I’ll admit it: I’m a gym zombie. If I have a free afternoon, I’ll spend it trying out new machines, practicing handstands, and stretching to my heart’s content. The habit’s not all that efficient, however. If you want to master quick workouts, Tatiana Lampa, trainer with Training with T, says you need to learn to bookend your workouts.
In practice, bookending means having a clear beginning and end to all your workouts. That way, you won’t find yourself accidentally trying the underwater Zumba class your gym hosts every Thursday night (not speaking from experience, or anything).
This full-body workout is a good one to start with:
“My recommendation is to always come up with a plan. If you found this really great workout on Instagram, just follow that guide-or you can simply make your own program,” says Lampa. Showing up at the gym with no guidance will lead to mindless wandering from machine to machine. So even if you don’t have time to plan your workout every single day, the trainer recommends keeping a few, full-body backup workouts pocketed on your phone for emergency gym needs.
This quick workout includes six core strength exercises:
Many mountain-climbers, treadmill sprints, and barbell exercises later, you’ll be just about done. Lampa says this is the perfect time to insert a burn out that will raise your heart rate and convince you that, yes, it really is time to go home. For you, this burn out could look like a minute plank hold, a quarter mile sprint on the treadmill, or one more round of tricep dips. Whatever you choose will signal to your body that you’re done—and you did a stellar job.
“You feel like you hit that 100 percent in your workout”, says Lampa. Welcome back to life, gym zombie.
And this quick workout is just 5 minutes:
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