The Best Exercises to do in a Gym

Gyms are handy sometimes - for classes, a swimming pool, if you’re travelling or lifting heavy weights. It’s not often you’ll find me in a gym, but when I do visit, there are certain machines I like to use. There’s only a finite number of ways to move the human body, so any new gimmicks tend to be a variation on something that already exists, or come with a promise of doing the hard work for you. Remember PowerPlates? Those vibrating platforms were popular for awhile (around 2000 - 2010), until people realised they were a bit rubbish.

Minus gimmicks, here’s what I do on the rare occasion I find myself in a gym:

Cardio warm-up on the machines: Do a combination of the cross-trainer (you can also use it stepping backwards to work hamstrings more), the treadmill (with an incline of at least 1%) and the rowing machine. Rowing is the best cardio machine you can use for a whole body workout - remember to engage the abs and push through the heels. Try doing 1km in 5 minutes, with a resistance of around 6 / 7. I’m amused that modern treadmills have a choice of outdoor scenery you can choose to accompany your workout (see blurry ‘beach’ photo below!). My personal belief is that cardio is best in the great outdoors.

A gym is like a human zoo - you’ll see all sorts of behaviour and forms of exercise. Some of it is distracting, unhygienic and sometimes downright weird. There always seems to be posers doing overly-flamboyant exercises in front of a mirror! The recent proliferation of smartphones on the gym floor is also disconcerting. However I believe in focussing on the workout, so anthropological observations aside, back to what we’re actually in the gym for:

Strength-wise I like machines that work the back muscles, as they are the trickiest to workout outwith a gym. In other words, it’s easiest to work front (anterior) muscles as they are what we see, and tend to be stronger (and therefore shorter). Working your back muscles is also excellent for posture. The Lat Pulldown machine, Hamstring Curl machine (for back of thighs) and rowing with a TRX / Low Row cable machine are all excellent choices. Weighted squats, either with a Leg Press machine, or barbell squats will really work your leg muscles, especially, if like me, you tend to do bodyweight squats as the norm.

Gyms can be distracting places - there’s usually loud techno music (tempo too fast for doing effective strength), people chatting, watching each other (or more likely, their phones), plus the loud clanking of metal weights. Most people listen to headphones nowadays, which I guess is the solution. My friend who I recently chummed to the gym also wryly observed “the machines look very masculine, made of black metal, even the typeface of the brands look like they’re for power tools.” However it’s good to see more women lifting weights nowadays, despite the environment.

I always workout with my travel towel, it’s useful for outdoor sessions and invaluable in claiming bench space in a gym. I prefer the idea of not lying in someone else’s sweat patch (not all gym users clean down benches after use). In peak times, weights bench space can be at a premium, so being able to claim your space with a towel can make life easier. The most important thing is being confident and knowing exactly what you’re trying to achieve with your workout.

I was a regular gym-goer from 1990 to 2004, but towards the end I fell out of love with the gym environment and queuing for machines - so I developed a workout that did not rely on machines, then figured there was no need to go to the gym anymore. This is where the ethos of my fitness business developed, by not having to rely on going to a specific place to exercise.

The type of fitness we teach at Griffen Fitness can be done anywhere, anytime. If you’d like to learn how to keep fit without having to go to a human zoo, be sure to drop me a line for a free phone consultation.