Random Workout Generator

Press the button and you get one exercise, labeled with the muscle group it trains and shown with a photo: "Legs: Bulgarian Split Squat", "Back: T-Bar Row", "Core: Cable Woodchop". The list is 30 gym staples, five or six per body part, and there are no filters. It is a random exercise picker, not a program builder: it will not give you sets, reps, rest times or a full session, and it does not know what you did yesterday. Use it to break a rut or to build a session by pressing several times and writing down what comes up.

What is on the list

• Back: Deadlift, T-Bar Row, 30-Degree Lat Pulldown, Pullups, Farmer's Walk and Trap Bar Carry.
• Chest: Barbell Bench Press, Dumbbell Bench Press, Incline Flye, Cable Crossover, and a pushup trio (BOSU, puncher's and TRX pushups).
• Shoulders: Presses, Dumbbell Lateral Raises, Rear Delt Raises, Shrugs, Half-Kneeling Landmine Press.
• Arms: Standing Barbell Curl, Seated Incline Dumbbell Curl, Dips, Diamond Pushups.
• Legs: Squat, Bulgarian Split Squat, Leg Curl, Leg Extension, Calf Raise.
• Core: Planks, Bird-Dog, Barbell Ab Rollout, Cable Woodchop, Weighted Decline Situp, Jackknife Situp.

Most of these need a barbell, dumbbells, a cable stack or a machine, so this is a gym list rather than a living-room one. The bodyweight exceptions are pullups, dips, diamond pushups, planks, bird-dogs and jackknife situps. There is no cardio and no mobility work; for stretching, the Random Yoga Pose Generator covers that side.

Ways people use it

• Building a session on the spot. Press until you have five or six exercises, skip any that repeat a body part you have already covered, and do three sets of eight to twelve of each. That gives you a reasonable full-body workout in the order the dice chose.
• Adding one new movement. If your routine is fixed, roll once and tack the result on at the end. Over a few weeks you will cycle through variations, like the landmine press or the trap bar carry, that most people never program on their own.
• Workout roulette with a partner. Take turns pressing; whoever's exercise comes up picks the weight.
• Finishers. Roll one core exercise at the end of a session and do it to failure.

Turning random picks into a sensible workout

Random selection is good for variety and bad for balance, so apply two rules. First, pair pushing and pulling: if you roll a bench press, make sure a row or pulldown is in the session too, and the same for shoulder presses and rear delt raises. Second, put the big compound lifts first. Deadlift, squat, bench press, pullups and the shoulder press should come before curls, raises and core work, whatever order the generator produced them in, because they demand the most from you while you are fresh. If you roll a deadlift and a squat in the same session, keep one heavy and treat the other as a lighter accessory, or save one for the next day. Beginners should treat unfamiliar picks, especially the landmine press, ab rollout and Bulgarian split squat, as a cue to look up the form before loading them.

If you would rather have the whole day chosen for you, the Random Activity Generator picks something to do that may or may not involve sweating. For other pickers in this category, see all fun, party and decision tools.