"It's My First Time at The Gym" Workout

There is no anxiety like walking-into-a-gym-for-the-first-time anxiety. If you are anything like me, you feel like everyone is watching you (they're not) or judging you (they're not) and I remember running straight to a cardio machine, staying on it for a bit, and walking straight out. There is so much more to explore in a gym then this and this style of my "Stay in one place workout" was my saving grace to get started OR if it was really crowded!

First, you will want to find a bench and bring a set of dumbbells to it. Your dumbbells need to be light enough that you can use proper form, but heavy enough that by rep 9 or 10, it is getting really challenging. Most benches will adjust to an incline (up) or decline (down) position. You will want to adjust it to an incline that you can lean back on while seated.

Your reps are the amount of times you do the move. Your sets are how many 'rounds' you do. This workout is set up to be 12 reps, 3 or 4 sets.

We are only doing 4 moves in the workout, but they will target multiple parts of your upper body.

Bicep Curls - Let your dumbbells drop ALL the way extended elbows down and curl them to shoulders. Pause 1 second at shoulders and squeeze.

Neutral Chest Press - Hold your dumbbells at your chest with your fingernails facing one another in the middle, knuckles facing out. Extend your elbows straight to the ceiling, squeeze when arms are up, and bring them all the way down.

Chest Fly - Same grip as the press, slightly bend your elbows, open them up as if you are making a cross shape with your arms, and you should feel it stretch across chest into armpit.

Skull Crushers - This is for your underarms! Bend your knuckles back, towards your forehead, and then extend arms straight up to the ceiling.

Now that you have gone through 12 reps of each move, you have a few options depending on your confidence that day or how busy it seems (P.S... don't forget, no one is watching you!!)

You can:

Continue to be seated, drink some water, scroll your phone
Walk over to the water fountain or cubby where your stuff is and rearrange it
Go over to a cardio machine and do a few minutes of cardio
Go over to a resistance machine - like a chest press machine or back row machine, and do a few reps

Then, go back to start your second set. When you get to where you can do your seated stuff, walk over to cardio or a machine, and come back to do more seated... you literally have a gym routine without even realizing it!