Are you tired of being approached in malls and grocery stores and asked if you want to be a shirtless star in an upcoming Christmas calendar only to find out later they just wanted you to BUY an upcoming Christmas calendar that somebody else starred in? Does your son or daughter always find an excuse to NOT dress up as YOU for Super Hero day at school?  We’ve all been there.  The problem isn’t that these are unrealistic goals. The problem is you aren’t sticking with an easy to follow gym rotation.

Previously, I’ve detailed a 10-Minute Workout for Humans Who Read Blogs exercise program I like to do from time to time to start my day.  Today I want to talk about an easy to follow 4-Day workout split that I’ve been doing on days that I go to a real gym with weights and machines…and a tanning bed, for some reason.

Marky Mark Breakdown: This is actually the best gym rotation I've found to keep me motivated and consistent. Despite the jokes I love this workout split and the frame of mind it keeps me in.

4-Day Gym Rotation

I really like this 4-day rotation because it’s easy to follow and isn’t overwhelming.  The key is it only requires one main lift each day, so it’s easy to stay motivated.  Everything else on top of that main core lift is a bonus.

Here’s how it works:

Day 1- Back Day.

Core Lift- Deadlifts.

Day 2- Chest Day.

Core Lift- Benchpress.

Day 3- Leg Day.

Core Lift- Squats.

Day 4- Shoulder Day.

Core Lift- Shoulder Press

 

That’s it.  Really easy to follow.  When I go to the gym on back day my only goal is to get a good set of deadlifts in.  Even if that’s the only exercise I do I’ve accomplished my goal.  Any other back exercises that follow up deadlifts are a bonus.

Having only one exercise I HAVE to do makes it a lot easier mentally to get myself to the gym.  My workout can last as little as 10-15 minutes if I’m rushed for time.  This approach gets me to the gym even on days when I can’t carve out an hour to an hour and a half of exercise time.

It also gets me to the gym on days when I just don’t FEEL like exercising.  I may not have the motivation to do back exercises for 2 hours but I can run in there and bust out a few sets of deadlifts.

Rather than staring down a huge list of lifts I have to get through, I just focus on doing deadlifts.  Everything else is a bonus.

Get to the Gym and Let the Motivation Come From There

Once I actually get to the gym and do my deadlifts, more often than not I’m motivated to keep going.  It’s not a daunting task because I know at any point I can walk away because I’ve already accomplished my goal of doing deadlifts.

The same goes for days where I do bench-press, shoulder-press, or squats.

Get in there, do the main core lift and then decide if I want to keep going.

Why This Particular Rotation?

The reason I separate the days in this way is it guarantees large muscle groups won’t be exercised two days in a row.  For example: on Back Day I am using my back muscles but also my leg muscles doing the deadlifts.  Because of this I separate back day from leg day.  Same holds true for Bench-press and shoulder-press.  They each use chest, triceps and shoulders to varying degrees.

The other benefit of this workout split is I don’t have to workout everyday, but I can if my schedule allows it.  Day 1 can be on Monday and Day 2 on Wednesday if I’ve have a busy day Tuesday.  If my body is sore or tired I can take a day or two off without throwing the whole rotation into fits.

I used to break my workouts into upper and lower body.  This made me dread working out because there was just so many exercises I had to get through.  I would end up working really hard but not focusing on any particular lift and I’d eventually burn out.

Consistency is Key

Using this 4-day split I’ve been able to be a lot more consistent with my workouts.  Consistency is key to getting, and staying, in shape.  It’s better to run 1-mile every day than to run 10-miles one day but then not run again for three weeks.

Putting all my energy into these four lifts has given me much better results than simply running around the gym trying to workout 47 different muscles all on the same day.

I’m spending less time in the gym and getting better results.

I start my workout with a ten minute warmup on some type of cardio machine, usually a treadmill.  From there I go to my core lift. After that I either leave the gym feeling accomplished or I continue doing other bonus exercises.  It’s incredibly easy to follow and will leave you feeling great.  Most importantly it will keep you motivated to actually go to the gym!

High-Five.

Bonus Tip:  At the end of your gym session spend 5 minutes doing ab work and 5 minutes stretching.  That little bit of ab work will pull your entire physique together and the stretching will keep you from being as sore the following day.

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Here’s a few other articles about being healthy, if you just can’t get enough.

9 Deadly Myths About Exercise

A Bunch of Weird Things We’re Doing to Be Healthy

Pelicans- Not Known Fans of Leg Day