These seven warm-up exercises for your next indoor climbing session will get your body prepped, joints primed, and muscles ready to move.

1. Light Cardio Movement

Begin with 5 minutes of low-impact cardio to raise your heart rate. Jumping jacks, high knees, or brisk walking will do the trick. The goal here is to get your blood flowing and your muscles ready for action.

Climbing demands more than finger strength; it’s a full-body workout. Warming up your legs, arms, and core early ensures you’re not stiff when you get vertical.

2. Arm Circles and Shoulder Rolls

Climbers rely on their shoulders more than they realize. Arm circles and shoulder rolls increase mobility and warm up the rotator cuff area.

Start with 10 small forward arm circles, then 10 in reverse. Follow up with 10 shoulder rolls forward and 10 backward. Maintain an upright posture and move slowly to experience the full range of motion.

3. Wall Shoulder Taps

Wall shoulder taps engage your core, shoulders, and wrists, making them perfect for stabilizing your muscles before a climb.

Face a wall and place your hands shoulder-width apart, about chest height. Step back slightly and shift into a diagonal push-up position. Raise one hand and tap the opposite shoulder. Alternate sides for 3 sets of 10 taps per arm, keeping your core engaged to limit rocking.

4. Wrist Rolls and Tendon Glides

One of the common mistakes beginner indoor climbers make is skipping finger prep. Perform 15–20 wrist rolls in each direction. Next, move into tendon glides. Hold your hand up, fingers straight, and slowly bend them into a hook, then into a full fist, and then back to an open position. 

Complete 10 reps per hand. These small movements make a big difference in grip endurance and injury prevention.

5. Bodyweight Squats

You’ll need strong legs and hips to push yourself up the wall, not just arms. Squats are a functional way to wake up your lower body.

Do two sets of 15 bodyweight squats, focusing on form. Keep your chest lifted, knees tracking over your toes, and weight in your heels. Pause for a beat at the bottom to get the most out of each rep.

6. Lunges with a Twist

Mobility in your hip flexors, quads, and spine are all important for climbing’s twisting, turning moves. Move forward into a lunge, and as you lower, twist your torso toward the front leg. Return to standing and switch sides. Aim for 10 reps per leg. The action should be gradual and controlled to avoid straining your knees.

7. Dead Hangs (Optional)

If you’re no longer brand-new to climbing, a short dead hang can warm up your grip.

Use a hangboard or pull-up bar. Hang with arms straight and shoulders engaged (not sagging) with your feet lightly touching the ground if needed. Hold for 10–15 seconds, rest, and repeat one or two times. 

Skip this if you’re a beginner or nursing a sore shoulder.

Start Strong, Finish Stronger

These seven warm-up exercises for your next indoor climbing session won’t just prep your muscles; they’ll improve your mental focus, too. A thoughtful warm-up helps you approach the wall with confidence, improved body awareness, and a reduced risk of injury mid-route.

Stay consistent with your climbing progress by making warm-ups a non-negotiable part of your routine. It’s one of the easiest things to do, and one of the most overlooked.

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Instead of stressing about finding a new gym and creating a temporary vacation workout routine, make exercise part of your vacation. Here are three ways to exercise without a gym while on vacation that will let you get your workout in while also having fun.

Workout Where You Are: Bodyweight Exercises and Online Videos

Different vacation spots provide different accommodations, which could affect how you complete your workouts. Luckily, you can exercise almost anywhere if you know basic bodyweight exercises or can access online videos.

Bodyweight Exercises

Bodyweight exercises have you use your body weight as resistance, so there’s no need for weights or other equipment. No matter if you’re camping in the middle of the woods, relaxing at a beach hotel, or staying in a hostel abroad, you can perform these exercises. Push-ups, squats, mountain climbers, and jumping jacks are popular bodyweight exercises that require little room.

Online Videos

The internet is full of workout videos that require no equipment and little room. Many of them feature bodyweight exercises as described above, but they might also guide you through yoga, high-intensity interval training, or other workouts. Find a video that you can follow in your space and start exercising.

Sightseeing and Exercising: Hiking and Running

While you can do the workouts described above in the privacy of your accommodation, exercising outside will allow you to simultaneously sightsee. If your vacation location offers safe hiking trails or beautiful places to run, why not start there?

Hiking

Hiking boots are heavy, but the extra suitcase weight is worth it. Going on a hike during your vacation allows you to explore the beautiful nature in a new place. Depending on the trail you choose, it also provides a good cardio workout and will help improve balance and coordination. If you’re vacationing alone, try to find a hiking group to practice best safety measures in a new place.

