The Workout Bible
I’m not religious, I do not have a bible by my bed, but I most definitely have a stored Workout Bible in my brain. Growing up an athlete, workouts have always been my sanity. In university I studied Kinesiology (the study of human movement), and got my personal training license alongside my degree. So, it’s safe to say there is some weight behind my words.
Throughout my life, what I’ve wanted for myself and my body goals has changed. When I figure skated, I had to keep my body strong and maintain endurance. In my late teens when I was done with skating I wanted to stay lean, but get rid of my bulky legs … for some reason they made me extremely self conscious. My most recent body change has been BUILDING. THAT. BOOTAY. Which … funny enough, required me to gain those legs back and I now love them. With my ever evolving body objectives, one thing has always remained.
Be healthy and stay strong.
This will forever be a constant. Picking up different tricks of the trade, I’ve been able to learn what works, what doesn’t and what is important for longevity. So without further adieu … no drum roll needed … I present to you my Workout Bible!
1. Thou shall always have a goal in mind
Really how do you get anything done without a goal in mind?
If you want to see results, you need to know what you want those results to be.
Do you want to strictly see the number go down on the scale? Do you want to build muscle and strength? Do you want to have a six pack? Figure out what it is that you want, so you are able to create a plan for yourself in order to achieve that goal.
If my goal was to shed pounds, I would focus predominately on cardio. To gain muscle and strength, I would minimize my cardio to 10-15 minutes, and lift heavier weights. My goal also effects the amount of reps and sets I do in my workout.
Lean Muscles - 3 x 10-15 reps
Build Muscles - 3/4 x 8-10 reps
Without a goal in mind workouts have no structure and it becomes much harder to achieve results. Set a goal for yourself, and you’re already one step closer to conquering your fitness journey! Wahoo!
2. Thou shall always keep things interesting
I’m personally not a huge fan of group classes. I think I am far too much of a control freak to let someone else run my workouts for me. Something about doing my own workouts gets my creative juices flowing and of course, allows me to feel in control of my progress.
With that in mind, I find I can sometimes get into a routine that doesn’t allow me to progress. This is known as plateauing. In order to avoid plateauing, I like to mix up my workouts. It serves no benefit to be doing the same thing over and over. Our bodies are too smart and need, in a sense, to be shocked. Never mind our body becoming bored, so does our mind. Which will likely veer us off our fitness path.
Keep things interesting! Mix in a spin class that you never do. Go for a walk outside. Try out that daunting row machine. Play tennis (that is something I took up last summer and LOVED it - holy calories burned). Or just simply switch up the exercises you are doing in the gym.
As the incredibly intelligent Spice Girls once said … SPICE UP YOUR LIFE! (sorry I know this will now be in your head for the rest of the day)
3. Thou shall always have a resistance band nearby
I do NOT go anywhere without my resistance bands. Okay, fine … maybe I don’t take them to the bathroom with me … let’s not get totally carried away. But I do have a whole bunch in my gym bag, in different rooms of my home, I even have them with me when I fly as I like to use them to minimize swelling. YES, people stare … NO, I don’t care.
There truly isn’t a piece of equipment I use more, or recommend more than a resistance band. They are light, they are cheap, and they take your workout to the NEXT level.
I get mine off Amazon, the greatest website in the whole wide world, and I usually use the Heavy, X-Heavy or XX-Heavy bands for most of my workouts.
Don’t worry, I’ll be posting a workout with them for you soon :)
4. Thou shall always listen to your body
Now this one took me some time to fully embrace. My stubborn ass likes to take things to the next level, and work myself to a point of exhaustion. However, over the years I’ve learned there is ZERO benefit to this ... shocking revelation right?!
I’ve actually noticed that I see better results when I give my body the rest it needs. If I’m feeling exhausted and worn down, I can’t imagine that putting it through the ringer in the gym serves any purpose. So on those days, even if it’s not a planned day off, I’ve learned to listen to my body and what it is telling me.
Of course there are days where I’m an idiot and decide not to listen to it. On those days I usually get a quarter of the way through my workout and then begin staring blankly into the abyss and end up saying to myself “Ya no, I’m good” and proceed to end my workout.
Moral of the story … take the day off!! You’re body knows what it needs, and it needs days off!
5. Thou shall always stretch after workouts
If I had to guess, I would say 50% of people don’t get in a cool down stretch after their workout. Am I off? Maybe, but I’m sure I am not far off.
Now, to clarify, a stretch before your workout is very different than one after your workout. Before your workout you should be doing more of an active stretch to warm up your muscles. Once your workout is complete and your muscles are damn well warm enough, you want to be doing static stretching.
I’m not going to sit here and lie to you, and say I stretch before every workout - because I don’t. I personally prefer to just get right into my cardio as a form of warming up my muscles. I’ll do a small stretch once I’m done my cardio before I get into the strength portion of my workout. BUT, I do do (DO DO LOL) my static stretching after every workout.
I walk on over to my OCD designated stretching corner with my mat, and plop myself down for a good 5-10 minutes of stretching. The greatest benefit, I find, comes from holding your stretch for enough time. This is why I always have my phone stopwatch on while I stretch. I make sure to hold every pose for at least a minute. Only once I’ve gone through my stretching routine do I feel like I’ve completed my workout. And on days when I’m in a rush and decide to skip it ... my body feels the wrath of my poor choices the next day.
Get your post workout stretch in everyone!
Well, there you have it. You’ve just finished your bible reading for the day. May you continue your day feeling enlightened, motivated, and ready to seize all that comes your way. Or if you’re reading this before bed, well then … sweetest of dreams. I promise I’ll get a full workout on here soon! In the meantime, if you have any workout questions for me, I would love to answer them!
xx
Sash