I was not feeling well over the last couple of weeks and Wednesday was my first day back at the gym. Everyone knows that crappy feeling after getting better from any sickness; the sore muscles, listlessness, down energy. I wanted to ease back into the gym and used the same workout for Wednesday and Friday.
So first, you need criteria for your workout and I had the above plus really I wanted to push my muscles a bit, I wanted to to get some cardio just to get my blood pumping and I wanted to stretch, all in 30 minutes or so. I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about my 30 minute workout.
Here is my 30 minute workout
Cardio for 15 minutes
- 5 minutes on stationary Bike or rowing.
- 10 minutes on Elliptical Trainer
Weights for 15 minutes
- Bench Press 1 set of 8 to failure, dropped for another 4 reps
- Seated Row 1 set of 10 to failure (guessed the to use well)
- One armed lateral raise with cable 1 set of 12 for each arm
- 7-2-1 for Biceps (this is 7 reps going from bottom to half way up, 7 from half way up to the top, and 7 full reps
- Tricep pushdowns 1 set of 10
- Squats 1 set of 10
- Hamstring curls 1 set of 10 heavy
- 10 minutes of stretching, stetching every muscle group a minimum of two times for 10 seconds each.
OK, so probably 35 minutes but this workout did a few things well. It stretched my muscles really well, it woke me up with cardio and I really pushed my muscles quickly. I like the workout but very quickly I am worried I will stop getting much out of it since I am not doing anything really well, I am only hitting muscles with one set and the cardio is too short.
For a general workout and improving fitness I really do think that this works best. If you are not working out or like me am getting over a bit of a cold or flu then by all means I think that this is a nice workout.
There are people at both ends of the spectrum as far as workout time goes. Some people will only workout for 15 minutes and some can’t get in and out of the gym in less than 2 hours. As for me I think it is critical to get the blood flowing, muscles sore and well worked out, and stretched. This is why the 30 minute workout is best for me and my lifestyle.
