Every workout can be a great one. You must however prepare by knowing exactly what you’ll be doing before you hit the gym floor. This means what muscle group/groups you’re going to hit, your specific list of exercises, without deviating by adding more, the exact sequence of exercises, the exact number of sets, reps, rest between sets and overall workout duration time.

This Blog post however is more about setting yourself up once you’ve reached the gym floor. You already know what you’ll be doing, so take a few minutes and prepare for the upcoming exercises.

Look around your gym and see how you can get things ready now, rather than scramble when you’ve reached that point in your workout. For example, if I’m using heavy dumbbells, I will bring them from the usual lower rack, up to the higher rack, to protect my back. If I’m going to be doing any cable work, I will set my preferred handles aside (not to hide them from others, but to make sure I know exactly where they are).


I’ve had too many times, when I spent too much time searching for identical handles or that E-Z bar attachment. It’s annoying and it can really put you in a lousy mood, which will negatively affect your workout.

Do your best to set things up, position things in places where you can easily find them or before you begin training, look at your exercise list/exercise sequence list and take a look at the gym floor to see where everything is laid out. Even if you’ve been working out at that gym for years, just the act of planning ahead will create a better connection for your action steps.

Listen, we know it’s not realistic to think that you’ll be the only one working out – It’s likely that someone will disturb something you’ve set up for yourself and that’s perfectly fine. It’s a numbers game – Some things won’t work out and most will. By setting up as best you can before, it will make for a more productive and overall awesome workout!

Please share your strategies for creating your best workout ever!

Keep Going!

James Villepigue CSCS