If you’re going to do something do it the right way. Or just don’t do it at all. 

One of things in the gym that drives me crazy is people fucking around during the “warm up”. 

They get to the gym, hop on a treadmill, sit on a rower, and go at a pace that wouldn’t make my 90 year old grandmother sweat. 

What’s worse is they have horrible technique, they’re not paying attention and they are talking to the people next to them. 

No wonder they don’t improve. 

A 10-20 minute “ warm up” is a great way to build a cardiovascular base, get some volume in, and practice technique. 

Consider these numbers. If you rowed for 20 min when you got to the gym and you trained 300 times a year (essentially a Monday through Friday schedule) you could accumulate a lot of meters. If you were getting even just 4000-5000m during those 20 minutes you’d end up with between 1.2 and 1.5 million meters per year. 

Rowing ain’t your thing? Okay. Then let’s look at running. Doing two 10 minute miles (20 minutes), 300 times a year, would get you 600 total miles. 

That’s almost 23 full marathons. 

How many marathons have you done again? 

There’s a lot of value in the “warm up” so don’t treat it as an afterthought. 

A rule of thumb I use is that you have to get a good sweat in those 20 minutes. 

If you’re not willing to do that I have another solution for you. Just stay home. Stop taking up valuable space and breathing valuable air. Leave that for the people who want to work…