Running

With the right pair of shoes, you can run almost anywhere. No matter where you’re staying, you can likely find a park, shorefront, or city sidewalk to run on. This way, you’ll get to explore your vacation spot while getting in a great cardio workout that can lower cholesterol, build muscle strength, and provide other health benefits.

Fun in the Sun: Swimming and Stand-Up Paddleboarding

Many people choose to vacation near natural bodies of water, such as lakes and oceans. If you love vacationing on the water, incorporate watersports into your gym-free workout with swimming or stand-up paddleboarding.

Swimming

Swimsuits and goggles are easy to toss into your travel bag and slip on when you’re ready for a fun workout. Swimming is a great cardio exercise and low stress on your body, so even people with health concerns like arthritis can do it. Your body even gets a unique boost from swimming in natural bodies of water, such as decreased inflammation and a stronger immune system.

Stand-Up Paddleboarding

Some people think that stand-up paddleboarding is more about sightseeing from the water than exercise—fortunately, it’s both! While you can enjoy the view from atop your paddleboard, standing on a moving surface helps you exercise your leg and core muscles.

Paddling will also help strengthen your arm, chest, and back muscles. If you have your own board, remember to keep your stand-up paddleboard in good condition so you can use it for workouts throughout your vacation. If you’re renting a board, be sure to rinse it off before you return it.

These are just three ways to exercise without a gym while on vacation. No matter the style of exercise you prefer, you can find a way to make it work while you’re in a new location. Get creative and test your body while enjoying your vacation spot.

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Branching Out From Sports Specialization

The negative effects of pushing kids to specialize in a specific sport too early are becoming more apparent, from frequent injuries to boredom to stress. Allowing kids to explore a variety of sports when they’re young helps them discover their strengths and gives them the opportunity to make a wider circle of friends.

Adults can also reap the rewards of multi-sport participation. Engaging in various sports helps you maintain motivation and prevents burnout, thereby keeping your passion for active living strong.

Whole-Body Fitness

Even if you have no intention of abandoning training for your sports specialization, doing something else on off days challenges your body in new ways and uses different muscle groups. The result is greater full-body fitness, better flexibility, and increased agility.

Better Mental Outlook and Improved Neuroplasticity

Participating in multiple sports can benefit your mental health. Challenging yourself in new ways builds a sense of mastery and accomplishment while also stimulating the brain’s neuroplasticity. This improves your brain’s ability to respond to new inputs. When you learn a new sport, you cause your brain to grow in areas relevant to the new skills required.

Fewer Injuries

Sports specialization can cause overuse injuries. By diversifying your sports participation, you reduce the risk of injury by allowing some muscles and joints to rest and recover while you use other muscle groups. Naturally this depends on the sports being played, but including other forms of training such as yoga or Pilates for example can do wonders for your core and for strengthening smaller muscles that we usually neglect working.

Wider Social Connections

Engaging in different sports helps you meet new people and forge relationships within different communities. As an adult, it’s an excellent way to stay socially engaged and expand your network.

Tips for Multi-Sport Success

To make the most of your multi-sport journey, consider some of these practical tips.

Set Realistic Goals

Identify your strengths and objectives for each sport you want to try. Set realistic goals and stick to them. They may change or evolve as you progress, and that’s ok. Every so often reevaluate your goals and set new ones.

Have the Right Equipment for Any Sport

If you can, have the right equipment for the sport you want to try. For example, make sure you have the must-have items for mountain biking to improve your leg strength or the proper shoes for indoor soccer where you can build endurance.

Manage Your Time Wisely

Plan your schedule to ensure you can balance your work, social life, and sports activities effectively. Multiple sports can take up a lot of your time, so try to create a schedule that works for you.

Give Yourself a Break

While you want to commit to whichever sports you choose, sometimes you need a break. Allow your body to recover, and don’t hesitate to take rest days to decrease the risk of injury.

Embracing a Multi-Sport Lifestyle

Adulting is stressful, but embracing a multi-sport lifestyle can unlock numerous physical, mental, and social benefits. Now that you understand the benefits of multiple sports for adults, it’s time to embark on your own multi-sport journey.

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While you can safely spend some of your time outside, as long as you’re socially distancing, a lot of people have found that working out at their house just makes the most sense. 

If this is something that you’ve recently taken on, here are three simple tips you should follow to ensure that you’re staying safe while working out at home. 

