Add your personal touch to your workout
You've searched to the outer limits of the inter-webs for new workouts from featured bodybuilding sources. At this point, they are all starting to sound the same. Get huge, shred fat, and look mean are all common phrases adorning most fitness websites. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced lifter, the one thing that all of your workouts have been missing is your personal touch. Instead of following the same workout that Gerard Butler is doing on a weekly basis, why not create your own? We here at Elite Edge Labs want to see you add your personal touch to your workout. Listed below are the steps you can follow to create your custom workout plan.
Make your workout program come to life
Before beginning to lay out the foundation of what will become your weekly workout, you have to establish a few things with yourself first:
1.) How much time can you dedicate?
Beginner or advanced, timing is crucial. As someone who is beginning to lift, you may not want to dedicate as much time to your workouts as an advanced lifter simply for that fact that you don't want to become overwhelmed. Be realistic but don't sell yourself short. If you have 45 minutes to yourself before your girlfriend, wife, or kids get home, then that's time to work out. As busy as you may be, try to dedicate at least 3 days a week for your health.
2.) What are your fitness goals?
Are you trying to gain mass or develop a lean look? This may not seem relevant but this is the difference between completing 3 sets or 6 sets and 5 reps or 12 reps. If you are looking to gain mass then you will want to get familiar with the higher plate and dumbbell numbers. If you are looking to maintain muscle but get lean, then high rep pyramid sets will be your go-to.
3.) What are the resources available to you?
It's important to survey what you have on hand. Are you working out from home with only milk jugs and a flight of stairs? Do you have access to a fully stocked 24-hour gym? What you are able to work with will determine what type of workout you create. If a full set of dumbbells is absent then your exercises may primarily be body weight. If you belong to a commercial gym then there is no excuse to avoid classics such as the squat and deadlift.
Elite Edge Labs can educate you on muscle groups and ideal fitness goals
Once you've established a set schedule, list of fitness goals, and survey of available equipment, it's time to start pairing your muscles together. This is where we will pick up in part two. In the meantime, it may be necessary for you to become more educated with the human muscular system and important muscle groups. Once you create your own workouts by reading this 3-part article series, you’ll know exactly where every muscle is and what the function is behind it.