The Exercises We're Not Skipping at the Gym

In our last blog, we talked about diversifying your workouts to ensure you make the most out of moving your body for the long run. We’re talking longevity. Ensuring the movement you do today will benefit your future self 20 years from now and beyond. Then we got to thinking - what are those movements that we never skip at the gym? The ones we ensure we always put into our workouts, no matter how much time we do or do not have. We asked each other this question, and it was a unanimous vote. 

The movements we would never skip at the gym are … DRUM ROLL PLEASE …..

Compound Movements. 

These are exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, rowing, and overhead presses.

Why we don't skip it:

These big lifts help build muscle, increase strength, and use more energy (burn more calories) than isolated exercises. These movements also prep us functionally for everyday life, such as picking up our kids, climbing stairs, bending over, reaching high or behind us, running, walking, etc. These big lifts prep us for life and are the building blocks to a lot of other “fun” exercises that you can do in other workouts or classes. These fundamental movements are what give us the foundation to do everything else - so we never skip them. This is probably why we all said the same thing! 

Working multiple muscle groups at the same time also saves time! Let’s face it, we don’t always (or ever) have time for an hour workout, so a lot of times we need to maximize the time we have, which is why we love these compound exercises. 

You can also combine many other exercises with these basic big lifts.

Squat to overhead press

Deadlift to Row

Renegade rows with pushups

This could be your entire workout, and you’d get all those big muscle groups in a small amount of time. This is why we never skip them. Not only do we get our whole body, but when we’re strapped for time, and let’s face it we almost always are, we know these big movements will cover all the bases. 

Compound movements such as those above also boost cardiovascular health because our heart rate is elevated during these exercises. It also helps us with coordination and balance because these exercises require a lot of neuromuscular coordination and stabilization. This also helps us improve any imbalances that we may have because these compound movements require us to engage multiple muscles at a time, sometimes working in different planes of motion as well. In comparison, a lot of isolated exercises only use one plane of motion which, if we don’t exercise in the other planes of motion, can cause instability. So many benefits!!

Aside from these big lifts, there are a few other things that we definitely don’t skip when we’re working out, regardless of how much time we have. 

Warm up and mobility:

Even if it’s 2 minutes, we ensure that we warm up our bodies properly for whatever workouts we’re about to do. Why? This helps us not get hurt. Have you ever tried sprinting without warming up first? OUCH! Whatever you’re doing for a workout, you want to ensure that you’re warming up that muscle group. And warm it up dynamically, meaning with motion - not static. Save the static stretches for your cooldown. So let’s say, for example, we’re running, for a warm-up, you may want to do leg swings, a few lunges, and maybe a plank to ensure your core is also warmed up. It doesn’t have to be fancy or long, just something to get your blood pumping and your body warmed up for whatever it is you’re doing. 

Cooldown/Stretching:

This is the part of the workout that is skipped a lot of the time. Why? After our workout,  we’re already thinking of what’s next. That meeting, lunch, a shower etc. We forget to cool down and stretch the muscles we just worked. Give yourself an extra few minutes at the end of your workout to stretch and cool down. You just put a lot of stress on your muscles (good stress!) you need to give them a minute to cool down. This will help get your heart rate down, and also reduce muscle soreness and help prevent injury. Tight muscles are prone to injury - so stretching can help prevent that! 

What are your must-haves in your workouts? We’d love to hear it!