of These 4 Components?
1. A Warm-Up
A good warm-up is crucial if you don’t want to get hurt! You don’t want to get hurt do you?? A good warm-up also ensures you move well, lift the most weight, and get the most out of your workout.
So don’t skip it!!
A good warm-up will get your body ready for the workout WITHOUT making yourself tired. If you’re exhausted after you warm-up, you’ve done too much.
I take my clients through a few stretches then move into bodyweight versions of the Strength Exercise for that day.
2. A Strength Exercise
Getting Stronger is the fastest way to change your body. And focusing on lifting more than you did last time is the fastest way to get stronger!
A Strength Exercise is a movement you can train regularly and continue to progress in strength indefinitely. These movements need to be compound movements (A compound movement is an exercise that trains multiple muscle groups. i.e.- A Squat is a compound movement because it works the quads, glutes, and hamstrings. But a Bicep Curl is not a compound movement because it only works the biceps).
I rotate through a short list of Strength Exercises at Steel because you simply can’t beat the basics!
We focus on:
· Squats
· Deadlifts
· Bench Press
· Shoulder Press
That’s it!
You can do anywhere from 1-3 Sets and 3-8 Reps for the Strength Exercise. To be honest the number of sets don’t really matter. What matters here is working hard to beat the weight/reps you did last time while maintaining great form.
3. A Few Muscle Building Exercises
Building Muscle gives us the lean, toned, defined look we want. It also boosts our metabolism which makes fat loss and maintaining that fat loss much easier.
Muscle Building Exercises are very similar (and often overlap) with Strength Exercises.
The first thing you should notice is I said “a FEW” exercises. Meaning we do more than 1! Usually somewhere between 3-5 Exercises.
We do more reps on these than the Strength Exercises. We do anywhere between 2-4 sets and 6-15 reps.
I like to choose exercises that work different muscles than the Strength Exercise from that day. So if our Strength Exercise for the day is a Shoulder Press, which works the shoulders and triceps, I like to choose exercises that work the legs, glutes, back, and biceps!
The list of Muscle Building Exercises is much larger than the Strength Training Exercise list! Just choose movements you can do with great form and zero pain.
And like the name “Muscle Building Exercises” suggests, the goal is to target specific muscles while focusing on lifting more weight/reps than last time.
4. A Conditioning Exercise
Conditioning Exercises improve Heart Health and Endurance which are super important in Transforming our Body, Health, and Lifestyle. As an added bonus, these Exercises are great for fat loss!
So spend the last 5-10 minutes doing an Exercise that will really increase your heart rate.
There endless options when it comes to Conditioning Exercises, but I like to keep things simple, so we usually stick to the following exercises:
· Sled Push
· Sled Pull
· Farmer’s Carries
· Suitcase Carries
· Wall Balls
· Battle Ropes
If you made it this far, give yourself a pat on the back. That was quite a bit of info! But I won’t just dump tons of info on you without showing you exactly how to design a great workout.
Below I’ve put together a sample workout from warm-up to finish!
Putting it All Together:
Warm-Up:
Foam Roll the Quads- 20 Reps
Foam Roll the IT Bands- 10 Reps Per Side
Hamstring Stretch- 30 Seconds Per Side
Pec Stretch- 30 Seconds Per Side
Bodyweight Squats- 30 Reps
Strength Exercise:
Squat- Do sets of 10 until you hit a max set of 10 reps.
(example- bodyweightx10, 25lbx.x10, 50lbs.10, 65lbs.x10 (top set))
Muscle Building Exercises:
Dumbbell Shoulder Press- 3x10
Dumbbell Row- 3x10
Glute Bridge-2x15
Dumbbell Curl- 2x15
Plank- 2x30 Seconds
Conditioning Exercise:
Sled Push- 4x