January gym crowd coping strategies

Experienced lifters dread January when rezzies who dont know gym etiquette flood into gyms. Unril the rezzies give up in 4 weeks, this video shows you an awesome workout strategy. If you are one of the gym newcomers and want to be in the 5% who keep it up all year insted of with the 95% who pay for a year and only workout in january, 3 suggestions for you:

1. Set your expectations properly by using my muscle gain calculator.
2. Skip the starvation diets and fad diets and use good, clean, healthy nutrition like the free custom meal plans at CustomMealPlanner.Com.  For fat loss, use a 20%-25% caloric deficit.  If you are more focused on strength gain and muscle gain then use “gain muscle, lose fat” at a 0% caloric deficit.
3. Start slowly!  You cant undo decades of neglect in one month.  If you are significantly out of shape, attempting to jog 5k every day will just get you injured – WALKING is the best exercise.  With weights, more ins not better.  Start with a good basic beginning workout plan.  You can even simplify that and start with just three things:
   1. rotisserie core workout to build core strength and help prevent lower back problems
   2. increase your pullups program
   3. increase your pushups program
   4. run your first mile, then a half marathon program [when you are under 220 lbs]

 

Workout strategies for January

In January, any piece of equipment with a place to sit becomes a texting chair.  Often the ‘resting’ person has earbuds with music so loud that they will not hear you if you scream “CAN I WORK IN WITH YOU?”.  You can either get mad and become a bundle of angry negative energy or you can go with the flow.

There are two ways you can cope with January gym crowds and keep your sanity and both of them require that you take a different approach to lifting.  Strength trainers are used to a very programmed approach to lifting that is just not possible in a crowded gym.  Similarly, bodybuilders depend on precisely orchestrated workout plans that simply would have you mowing over people in the gym.   Consider January as the month when you give your joints a break from the high weights and heavy lifting and a time to do low weight, high rep work.

An effective strategy for January involves staying in one place – staking out your territory and staying in it the entire workout.  Choose 3 or 4 exercises you can do on the floor and don’t feel bad about “hogging” the floor because you will be using it without any rest because you are doing low weight, high rep work.  Here is an example of an awesome exercise combo you can do.  Choose a floor location where you can attach a suspension trainer and do the following:

1. Suspension trainer low row (lats)
2. Dumbbell press (chest)
3. Lunges (legs)
4. weighted crunches or planks (core)