Keep Things Clear

In most homes, there isn’t a designated space where you can safely workout without running into something. But in order to protect your body from harm, it’s important that you have the space you need in order to move without bumping into things. 

In addition to clearing out space in your home, Melissa Malamut, a contributor to the New York Post, recommends that you also have cleared out the air in your space by bringing some fresh air into the room through your open windows. By doing this, you’ll be keeping your body healthy on multiple levels as you workout your body as well as getting some cleaner air into your lungs. If it’s a bit cold, rather open a window but dress warmly, which leads us to the next point.

Dress For The Gym

When you’re working out at home, you might be tempted to just begin working out whenever you remember without actually taking the time to get ready for exercise. However, exercising without wearing the proper attire can be dangerous for you. 

Especially when it comes to your feet, Mallory Creveling, a contributor to Health.com, shares that you need to dress just as you would when going to the gym. Ideally, you should be wearing tennis shoes that are only meant for indoor use.

If this doesn’t work for you, having bare feet is the next best option. And if you do choose to wear only socks, make sure they’re non-slip so you don’t fall and injure yourself. 

Mix Things Up

When working out at home, you might feel very limited in the type of exercise you’re able to do. But to give your body the time it needs to rest and recover, Sarah Winkler, a contributor to HowStuffWorks.com, shares that it’s wise to try cross-training as much as possible. 

As you do different types of workouts throughout the week, you’ll be training various parts of your body and letting other muscle groups rest. This will keep you from overexerting the same area, which makes your body more susceptible to injury. 

To help you stay safe while getting fit at home, consider using the tips mentioned above as you take on home workouts. 

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Crossfit has taken some heat over the years for some of their training methods, but the principles behind the regime are still good. Some people love it some people not so much. It’s important to find what you enjoy and find stimulating. One of the great aspects of it, is that people like the group workout part of it where you can train with other people and get to follow the workouts and beat personal bests. Just be careful and do not compromise exercise form in the pursuit of beating your bests and for too heavy weights. Make sure to build up slowly and enjoy the process.

Exercise has long been touted as an important step to take in order to lead a long and healthy lifestyle, yet until relatively recently, the effect it had on our cells was unknown. A study published in the journal Cell Metabolism has finally made it possible to comprehend how exercise – and high-intensity interval exercises carried out in programs such as CrossFit – can help delay ageing. Additional research, meanwhile, has shown that CrossFit-type training keeps you young in an additional way – by boosting the memory and helping stave off dementia.

The Cellular Effects Of High-Intensity Interval Training

In the above-mentioned study, high intensity interval training was found to stimulate cell production of protein for energy-producing mitochondria and ribosomes (whose main function is to build protein). Optimal mitochondrial function is key to staying young; a decline in its quality and activity is found in normal ageing, and is linked to the development of various diseases.

In their study, the researchers found that although strength training is effective at building muscle mass, high-intensity interval training actually brought about the biggest benefits at a cellular (and anti-ageing) level. If you are already enamored by CrossFit, the good news is that because your workout includes HIIT and Olympic weight lifting movements, you are doing plenty to keep ageing at bay and to improve both muscle and bone strength.

CrossFit Is Easy And Relatively Inexpensive

You don’t really need any fancy equipment to perform a CrossFit routine. Your gym will have all you need – including kettlebells, ropes, and heavy sacks. As far as appropriate CrossFit workout wear is concerned, concentrate on light, breathable outfits that wick sweat away. If you train at home as well, invest in a few free weights and kettle bells, as well as in a good foam roller to massage overworked muscles.

Can CrossFit Help Keep Your Mind Young Too?

Although specific studies have not been carried out on the effects of CrossFit on the brain, research has been conducted on one of its main components – HIIT. A study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism found that seniors completing high intensity workouts saw a 30% improvement in memory performance.

Another study by scientists at the University of California – Davis Health System – found that people who exercise enjoy better mental fitness as well. This is because intense or vigorous exercise increases levels of two important neurotransmitters – glutamate and GABA. These neurotransmitters are responsible for chemical messaging in the brain, yet their levels tend to be depleted in people with depression and other psychiatric disorders.

The high-intensity interval exercises that form a core component of CrossFit have been shown to help keep ageing at bay and to help boost mental health. The good news is that if you are already an assiduous HIIT or CrossFit fan, science has shown that you probably already have a high level of intrinsic motivation – therefore, you are likely to stick to this tough workout regime.

The point is

Research has shown that high intensity interval training isn’t for everyone – after all, we all have different personalities and reasons for working out. However,  if a challenging workout in the presence of ultra-committed, supportive friends sounds like your idea of a fun day at the gym, head to your nearest box and discover how good it can feel to push yourself to achieve new goals.

