Three Ways to Get More from Your Workouts
Today I want to give you some tips on maximizing your time and results in the gym. Workouts are not all the same - some days you feel great and have an incredible workout, and other days you may not feel as good and end up having a low-quality workout. Although we will all have low-quality workouts from time to time, our goal should be to get the most out of each session. So here are some things to think about. These tips will help you get more from your workouts, whether your fitness goal is weight loss, building muscle, getting stronger, or anything else.
Focus on the Muscles When Working Out
First, if you are trying to use a specific muscle, or a specific group of muscles on an exercise in the gym, focus! Our bodies are inherently lazy and will always try to take the path of least resistance in the gym, which means that your body will default to using your stronger muscles while trying to limit use of your weaker muscles. Consider bicep curls for an example. You want to work your biceps. But your biceps may be weak and your body may try to cheat - you may find yourself leaning backwards to bring the weight up (using your lower back instead of your bicep muscles) or using the front part of your shoulders to lift your arms. With just a little bit of focus, you can avoid those common mistakes and use only your bicep muscles, getting what you want out of that exercise.
How to Get More Reps on Any Exercise
Second, to get more reps during your sets on any exercise, even when things get difficult, you can trick yourself by using different ways of counting. For example, let's say I want to do 12 reps of squats with a heavy weight. I know I can probably do 12 reps but it will be very difficult. When I do those squats, I may count by 3s instead of by 1s. So I would do 3 reps, counting 1-2-3, then I would restart my count at "1-2-3" for reps 4, 5, and 6. Instead of counting all the way up to 12, I would do (4) counts up to 3. This can help you get all 12 reps by only 'doing' three at a time. This is similar to breaking down a big, long-term goal into shorter, smaller goals, but you are doing it with a single set in your workout. This technique will help you get more reps on any exercise in the gym.
Your Fitness Goals for 2020, Long Term and Short Term
Third, think about your fitness goals during your workouts, especially before and during your toughest exercises. Whatever short term or long term gym goal you want to achieve in 2020 - weight loss, building muscle, getting stronger, looking better in a certain outfit, impressing your significant other - needs to be used every time you exercise to motivate yourself. Personally, one of my exercise goals in 2020 is to grow my arms to 18 inches. So every time I am doing a bicep or tricep exercise in the gym for bigger arms, I think about that fitness goal before each set and when the exercise gets really tough. By focusing on my fitness objective, something that I really want to achieve but will not be easy, I can usually push myself farther than I would normally.
There are three ways to help you get more out of every workout in 2020. If you didn't already notice, those strategies are not about lifting more weight, picking different exercises, or anything like that. They are all about using your mind to get more out of your body. So the next time you are exercising, make sure you are using your body and your mind, and don't just go through the motions. That will help you get more out of every workout, helping your reach your goals faster than ever.
-Shane
P.S. Congratulations to our winners of the November/December referral contest - Carolyn Hovious and Susan Maxwell! They tied for 1st place, so I took the prize money for 1st and 2nd places and split it, with each of them receiving $375 from Strength School. Thank you ladies! We are running the same contest, giving out $850, for January and February.