If you have been training for awhile you know that the good training sessions are fewer than the bad ones. But it doesn't have to be that way. Here is a great way to ensure a good training session...
By Nikki Jarrett
How to be successful in your training:
Have/Make a plan for the day's training
This could be scheduling your training session in advance
Writing out what you want to do that month/week/days
Pick exercises appropriate to you and your goals
Start with a plan you know you can commit to and progress from there (e.i. wanting to go the the gym everyday but knowing you can consistently manage going 2 days. Plan for those 2 days and be successful rather than plan for 4 days only making it 2 days and feeling like a failure.
Set yourself up for Success!
Don’t try to over do it the first fews days and be too sore to come back for over a week. Feel out how your body response to the workout and if you can handle a bit more, try next session slowly building up the intensity that will challenge you but also will be able to recover quickly enough to go back.
Set a goal for that day on training:
Pick a goal for that day that reflects your training session. (e.i. work up to a PR on a particular lift, run for a set time or distance, or hitting a number of reps (with good form , of course) for a particular exercise or movement.
Stay focus:
leave your phone on “do not disturb” this will allow you to stay focus and not get distracted by texts/calls or emails. They can wait 60 minutes. If you have to, leave your phone in your car/locker/gym bag.
Be polite but you don’t have to socialize and gossip for 10/20/30 minutes between sets. Those few minute here and there, add up. Put your earbuds in and go! If you feel that is rude, then just politely let them know you have to get in and out and it was good to see them.
Set rest periods:
If you have too, download an app because we are blessed to live in a world where there is literally an app for everything!
Keep them just long enough to recover from the movement but keep the heart rate going.
Keep the rest periods relevant to your goals. Fat-loss you will want shorted rest, strength base longer rest times. On a continuum 1-3 reps need 8-10 minutes, 4-6 reps need 2-5 minutes, 7-10 need 1-2 minutes, and 12+ about 1 minute or less.
Set a goal time to complete your sessions:
This feeds into your rest periods but if you’re under a time restraint, setting a timer for 60 minutes or whatever time limit you choose will help:
Keep shorter rest times
Stay focus
Some key pointers:
Keep your sessions simple. Now, simple doesn’t mean easy, it means that the exercise you pick are not the fancy complex show stopper ones, but rather the core exercises: push, squat, hinge, pulls, or carries. You can easily progress those by adding a load or keep it spicy with variety of how they are executed or how you load it.
Keep a log of your workouts. Use an app or just an old school notebook. Write down what you did, reps, sets, load, etc. By keeping track of your training you will be able to give yourself a tool to help you know how you are progressing or where you went wrong and can easily fix it.
Don’t beat yourself up. If you miss a training session or two, just get back on track the next day. Don’t wait until Mondays or the new month or new year even. The very next day, try again. You will find that it will be easier to get back on track each time and then staying on track will eventually be easy! Just keep going and don’t give up!
I hope these tips helped, and if they did share them with your fellow gym goers. You never know who could be struggling just like you and need a few words of wisdom from a more experience lifter.
Now, go out and have a great training session!!
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