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I often find myself thinking about the different types of techniques one implements as an advanced trainer. Supersets, tri-sets, giant sets, and many others provide tools that you can implement in your current workout regime. The one that I was most fascinated about was the pre-exhaustion method.

The pre-exhaustion method is a common method often used by advanced trainers in order to increase training stimuli as well as intensity. It is a rather old-school way of training, which is still implemented by the likes of bodybuilders till this day.

Basically this method consists of performing a single jointed exercise followed immediately by a compound movement. For example, let’s say you are training legs today.

You would possibly use this technique in a quad dominant set like this:

• 12 repetitions of leg extensions followed by
• 12 repetitions of lunges or squats.
• You would perform 3 sets of this with 1-2 minutes of rest between sets.

Your quadriceps muscle in this case would have already been tired from the leg extensions and will then become overloaded from the lunges/squats, working them till complete failure.

The preconceived idea behind this method is that it would lead to muscle failure, which is essential for tearing down the muscle fibres completely. Muscle failure occurs during the lifting phase of a repetition when the muscles can’t produce sufficient force to continue to move the weight upward. By reaching muscular failure, you optimize your chances of tearing the muscles fibers down completely, which awakens growth leading to bigger, stronger muscles. Makes sense right?

A study, however, from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that has proven otherwise, shows no increased effect on muscle activity when performing quad dominant exercises such as the leg extension and leg press. It pretty much told us that it isn’t any more effective than any other training technique.

Now looking back at what I defined muscle failure as, when muscles aren’t able to produce enough force, usually the muscle activity and level of contractions decrease. Performing compound movements usually produce the most force since more muscles are involved. Wouldn’t it make sense to use the muscle at its full capacity rather than “half assed” especially in a compound movement? I wasn’t that surprised when I found out. Compound movements also tend to be more complex putting you at risk of injury, and so fatiguing the muscle before performing that would put you at an even bigger risk.

So is there a place for pre-exhaustion? Maybe. I personally would use it to increase the QUALITY of the session in a short period of time. But for hopes of building muscle? Not so much.

Progressive overload that increases demands and adaptations on your muscular system is key to making muscle gains as well as strength gains!

Written by:

 Exercise Specialist, Sarah Ezzideen.

Sarah Ezzideen is a qualified Exercise Specialist based at the Health and Fitness Professionals Academy. Her passion and zest for the fitness industry intensified even more so as she obtained her Diploma in Exercise Sciences at HFPA and is a driving force looking to spread her knowledge to the crowd following their own fitness journey. She also plays a vital role in looking after the students at HFPA in her student advisor role and now also plays out her passion for social media marketing, fitness and nutrition all while competing in powerlifting and fitness competitions.

Check out her blog: fitgirlgonewild.wordpress.com

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There’s a reason the phrase ‘competitions are won from the back’ is so often used in bodybuilding and fitness shows. Having a thick and wide back, paired with a narrow waist and flaring quads creates that perfect X frame physique which so many of us strive after. It is all about achieving ideal proportions coupled with perfect symmetry across your entire body.

Now, by focusing your efforts on your back, and building a wider back you can create the illusion of a smaller waist, which plays into attaining that whole ‘X’ frame build. But this is not to say you should neglect training other body parts, no. Pay equal attention to every single body part in order to not have any muscle groups out of proportion.

In order to make the most of your back workouts here are 5 simple but effective Back Training tips:

1. Pull with your elbows

When performing any back/Lat focused pulling exercises, visualize pulling from your elbows and think of your hands, as part of or attached to the bar. By pulling with your elbows you reduce the involvement of your biceps and forearms in the movement and place more emphasis on your Lats, allowing them to do more of the work, which is want you want.

Try to think of your hands more as hooks onto the apparatus and not so much as using a stern grip when pulling, during a machine or dumbbell back workout.

2. Feel and visualize your back in each exercise

Carrying on from the first point, having that ‘mind muscle’ connection can play a major role in ensuring your back does the work and not other muscles such as your biceps.

What this means is, when performing a back exercise try to, in your mind, visualize the exact part of your back that you are working on as you pull the weight.

Also try to really squeeze that specific muscle as you approach the end of the concentric movement of each exercise.

3. Hit the back from a variety of angles with a few different exercises

The entire back is quite a large muscle group and in turn it needs to be worked from a variety of angles in order to place sufficient stress on it, to enable growth. So do not be scared to dedicate one whole training session to only doing your back, and try to include a number of varying exercises to focus on width as well as thickness. Most narrow grip exercises will contribute thickness, while most wide grip pull down movements will help with width.

