Late-Night Gym Routine: A Beginner's Machine Workout
Daily · Published 3/13/2024 ·
I’ve been a member of a 24-hour gym since last November, but for a while I mostly went only during my lunch break. These days I’m no longer working out in Sangam-dong, so I go after work instead. It’s late, but there are still plenty of people training. Even past 10 p.m… It makes me realize how long I’ve been making excuses for this sad, sorry body of mine. I know I should push myself harder, but honestly I just don’t have much energy left in me ^^;
It rained a bit this evening. It’s not like I can’t do cardio outside in the rain, but I’d already done a little running in the morning, so I came in just to do some light weight training before bed. First exercise of the day is, of course, the lat pulldown — the go-to favorite of every gym beginner.
I can now manage 4 sets of about 20 reps at 40kg. I only go until my form starts to break down, so on the last set I think I got around 14. I still can’t really up the weight, but honestly, as long as I’m losing fat, I don’t even want to go heavier than this.
On to the chest machine. I adjusted the seat height to target the lower chest. This machine lets you set the weight separately on each side. I set it to 15kg and did 4 sets of 20 reps. On the last set I think I managed around 16. Again, not a lot — I’m still a beginner.
I went with 15kg per side.
Next up in the lower-body work is the hip adduction machine for the inner thighs. It’s one of my favorites — my trainer told me that if I keep working the inner thighs, I can finally stop being one of those guys who sit with their legs spread wide open.
I set it to 75kg and did 4 sets of 15 reps. On the last set I think I got around 12. I kept the count steady through the first three sets. Even when your inner thighs feel like they’re burning up, you can’t stop ^^ It’s the kind of machine that leaves you feeling great afterward.
Last up is the hip abduction machine for the glutes. It pushes outward from the inside, and it can give the glute muscles a really intense workout.
I set it to 68kg and did 4 sets of 15 reps. Since I sit all day for work, I really need to train my lower body. That said, I didn’t have any gas left for something like leg press yesterday.
Since I’m still a beginner, I usually do about 4–5 machines, around 4 sets each. I rest about 2 minutes between sets, sometimes stretching it to 3 depending on how fatigued the muscle feels. At first I had no idea how long I should rest — and even watching my heart rate didn’t help, since it wouldn’t really rise or fall unless the exercise was really intense, so I couldn’t get a feel for it. But now I think I’m finally starting to get the hang of it.
How many sets should you do? I used to wonder about this… and my conclusion is that once a muscle group has gotten a really strong stimulus, it’s fine to stop — and that stimulus sits somewhere around the line of “can I take this? or not?” Sometimes I work out alone, sometimes with a trainer’s help, and the help definitely lets me push a stronger stimulus more safely, with better results.
When I’m on my own, I deliberately rest a little longer. That’s the only way I can get a strong stimulus out of an otherwise dull workout, and hold off just a bit longer against that powerful urge to drop the weight once I get past 10 reps and keep pushing or pulling.
Today I again used my Versa Gripps Pro lifting grips, and for shoes I wore Nike Metcons. The rest was just the gym’s shirt and shorts ^^
I’ll keep at it and train even harder from here on.
Thank you.
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