Day 2: Mental Weakness
"When will training get any easier?"
Is one of the questions I have often been asked my by newest clients.
I believe no one ever has liked my answer.
It never gets any easier and that's why you keep getting stronger and faster.
We are constantly shocking your body whether it is with an extra 5 pounds or an extra set of reps so that we force it to change and adapt for survival. This is what will bring visible results. Staying with the same working weight, rep count, and/or intensity for more than 3 weeks is likely a state of comfort for your muscles already (unless you are working on a specific goal with a specific program design).
Compared to life outside of the gym, where most of our efforts are geared towards achieving a higher state of comfort, living by a high standard of constant change and shock to our systems is way, way outside our comfort zone. Maybe this is one of the reasons a lot of people do not like working out.
Today I found my workout particularly tough and honestly I feel like I did not give my 100%. It wasn't that my body was tired or my muscles were more achy than usual. It was my mind that was tired and I found it extremely hard to cope with the pain of "muscle failure". I was probably stopping 3 or 4 reps short of what I would have pushed for on a better day.
It caught me completely unawares how easy I was letting myself go without really finishing those sets. It happens and it will likely happen again. Omar asked me if I would have had preferred to not workout today. But after some thought my conclusion was that I would rather get 11 out of 15 reps on the sets that I did, than getting none done today.
Sometimes it will get tough, but I want to leave you with this, those reps you got in add up, and some are always better than none.
So, don't miss your workouts, you'll regret more missing them. I am glad I got my bum into the gym today.
Is one of the questions I have often been asked my by newest clients.
I believe no one ever has liked my answer.
It never gets any easier and that's why you keep getting stronger and faster.
We are constantly shocking your body whether it is with an extra 5 pounds or an extra set of reps so that we force it to change and adapt for survival. This is what will bring visible results. Staying with the same working weight, rep count, and/or intensity for more than 3 weeks is likely a state of comfort for your muscles already (unless you are working on a specific goal with a specific program design).
Compared to life outside of the gym, where most of our efforts are geared towards achieving a higher state of comfort, living by a high standard of constant change and shock to our systems is way, way outside our comfort zone. Maybe this is one of the reasons a lot of people do not like working out.
Today I found my workout particularly tough and honestly I feel like I did not give my 100%. It wasn't that my body was tired or my muscles were more achy than usual. It was my mind that was tired and I found it extremely hard to cope with the pain of "muscle failure". I was probably stopping 3 or 4 reps short of what I would have pushed for on a better day.
It caught me completely unawares how easy I was letting myself go without really finishing those sets. It happens and it will likely happen again. Omar asked me if I would have had preferred to not workout today. But after some thought my conclusion was that I would rather get 11 out of 15 reps on the sets that I did, than getting none done today.
Sometimes it will get tough, but I want to leave you with this, those reps you got in add up, and some are always better than none.
So, don't miss your workouts, you'll regret more missing them. I am glad I got my bum into the gym today.
I must confess to everyone that as Alex's husband, personal chef and trainer I challenge her to take the right decisions during hard times.
ReplyDeleteToday I picked her up form work and found that the words "all done its Friday" did not brought a smile to her face, which is not common.
We started the workout and she was pushed for extra reps. When she wasn't keeping up I continued pushing myself because she had to deal with her workout in her own way at that moment.
She was finished and I knew that was it for the day.
Week after week a new challenge will approach you Alex so remember that doing what you have to do to get there being happy will get you there quicker and you just told me that.