4. Alternate your grip positions

By just altering your grip position, you can focus on working a different part of your back. For example take bent over rows with a barbell. By taking a wide overhand grip you focus more on your outer Lats. Alternatively by using an underhand grip you now work more on your lower and inner Lats.

So it is good to experiment and to see which specific positions you can feel more.

5. Schedule 2 workouts in a week

Sometimes a good way to bring up or improve on a lagging body part is to train it twice a week.

When doing this ensure you are eating enough as well as getting adequate rest in order to aid your recovery.

When planning 2 workouts, try to make one of them a heavy, compound day. This means choosing and including more compound exercises such as deadlifts and different types of rows, and lifting relatively heavy weight for them. (Try aim for a rep range of 10 to 6 or even down to 4)

Then on the other workout include more isolated exercises such as Lat pull downs, machine rows etc. and keep the weights relatively light. (Aim for a rep range of 15 to 8).

The Monster Back Workout

Download a printable workout log here:

• Editable Word Document: Monster Back workout Log
• Pdf Document: Monster Back workout Log

The workout below starts off with some heavy compound exercises and ends up with a few lighter isolation exercises like pull ups. You can break it up into 2 workouts if you like, as discussed in point 5 above.

Exercise 1:

• Deadlifts

Sets: 5
Reps: 12, 10, 8, 6, 4
Increasing weight each set

Exercise 2:

• Bent over (T Bar) rows close grip (Palms facing each other)

Sets: 5
Reps: 12, 10, 8, 6, 6
Increasing weight each set

Exercise 3:

• Seated cable rows

Sets: 4
Reps: 12, 10, 8, 6
Increasing weight each set

Exercise 4:

• One arm dumbbell rows palms facing forwards

Sets: 4
Reps: 10, 10, 8, 8
Increasing weight every 2nd set

Exercise 5:

• Wide grip bent over rows

Sets: 4
Reps: 12, 10, 8, 6
Increasing weight each set

Exercise 6: Tri set:

A ‘Tri set’ is when you perform 3 exercises, one after the other with no rest in between.

• Front lat pull downs

Exercise 6.1:

• Lat pull downs behind the neck

Exercise 6.2:

• Lat pull downs palms facing towards you

Sets: 3
Reps: 12, 10, 8

Exercise 7:

• Pull ups wide grip

Sets: 2 – 3 sets to failure

Exercise 8:

• Pull ups reverse grip

Sets: 2 – 3 sets to failure

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When it comes to setting foot in the gym or commencing any ‘exercise regime’ for that matter, one common predicament that many people find themselves in, is that they do not know where to start or how to go about putting together a decent training programme.  This in turn often leads them to delay in starting or even giving up before ever actually beginning.  It can seem a daunting task at first, and you may be overwhelmed, especially with all the different information you find on the internet and in magazines these days.

But don’t get disheartened, everything starts with that first step in the right direction.

Here are a few tips to help get you started and keep you motivated to not give up!

1. Research and Keep Learning

Always do you own research and be prepared to constantly keep learning.  Although if you are really in doubt about what to do, seek a professionals help, such as a personal trainer.  There are many knowledgeable and experienced personal trainers out there who can really give you that boost and give you a lot of first hand information which you can use.

But make sure to continue to do your own research and find out as much as you can so that you are not totally lost when you set foot in a gym.

With that being said, if affordability is your biggest issue here, then you can always hire a personal trainer for a few initialsessions.  This will help to get you started and headed in the right direction without becoming too expensive.

2. Build it up

When it comes to cardio training, the worst thing you can do is to jump right in and start cycling or jogging (or whatever you enjoy) for two hours a day, every day of the week.

The best approach to cardio is to build it up.  Start small, see what you can handle, and then slowly keep building it up.

For example you can start doing cardio three times a week for 20 minutes at a time.  Each week you can then increase the time slightly, adding say, just ten minutes to one session.  OR increase the intensity of the sessions by aiming to complete the same distance in less time.

With cardio don’t be fooled, there are many ways to ‘change’ it up to keep it intense and to keep progressing without increasing the duration of it.

3. There is no one size fits all

One thing to understand is that there are so many different ways to train and many people have their ‘own training methods.’  (Just a note, in this article I am talking about training programmes and not ways to perform specific exercises, as the ‘form’ of exercises is a whole different topic.)  Thus there is really no one exact and correct way to train.

