Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Apartment Building’s Gym?

A full gym is a very sought after feature in any apartment building. Fitness equipment can be expensive, generally specialised to a few muscle groups, and much too bulky to fit into most apartments.

Having somewhere close by that will let you burn some calories without taking hours out of your daily commute is often appreciated, so do what you can to motivate yourself to train.

Clear some time

The easiest way to get more out of your gym is to set up a schedule. Working out can be done pretty quickly, but even a short workout takes a surprising chunk out of a working person’s day when you factor in getting changed, warming up, the workout itself, packing up any equipment you’ve used, cooling down, and changing back after showering.

If you work 9-5, the easiest gym plan, and the one most likely to succeed and keep you on your fitness schedule, is any gym plan. A primary reason many people don’t end up getting the most out of their apartment’s gym is by simply not creating their fitness regime in the first place.

Without a schedule, you’ll invariably end up with a case of the maybes. “Maybe I’ll go later today”, you say, but before you know it it’s “maybe tomorrow”. A big red GYM NOW in your diary is a much better motivator than ifs and buts.

Feel the flow

Move intuitively from one machine to the next. A good gym will have this semi-prepared as part of its structure, but you can’t always count on an apartment gym to have this built in.

Try to find a routine that encompasses multiple machines across the gym and gets you the results you want from your workout, and stick to that order. Grab a couple of machines that you know work for you and affect a large amount of muscles, and do reps on each of them in turn.

Setting up a circuit guarantees you’ll be working out what you want to work out, and means you can put your mind on neutral, or listen to music or a podcast etc.

Addendum: mix it up

Mix up your circuit every three weeks or so. Keep any focal points that you really enjoy, but change at least half of what you’re working out.

Working too much on one set of muscles not only results in unbalanced results if done to the extreme, but it’s also inefficient.

Mixing up your schedule not only stops it from getting stale and boring, working out muscles that you’ve been putting out of the spotlight for a few weeks also boosts your gains by a decent amount.

High intensity, low reps

If you’re just starting out due to recently gaining access to a gym, remember the old adage: when starting out, you should work out in high intensity situations for a shorter period of time.

This is excellent news for anybody who is unsure if they have the time during the day to work out. By following this advice, cycling between high weight reps or high resistance on your machines with a low total number of reps, you’ll also be getting a quick introduction to gym life without absorbing all of your free time.

This method is also perfect for apartment living. Having a short commute to the gym and the ability to waltz home in a minute or two means that you can do a high intensity workout without having to conserve the energy to drive home or catch public transport.

However, before you run off to start pumping iron it’s vital to understand your limits. Never do more than you can handle, even if you’re attempting the high intensity method. Start small on your first workout and figure out precisely how much you can handle, then incrementally add more until you know the difference between a soft, medium, and heavy weight for you.

Aim for a set of reps that’ll take you about 20 seconds, with a 10 second pause in between them. This is commonly referred to as Tabata protocol, and it’s a similar thing to starting off running by training sprints.

You’ll boost your body’s ability to rapidly transport oxygen to the muscles that desperately need it very quickly doing this, which translates onto the ability to handle more weight and pressure.

Have fun with it!

Enjoy your newbie gains while you can! It’s easy to be encouraged by seeing strong improvements while doing your first solid workout months, but remember the key to workout longevity is to enjoy yourself. So load your favourite music onto your iPod, put on your most prized workout gear, and get pumped.