Start Big. Stay Focused. Don't Faint.

You're ready to start your workouts. Now what? Today, we'll look at some basic principles to consider, even before you start thinking about what exercises you need to do.

Work large muscle groups first. Let's say you are working your upper body when you visit the gym today. You will likely want to work the chest, back, shoulders and arms.

Work your largest muscle groups first, the chest and back. Then move to the shoulders. Finish by focusing on the triceps and biceps and even the forearms. Why? Think about it from the opposite perspective. Let's say your started with triceps and biceps. Now these two small muscle groups are worn out (if you've worked hard enough). Now you go on to work the chest. When you work the chest, you also involve the arm muscles. Take a bench press, for example. When you lift the barbell, the triceps contract to help you lift, even though the focus is on the chest muscles. If your triceps are already fatigued, they can't help with the bench press. This means you won't be able to work the large chest muscles effectively. If you start with the large muscle groups, the smaller muscles are also involved. When you finally get to these smaller muscle groups, you are adding to the workout they have already had.

One exercise at a time. I see people at the gym all the time running around from machine to machine with no apparent plan. They will do a chest press, then a leg curl, then ab crunches, then bicep curls. They always seem to have a vacant look in their eyes that's a little scary. The look says, "I have no clue what I'm doing, but if I do enough exercises, it must be good. Right?" Wrong!

It's not a good idea to switch around among the upper body, lower body and core muscles. Focus on one area and on one exercise. There are two reasons this is important.

First, to maximize the benefits of your workout, your goal is to fatigue your muscles. You must tax them to build strength. If you switch back and forth between different muscle groups, you are giving each group too much of a rest. When you finally get back to a previous muscle group, the second set doesn't add to the first. The benefit if not accretive. Bottom line: you're wasting your time.

Second, fainting at the gym is not a good idea. Your body sends blood to the muscles you are working. When you switch between the upper body and lower body, the blood flow can't keep up. This can result in dizziness or even passing out.

You don't have to follow these basic principles, of course. But, if you don't, you are not making the most of your time at the gym. You work out to look and feel good, not to live at the gym. Let other people besides your fellow gym members see how great you look.

Work out hard. Stay focused. Get out and enjoy how great you feel after your workout.