Enjoying My Time in the Gym

Part of my new routine is to leave for work in the morning with a backpack containing a change of clothes. When it is time to clock out for the day I make a mad dash for Anytime Fitness in Gilbertsville.

The rush isn’t really necessary but I like getting to the gym when there is a lull. Between roughly 2pm and 5pm there aren’t many people working out. One or two people will be on the cardio equipment and perhaps one other will be in the weight area.

When I arrive around 3:45pm the atmosphere is very relaxed. I take a couple of minutes to get changed then hop onto one of the treadmills to get warmed up. When I first started going, my warm up consisted of a slow jog for fifteen minutes – my objective was to do a mile. These days I’m jogging a little faster but the timeframe remains the same.

Once I’m good and warmed up, I hop off the treadmill and make my way over to the weight area. My typical workout consists of a body area (Shoulders & Triceps, Legs, Chest & Biceps, and Back) which I work out with three sets of fifteen reps. Once those are completed I move to doing drop sets to keep the muscles under stress. In my mind this maximizes the after-burn effect and leads to more calories burned than a traditional workout.

My time in the weight area varies by muscle group. I don’t generally do drop sets when working legs (I want to able able to walk out of the gym when finished) so that is typically the day I spent the least amount of time pumping iron. On average, I’d say I spent about forty-five minutes in this part of the gym.

Honestly, this is probably a good time to pack up and call it a day. I usually feel good and fatigued but I like to wrap up the session with a little added cardio. I hop back on the treadmill, at a slower pace than the warm up, and jog for thirty minutes.

After you tack on the cool down times on the treadmill, I’m leaving after about an hour and forty five minutes. Thinking about it now, that is an awful lot of time to be spending in the gym four days per week. The fifth day is straight cardio and generally lasts between an hour and an hour and a half (often times I’ll do that at home on my rickety treadmill).

There are probably a lot of areas where I could save time. Perhaps swap out a few exercises for more compound movements (to work several muscles at once) but I like my time in the gym. I’m finding it to be a great way to wind down after a stressful day at work.

I have a clear vision in my mind of where I want to be physically. I want to drop a lot of excess fat, build muscle, and have plenty of endurance to run and play with my daughter. It has been a slow process but I’m making progress. Slowly but surely, I’m making progress.