What Is A Good Workout Routine?
As a longtime personal trainer in Austin, as well as a gym owner, one thing a lot of people ask me is what is a good workout routine. As I’ve written in many blog posts. I get asked any number of questions having to do with everything from nutrition, to supplements, to workout related issues, injury repair, and so on. One of the biggest questions I have gotten over the past 22 years as an Austin personal trainer, however, is what is a good workout routine.
The what is a good workout routine question, obviously can’t be so easily answered, nor can it be a universal answer. The reason my job is called a personal trainer, is because we’re all different and have individual needs, differences, imbalances, medical histories, genetics, etc. Therefore, there is no such thing as a one size fits all workout routine.
With that said, if you were to ask me what is a good workout routine for you individually, it still wouldn’t be so cut a dried as you would imagine. As an example, I refuse to write up workout routines for clients as I believe they are a complete waste of time and money. Anyone could drum up a bunch of exercises for a specific body part and prescribe a particular repetition range, and there you have it. Presto! A workout routine. Is that something you should be partaking in? What if I was your trainer, even for the past 5 years? The answer is a resounding no. The reason being, is that what I have my client doing session to session varies by what I see when they come through the door, and of course, by the feedback they give me when I ask how they’re feeling. If a client is feeling good, but I see his left foot is set off to the side a little and a little recessed from the right one as he’s standing by the cubby holes, I’ll quickly know that he’s tight somewhere in the hip complex. If this is a longtime client and I’m familiar with his body, I’ll obviously know where to look first. If it’s the first time I’m training someone, it may take a few minutes longer to diagnose the problem, but that is absolutely paramount if I’m truly offering personal training. If you are working out with an imbalance, be it a long standing issue, or one caused by a night spent on a lumpy mattress, it needs to be remedied before you can workout to the fullest without fear of exacerbating the imbalanced/weak area, as well as being sure that you are able to get the most out of the workout. If I were to answer the question of what’s a good workout routine, even to a longstanding client, and they were to perform what I asked of them, it may be a very inappropriate workout routine for that day. This is precisely why I refuse to do it. It is marginally effective, and potentially damaging to whomever it is given.
If you were to search on the internet by typing in what is a good workout routine, you’ll no doubt find a vast expanse of so called, expert advice. It may tell you to do 100 pushups, for example, but what if your levator scapulae is overly tight and you have a anterior deltoid/pectoral minor weakness as a result of the atrophy caused by the resulting shortening of those muscles? Should you really be doing 100 pushups? Should you really be doing any pushups at all, for that matter? No, of course not. All that will happen is that you will inadvertently shrug that shoulder throughout the range of motion, and you will not even engage the pectorals beyond minimally, which is the muscle we seek to engage when doing pushups. It would be same for any pressing motion, such as bench presses, dumbbell presses, inclined or otherwise. It simply isn’t a good idea.
I had a very nice lady recently join the gym and tell me that she was not in a position to afford personal training, nor was she at all interested, but nevertheless, asked me the famous what is a good workout routine question. I explained the answer as I’ve written here, and you could sense the disappointment. Perhaps she was thinking I was trying to sell her on training? Who knows? She went online, and downloaded an application that sets her weights, repetitions, and her rest periods. What happened was no surprise. She made no progress, her back was killing her, and she has since quit working out, though she promises to return for her New Year’s resolution. The application she followed gave senseless, and baseless recommendations that ultimately, where impossible for her personally to perform. Naturally, she grew frustrated with the lack of progress, and the onset of tight, imbalanced muscles. Though I often offered her a few pro bono pointers between clients, she wasn’t hearing any of it. It was a popular workout that had been downloaded many times, therefore, in her mind, it was a great idea.
The bottom line in fitness, is that not everything is universal beyond that we all are human, we all need to eat, we all need to sleep and to drink water, and that we all use the bathroom… though some people pretend they don’t. Beyond that, we all have different requirements and while some will benefit from a generic routine, it will likewise be a potential detriment to others. It’s exactly the same as hiring an inexperienced or under qualified personal trainer. Do so at your own risk, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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