Michael Is Gym-ing. Seriously.

 The advantage of being extra slim is that every little improvement is noticeable. At least to me. 😀

And in the spirit of sharing, I will be taking you through a virtual tour of my typical gym workout routine. It is a one hour workout regime and involves repeating the same exercise sequence with very short rests in between. The idea is to go very intense such that at the end of the one hour I am extremely tired and have sore muscles. It is hard work. A true workout.

Here is the exercise sequence I follow and repeat till the one hour is up:

1. Warm-up session.
I jog from my house to the gym. It's a 5 mins jog. It gets my heart pumping in preparation for the more intense workout at the gym. Experts say you should always do a warm-up session before hitting the weights and intense workout machines. You can be sure I have read myself a library on gym-ing. 

Fortunately and unfortunately, I don't have any image of me jogging. So we move on to the next in my workout routine.

2. One machine like that.

If you know the name, kindly help an ignorant bro.

Luckily, I know how to use it and what muscles it helps build, special thanks the guy I met on my sign-up date. You see the seat behind, you sit on it facing the weights in front and then pull the two black handles facing you. By the time you pull and release a couple of times you will be sweating and tired. And to control how fast you get tired, adjust the weights.

Interestingly, no one else in the gym seems to be very interested in this one. The guys are too obsessed with bench-pressing and squats; while the ladies are more interested in pictures, treadmill and more pictures. 

3. Another machine

This one is more like a variant of that first one and also seldom used by the gym members. The seat is at the front and the weight is loaded behind, you pull from the back. It is meant to work the shoulder and back muscles but it gives me tummy ache after a while, so I try not to use it much.

4. Barbells

I remember one lady telling me to go pick a heavier barbell and leave for her the one I wanted to use. It was my second day at the gym. I wanted to ask her what is a lady doing with barbells, shouldn't she be skipping ropes or doing aerobics (fake dance). Anyway, I left it for her and went to pick another of same weight. I swing it from below my waist to my above my chest repeatedly until my arms hurt and can't keep my upright form.

5. Dumb Bells

After the barbells I go swing the dumb bells. I don't get much reps out before I tire out.

6. Bench Press

I always remove the monstrosity the other guys hang on the bench press and replace with a more reasonably sized weight. I bench press till my hands begin to wobble and I begin to fear that the weights might drop on my chest.

7. Exercise Bike

I tire out to easily on the treadmill and I am not trying to lose weight. In fact, I hope to gain weight from my exercising, so I don't really need the calories burning magic of treadmill. Also, anyone who walks more than me must be an Almajiri. I stand and walk throughout my training class sessions, usually from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Before the guy on a treadmill will beat my mileage, he would have to tie treadmill to his paid work KPI.

I am perfectly okay with the cycling benefits of the exercise bike.

8. Leg machine

This machine thoroughly works the leg muscles. You sit and put your feet beneath the two black cushions in front. At the back are loaded weights linked to the metal between the cushions your feet are beneath of. You then lift the cushions, hence the weights, with your feet. I have it well loaded and in just four reps my thighs begin to ache. It is one of those machines I don't see people in the gym use.

9. Another leg machine

This one requires you to clasp the two cushioned metals with your legs. Again, there are weights behind that will make it a difficult task. 

10. Push-ups

I then do 30 to 35 push-ups. After which I rest a little and go back to number 1. 


Finally, I go to the gym once in two days. I keep a day of rest so that the muscles will recover and get stronger.

What do you think? 😁