Social media is full of gurus telling you that you need to dedicate time to strength, cardio, mobility, stretching, sprinting, balance, explosive power, or whatever else it is that their $19/week program is focused on. All these things are good and hold a level of importance in staying healthy and pain-free. However, the chances are that, like most people, you don't have infinite spare time to be in the gym every day, ticking off every aspect of fitness that you can think of. In reality, you might have 30 minutes to get in, warm-up, get your workout done, and go. With that being the case, what is the best 'bang for your buck' workout? To put it simply - resistance strength training. This will be the biggest mover of the needle towards your health and fitness goals. Lifting moderate-heavy weight increases muscle mass, strength, bone density, and joint function, while decreasing long-term injury risk, and boosting the metabolism - a fantastic combo!
But what exercises should you do?
1. Compound exercises - movements that involve multiple joints allow us to move more weight and work multiple muscles at the same time.
2. Target the main joint actions - upper body push (horizontal and vertical), upper body pull (horizontal and vertical), hip hinge, and lower body push.
3. Supersets - follow a set of one exercise with a set of another exercise. This cuts unnecessary waiting time while still allowing specific muscle groups to recover.
4. Quick warm-up and cool-down - ensure muscles and joints are ready to handle heavy loads.
Now let's put it all together. Follow the below workout next time you're needing to get in and out efficiently.
Warm-up
- 30 seconds body-weight squats
- 30 seconds banded glute bridges
- 30 seconds alternating thread-the-needle
- 30 seconds banded shoulder pass-through
Strength
- Superset Stiff-leg Barbell Deadlifts with Alternating Reverse Lunges. 2-3 sets for each exercise. Approximately 8-10 reps for the deadlifts, and 12 total reps on the lunges.
- Superset Reverse Grip Lat pulldowns (or chin-ups) with Barbell Bench Press (or seated chest press). 2-3 sets of approximately 8-10 reps each exercise.
-Superset Wide-Grip Cable Seated Row with Dumbbell Shoulder Press. 2-3 sets of approximately 12-15 reps for each exercise.
Cool-down
-15-20 second stretch of each of the major muscle groups used.
If you happen to have a spare couple of minutes, a core exercise or two, such as leg lowers or plank variations, can be a good addition. However, many compound exercises strongly activate the core muscles anyway, and should be prioritised over these other 'core' exercises.
