This is an opinion piece. These are my personal beliefs on what constitutes a good workout regiment. Everybody has different goals and ideas. These are mine.
So, you are back to the gym but still don't have any idea what you want to work on or what you should work on. Here are my ideas of what constitutes a complete workout regiment that fits most people's ideas of fitness and health. There are four major components: strength, conditioning, mobility, and stability. Everybody should be training these in some form each week.
First, lets go over strength. Strength doesn't mean that you need to be attempting a bench or squat max every single week. It means that you need to be challenging the neuromuscular system in a way that stretches your ability to produce force. Sets of 10 reps can accomplish that, sets of 5 can do the same. It all depends on your goals in regards to strength. But you should always aim to train strength 1-2 times a week.
Next up is conditioning. Very few people enjoy conditioning. I have yet to meet a collegiate runner who likes it. So don't feel bad about it. Although we all dread it, it's still necessary.
There are a million different recommendations for how much cardio you should be doing per week. I believe that most people will benefit from training conditioning three times a week if able.
Keep in mind that the intensity you train at is also important. A good base could be to train in different Heart Rate Zones for each day. For example, Day 1 you could train in the 65-75% HR zone. This day you would go for longer. Usually 30 minutes is a good time range for this intensity. The next day you would train 76-85% HR for 15 total minutes. On the last day, you would train 86%-95% HR for maybe a total of 5 minutes. At this point you would need to do interval training. That means you would go at the allotted intensity for a short time, rest a short time, then repeat. That way it isn't sustained.
The next thing we need to train is mobility. Mobility can be achieved through a combination of passive static stretches, self myofascial release, and active stretching. Passive stretching and foam rolling act to relax the muscles and tissues so that you can increase the range of motion for a joint. After that, active stretching can be used to gain control for those ranges of motion. Keep a look out for a post about my mobility routine coming out in the next week or so.
Finally, we have stability. I define stability as the ability to hold a position in spite of internal or external imbalances. Stability can be trained through many different modalities. Stability balls, balance beams, offset loading, or yoga are all great ways to train stability. The modality doesn't matter that much, it's more about the ability to use the core to control and balance the body to create a stable environment.
There is no one perfect exercise program, but training strength, conditioning, mobility, and stability will help create a healthy life. If you would like more detailed advice on how to implement all of these methods, contact me for a free consultation.
Happy Training!