We are all unique, and react differently to many things, therefore we need to find what works for us.

So another key point to remember is that the body is a highly adaptable machine.  It can adapt to pretty much anything and is always looking for stability in order to maintain its equilibrium.

What this means is, if you want to progress; be it lose fat or gain muscle, if you do one thing over and over for a period of time, even though it may have worked initially, eventually your body will get used to it and will stop progressing.

Thus, in order to continue moving forward, be prepared, and don’t be scared to change things up every so often.  I’m not saying every workout needs to be different.  You need to monitor your progress on a certain training routine and when you start to see that you are not getting stronger or leaner (whatever your goal is) then it could be time for a change.

Even a small change could go a long way.  You body needs different stresses placed upon it in order to stimulate it in a different way and allow it to continuously grow.

4. Start with one body part

With weight training, a good and simple way to start is to train at least one big body part per day.

Big body parts are:

• Back
• Legs: Quadriceps and hamstrings
• Chest

Smaller body parts consist of:

• Shoulders
• Traps
• Biceps
• Triceps
• Forearms
• Calves

You can group one big body part with a smaller body part. Bigger muscles usually require more exercises and sets to target them effectively, and to ensure they are worked from every possible angle.  So it is a good idea to start your workout with the bigger body part and then move on to the smaller body part(s).

So for example, on:

• Day 1 of your training programme you can group together Chest with Triceps.
• On Day 2 place Back with Biceps.
• Day 3 Shoulders and Traps.
• Day 4 Legs.
• Day 5 Rest.

With this routine you can see we hit each muscle group roughly once per week.  This is a good starting point and you can always change the groupings as you require.

Don’t be afraid to try and train each muscle twice a week sometimes, as that can really help some people grow tremendously.

5. There is no perfect programme

There is no perfect way to group your muscles.  This tip kind of ties in and follows on from both tips three and four.  This may go against most common views out there, but I firmly believe there is no ‘right’ way to group your muscles in a training programme.  You can literally try any combination you think and it could work for you.

For example, many people will rather avoid training chest and back on the same day as these are two very big muscles.  They say it could be too much to do and you may not recover enough for your next workout.

As long as you are eating adequately and resting enough, it is very difficult to over train the body.

The conclusion here is that by trying something completely different can be just what you need, to blast through that sticking point.

For example there was an article which gave an unorthodox method being to try training a specific muscle on two consecutive days for a few weeks, in order to stimulate new growth.  This went against everything I thought I knew.  I was very skeptical.  How would my muscle recover?  Surely I would end up breaking it down far too much and result in it getting smaller? What better way to find out, than to try.  I trained my chest for two consecutive days in my workout routine for a few weeks, and sure enough the dramatic change sparked new growth and I saw an immediate difference after a few weeks.

So don’t ever be afraid to try something different, even it goes against the conventional ways.  If anything, it will help you learn what works and what doesn’t.

6. Copying the pros workouts

A huge misconception is the idea of taking someone else’s workout, copying it exercise for exercise and set for set, and then expecting the same results of that person.  This happens A LOT when people see a famous bodybuilder or even a celebrity who has an amazing physique.  The only thing they want to know is what workout he/she does Or what exercises does he/she use?

Then magazines publish these celebrity’s workouts and people think by following their workouts they will attain a body just like their celebrity role model. There are many factors involved in changing and sculpting a body; diet, rest, training, supplements are some of these aspects.

If it really were that easy then most guys would have just followed Arnold Schwarzenegger’s training programme and would have transformed their bodies into his.  Granted we could all use their workouts and make improvements to ourselves, but we need to understand that those improvements could be limited.  Also if we take a guy like Arnold, who was an established and an experienced bodybuilder, he had tailored his workouts to his needs and they can be seen as pretty advanced; some lasting two to three hours long, twice a day!  So if a beginner decides to jump right in and follow his intense routine, they are probably not going to last past an hour.

So yes you can use other people’s routines, but remember it must work for YOU, and thus you may need to change a few things in order for it to suit your needs.

7. Just do it!

At the end of the day doing something, is more often than not, better than doing nothing.  So whatever situation you find yourself in, the best way to begin working out, is to simply….Begin.

You may start off unsure and doubtful but as time goes on you will start to learn what works and what doesn’t.

You will learn how you and your body reacts to certain things and that’s how you will progress forward.  Also remember to rest well and eat enough!

Experience is such a great teacher, and after all, everyone who ever achieved anything was once a beginner.

It all starts with you and that first step.

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