The Fire Island Workout Part 3

Warming Up
Gonzalo Garcia’s warm-up circuit has an old-school quality, starting with a set of 25 to 30 jumping jacks. Then, he advises working your joints. “I see guys going to lift weights without warming up their joints, and that’s a recipe for injury,” he says with a slight grimace. After jumping jacks, Garcia grabs a single cable, adjusted to chest level, and performs internal and external rotations: He creates a 90-degree angle at the elbow and, from his midline, folds the whole L shape slightly inward or outward. Garcia sticks to light weights, although the inward rotation can handle slightly more resistance.
    Then, to work the hips and knees, Garcia recommends step-ups. If you don’t know this movement -- a very controlled stepping motion on a bench -- by its name, check out the trainer’s instructional video here.
    Perform three sets of each warm-up, cyclically rather than one at a time. Garcia is a big fan of progression, too, so consider making each set slightly more challenging than the last. Add dumbbells to your step-ups, for example, or increase the weight on your rotator-cuff movements ever so slightly.

Circuit One
Garcia starts his first post-warm-up circuit with squats. I ask whether I should think of squats as akin to sitting into a chair. He concurs, but advises against reaching too low. So, in addition to making sure that your feet are at hip width, and that your knees don’t extend beyond your toes, squat only as far so that the angle of your hips to your shoulders is parallel to the angle of knees to feet. To progress through this set, add a free weight like dumbbells; personally, I prefer to clutch a plate to my chest.
    Garcia proceeds to pushups, performing 10 to 15 pushups per set. Then it’s on to core work: Garcia grabs a balance ball and performs a stomach crunch atop it, his hands behind his head and lifting just his shoulders. He explains, “If I crunch any farther I would round my back and begin working my hips. There’s no isolation.” To ensure that focus on abdominals, keep your chest open and your eyes to the ceiling.

Circuit Two
The second trio of sets begins with walking lunges. “I don’t like seeing barbells on people’s backs,” Garcia says of the lower-body movement. If you’re going to increase the difficulty of walking lunges, add weight via dumbbells or kettlebells, or consider weaving a single plate between your legs as you traverse the room.
    Garcia proceeds from walking lunges to a row. “Then, do something to keep your heart rate up, like mountain climbers off a bench,” he concludes. “It works core strength; think of your hips like pistons.” Don’t forget, three sets of each.

Circuit Three
The first set of the next circuit focuses on the lower back. Whereas most of the equipment devoted to back extensions forces users to cant outward, Garcia’s home gym Manhattan Plaza Health Club held onto an old-fashioned machine that allows you to cantilever parallel to the floor. Garcia says this shape is preferable, and he performs very small up-and-down movements to demonstrate the back extension. You can progress by holding onto a dumbbell or plate. Or, for people unfamiliar with the exercise, consider performing Supermans on a mat.
    On to core work. Garcia lifts himself onto a Roman Chair, lifting and lowering his legs in a slightly bent shape -- “as if you’ve been punched in the stomach,” he says. For more weight, perform this movement with a medicine ball between your knees.
    Garcia’s third circuit comprises four movements, because he pairs bicep and tricep exercises. He starts with the tris, saying that doing dips off the bench is the best way to attack this tough-to-isolate muscle. For biceps, any number of curls will suffice; if you decide to do 21s with a barbell, though, be sure to change the order in which you perform the half-movements and full curls. “Trick the bicep,” Garcia says.

Circuit Four
“Finish up with mat work,” Garcia says, starting with a bicycle-abs movement and noting, “Hold your concentration, keep your shoulders back and your chest open.” To achieve a V shape, grab a body bar with both hands and place it behind your head on the meat of your trapezius, and perform small side-to-side motions while contracting your abs in a standing-crunch shape. You should do as many as 1,000 of these mini-rotations at a clip, so if time is a concern, save them for home. What you shouldn’t defer: planks and side planks, also known as bridges. As before, rotate through all these sets. Now, hit the showers.