Best Pre Date Workout | Pump It Up

Written by Jack Boardman

Best Workouts Before A Date

Looking to pump up to look your biggest and best for a night out? Here we put together a few key exercises and an explanation of how to make the most of a pre-date workout that will leave your muscles looking on point.

Before we proceed, let’s point out what you probably already know if you’re a regular weight-lifter. Gains aren’t achieved in one session, there is no such thing as an easy trick to muscle volume and development that hasn’t involved work and nutrition. An enviable, chiselled physique is the product of a longer term plan involving focus on isolating muscles when weight lifting, repetition, rest and the right nutrition to help your muscles develop and ultimately look good on a night out.

This isn’t suited to beginners (in that, I mean weight-lifters); it should be thrown in as part of a planned-out routine.

Your aim with this workout is to achieve an overall muscle pump up so that your physique looks it's most primed while you’re leaning at the bar. Without a sufficient amount of regular weight-lifting, it will mostly leave you looking pained and a little stiff on your night out.

If you have a strict workout plan and this night out’s ruined everything, don’t take it out on your date or your mates. Instead, you’re best off considering this a circuit training session that touches all bases.

That pumped up look will last two-three hours, with the muscles remaining in constant anabolic shape. Hydration will help, so drink 100ml of water every 20 minutes for the duration of your pumped up muscles.

For your pre-night out session, look at four sets of each with a minute’s rest.

Line up your exercises before you begin. They should be performed one after the other in a row with a brief rest of utter immobility before starting again.

When choosing your exercises, you want to be bearing in mind all-over coverage. The other thing you’ll be looking at is what your date will see upon that first impression.

Avoid smaller muscle groups. Remember, certain exercises will channel muscle groups you hadn’t realised.

Pushups: 3 sets of 20. Consider this your warmup. Pushups also mean you’re working the abs in your plank pose.

Benchpress: 3 lots of 12. This will focus on a larger muscle group, including the triceps, deltoids and back.

Tricep Pushdown Using Cables: 3 sets high reps. Work each arm individually and define your high number of reps based on your recovery capabilities.

Lateral Pulldown: 3 sets of 12. You’re working the back muscles now, having pumped up your chest. This will also work the abs.

Row: 3 sets of 12. Rowing machines and pulling movements will work your abs, biceps, traps and rhomboids.

Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 12. End with the shoulders, which will also channel the triceps, fatiguing them to finish.

Lateral Raise: 3 sets of high reps. Grit your teeth and add an extra high-intensity pump to your shoulders and delts.

Don’t skip the legs. You may want to walk in the bar with pumped up arms, but as this is all about aesthetics, top-heavy isn’t a good look if you’re going about with arms bigger than your legs. For legs, compound lifts will put you in good stead. Keep it basic, ingenuity isn’t required. Focus on squats and the leg press machine. Four sets of twelve on each. As you’re pushing it and will have already worked the back, shoulders and torso, save them the strain by utilising the Smith machine for your squats for that extra bit of support.