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Mental Tips For a Better Workout

Updated on October 19, 2014

Mental Tips for Working Out

Think about the muscle your working while you perform the set

Being focused in the gym is very vital for getting the best workout possible. If you look around the gym while working out you will see people socializing, texting, and resting way to long. You will also see people that are focused, with headphones or not, thinking about form and giving each set their all. Now focusing on each set is obviously important, but what do you focus on? First it's technique and form and range of motion. Once you feel very comfortable with an excersize, you can take your attention off of technique and zero in on the muscle you are working. It has been proven by studies, and by my own personal experience, when you focus on a paticular muscle while performing an excersize, that will allow you to make minor adjustments to target your muscle even better and get results from your workout. For example, If you are trying to tone up your chest and decide to do cable cross overs, and you want to burn away some lingering fat on the sides of your pecs, think about that specific area. Target it with your mind. Your muscles are made up of fibers and they go in all sorts of different directions. Your pec is not just one slab of meat, it's made up of fibers that you can target on different sides, top and bottom, or inside and out. So If you stay focused and zero in on exactly where you want to see results, you will have much better luck.

Push your body past it's limit-- don't worry about doing 12 of each set

Another mental aspect of working out is psyching yourself up not out. Before each set, think about something that gets you pumped for the set. Too many times I hear from clients "this is too heavy" or "theres no way I'm doing 12" stuff like that kills me. Your in the gym to become better than you are today. You have to get pumped about that. There is nothing magic about doing a set of 12. The number 12 means nothing to me. Each set you should be giving your all. If you can only do 10 but we know that you gave it your all, thats great, you pushed yourself to the limit and now your body will adapt. So if you don't have a trainer, and your keeping track of your own progress, push yourself to the limit always. You are wasting time if your just trying to do 3 sets of 12, looking around, texting, not really pushing yourself but rather going through the motions. Don't waste your time, get pumped up and leave it all in the gym!

Trick your brain and body into doing more reps

This leads to my last tip.. set your goals high. It makes me laugh every time I tell someone to do a certain number of.. lets say.. push ups. If I know they can do 50 pushups, but I say "give me 40" they get exausted by 38 and barely push out the last 2. But If I say give me 50, they fly right past 40 and get tired around 48 or 49! Why is that??? I'm not 100% sure, but I do know that it proves how important the mental aspect of working out is. Tell yourself to do more than you think you can do. Surprise yourself, aim high, and force your body to adapt by pushing it past it's limit!

I love this stuff if you can't already tell and I want to help as many people as possible. Contact me with whatever questions or concerns you may have. Let's all "STAY PUMPED"!! And be safe!!

working

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