3 Ways to Know Which Workout is Best for You

Andrew Kobylarz
Aug 23, 2017 · 7 min read

(This post originally appeared on deskjoblife.com)

What’s the best workout plan for you?

Do you know?

It’s okay if you don’t.

In fact, a lot of other people don’t. Like not even professionals. There’s a lot of debate on what the “best type of workout” there is.

Gretchen Reynolds had actually written about what the best exercise is in the New York Times.

A variety of exercises, ranging from the butterfly stroke in swimming, the squat, high intensity exercise, burpees, and even brisk walking were thrown into the mix.

Now mind you, all the people in this article are smart as hell. Like, well respected health professionals who have been studying the best way to take care of the human body for their entire careers.

And none can come up with the “right” answer.

Which begs the question, what is the best type of workout for you?

Well, the reality is that all those exercises mentioned above have their own benefits.

There isn’t one up there that isn’t good for you.

It really all depends on you.

What I see in most folks who are working at a desk or running a business is this: you probably need a kick ass workout in a short amount of time that you can work into your shedule, not the other way around.

Your schedule is packed, but you still need to look and feel good at the same time.

Word up. I feel ya.

So today I’m going to go over three tips to let you know what your workout plan is the best for you.

Dealing with a packed schedule along with having to look and feel great at the same time is tough. So here are the guidelines to let you know that you’re covering all your bases:

  • Conditioning
  • Strength
  • Efficiency

Conditioning

Really?

You’re putting this first?

Coming from the guy who advocates lifting heavy?

I know, hear me out though.

Chris Shugart wrote a great article on T Nation about the benefits of conditioning over cardio. All in all, the benefits that you receive from conditioning are awesome. And awesome might be an understatement.

  • You increase your basal metabolic rate
  • You burn fat rapidly
  • You change your body composition

Why?

Because conditioning allows you to do A LOT OF WORK in a VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF TIME. You just rest up and get after it again for a short time period. Short being 15 to 20 minutes. It can be similar to high intensity interval training.

Another reason I’m a big fan of conditioning is cause you can do it anywhere. In the gym, the comfort of your own home, one time I got in early to my office and did a quick conditioning workout.

Just playing. But you can do that though if you want, no joke.

The more important thing is this — it’s a great way to know that the type of workout you’re doing is best for you. Primarily because of all the benefits that come along with it.

If you’re a female reading this, or the T Nation article, you might be thinking … “might get me jacked, no thanks”. And look, the publication is a bit meathead, I’ll give you that. But it does have a ton of great info and that doesn’t undermine the benefits of conditioning for females. Or the results that anyone would get from from conditioning either.

Quite honestly, conditioning is the perfect fit for the life of a desk jock. Spending less time in the gym, getting a healthy and sexy bod, all while fitting everything else that’s going on in life into your busy ass schedule.

Here are some ideas to get you more conditioned:

  • Do as many burpees as you can in 10 minutes. Just got your workout for the day in. Boom.
  • Sprints (bonus points if you can do them up a hill or on sand). Go hard for 15 to 30 seconds, rest for 60 seconds, go hard for another 15 to 30 seconds. Repeat this for 10 to 15 minutes. Email me if you don’t think this is hard.
  • Jump Rope and fast. Go for 60 seconds, rest up for 30 and then keep getting after it.

Those are just a few ideas, but enough to get you going. Try it out!

Strength

Obviously.

Wasn’t going to leave this out.

It’s an important part of any workout program you’re doing because you build muscle. And building muscle helps you to get lean and strong. And no, you wont’ get jacked, even if you’re a dude. Most guys are trying for that brad Pitt look anyway and getting stronger helps you get there.

So lift heavy. That goes for you ladies too.

Preferably with a barbell. A barbell that has a lot of weight on it.

Now if you don’t have a barbell set up in your garage, or don’t have access to a gym, or maybe you just don’t want to pay for a gym, or maybe you just can’t lift heavy (for some medical reason) — it’s cool.

Work to do more repetitions with your body weight. You’ll still get stronger.

The benefits of incorporating strength into your program?

  • You increase your basal metabolic rate
  • You burn fat rapidly
  • You change your body composition

You can do the conditioning aspect during or after your strength workout. I’d highly recommend NOT doing it before your strength session.

Here are some ideas to get you stronger:

  • Try lifting a certain weight on one exercise (i.e squat) for 3 sets of 5. Once you hit your 5th rep on the 3rd set, tack on another 5 lbs. to the total weight you are lifting during your next session. Make sure you do only compound movements — essentially it’s Mark Rippetoe‘s Starting Strength Program.
  • Do (insert number of reps here) of (insert bodyweight movement here) and continue to add one more rep each time.

Efficiency

You’ll notice that I put in the same benefits for conditioning and strength twice. The reason being is that you want to burn calories and get a workout even when you’re not working out. It’s key to maintaining a lean, and healthy body in life of a desk jock.

Raising your basal metabolic rate helps you to keep your metabolism up even while resting. Which in turn burns calories when you’re doing something as simple as sitting down. Or better yet, doing nothing.

Burning Fat Rapidly helps you to … well, burn fat and fast. When you are working at a high intensity, either by doing a lot of work in a small amount of time or lifting a lot in a small amount of time, your body is forced to burn fat and nothing else.

*Worth nothing that there can be a line in which this isn’t true, but for the most part you’ll be burning fat.

Changing your body composition helps you to get the gains you really want. Instead of worrying about losing weight and getting skinny, you’ll get muscle and curves in all the right places. You’ll be lean, strong, and healthy.

Can’t beat it.

Is that it though?

Just get conditioned, strong, and be efficient?

It’s not.

There is one more important factor in knowing how your workout plan is best for you.

And surprisingly it’s got everything to do with you.

It’s to . . .

Have fun.

Steve Kamb, author of Nerd Fitness wrote a great post on how to determine your perfect workout plan. Though I totally agree with Steve that the most important factor is follow through, it’s really about you having fun.

Having fun determines follow through. Because having fun is something you look forward to getting done.

Chilling by yourself after a long week of work.

Going on a date.

Going out with friends.

Those are fun activities that you want to do. You’re never not looking forward to meeting new people, vegging out by yourself, or just kicking it with buds. The same should apply for fitness.

I enjoy working out. However, I’m always looking forward to chilling with my friends at the gym and working out with them. It’s an additional incentive to ensure I get a workout in.

There are so many exercises that Gretchen stated above that incorporate, or can incorporate the 3 tips we went over today. Pick one, any one, and get to it.

So really, what’s the best workout plan for you?

One that makes you more conditioned, stronger, is efficient, and most importantly . . . is fun. And if you still have questions then you can read my strategies on how to consistently workout with an inconsistent schedule.

Only you’ll know that.

Get after it this weekend and most importantly — have fun!

Thanks for reading and talk to you guys soon,

by Andrew Kobylarz

DeskJob Life

Photo Credit, CrossFit Fever, Warein, Gregor Winter, bark, Arya Ziai

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