If you were driving some place you’ve never been to, which would get you there faster, following a GPS, or trying to figure it out yourself? Unless you’ve got some elite survivalist navigation skills, you probably answered, “the GPS.”

The same holds true for working out. You’re going to achieve your goals and spend a lot less time (though not necessarily effort—you still gotta go hard!) by following a credible workout plan. In this post, we’re going to talk about the necessary components of a comprehensive program so you know what to look for.

 

Start with a warmup

You can’t just storm in the gym, guns blazing, and start throwing around every dumbbell in sight. I mean you can, but you might hurt yourself. That’s why your workout strategy needs to include a warmup.

Does that mean stretching? Yes and no. Research suggests that static stretching (the kind where you hold a position for several seconds) can actually reduce performance and increase the risk of injury. The kind that most fitness experts recommend is dynamic stretching. These are short movements that have you extending beyond your ordinary range of motion, like kicking your foot to your hand while standing.

A good example of a warmup routine, and one that I’ve been following recently is Joe Defranco’s Limber 11. If you want to see it in action, video is here.

 

Onto the workout

For the workouts, as for any aspect of a fitness strategy, you have virtually limitless options. What you choose here will depend on your goals. One thing I universally discourage, though, is designing your workouts yourself. Unless you have extensive training in exercise science, I would look for whatever kind of plan you want, whether it be focused on weight loss, muscle gain, flexibility, or increased performance for a sport, and find one from an authoritative source.

Online communities can be a good resource in your search. If you don’t know where to begin, check out r/fitness’s recommended routines list.

 

Don’t forget the cooldown

So after you warm up and do your workout, you’re finally done…right? Not quite. You want to do some of that static stretching we discussed earlier after your workout in order to increase flexibility and reduce muscle soreness. Just make sure you are stretching the muscles that you worked, i.e., not doing shoulder stretches on leg day.

 

Make sure you get a good program that doesn’t overlook the three elements discussed in this post—warmup, (obviously) the workout, and cooldown. If you do, you should make great progress, more than you would if you walked around the gym without a plan.