5 Tips to Drastically Improve your Workout
Having a poor workout is very frustrating. Here are some things to do during every single one of your workouts to make the most of your training session and help get you the best results.
Time your rest period. When it comes to timing for rest between sets, there are people at both bends of the spectrum: some people are not resting enough and others are resting far too long -- usually by getting caught up on social media or text messages. It’s important that you get the right amount of rest between sets to allow your body to recover and prepare for another set. It’s best to rest for about 60 seconds between sets unless you are doing heavy strength training, where you should rest a little longer — more like 1-2 minutes.
Quality over quantity. Proper form is so important. Lifting with proper form allows you to get the highest adaptation results from a movement. Performing 5 reps of an exercise with great form is worth more than 10 reps with sloppy form. A large part of being able to perform an exercise with good form is choosing weight that works for where you’re at with that particular lift. More weight or more reps does not automatically mean improvement if the form isn’t there. Quality form gives quality results.
Warm up with intention and purpose. Warming up allows your body to prepare for activity. You need to properly prime your body for the movement and work. Start your warm up with foam rolling, then move on to mobility + activation for the muscles you are about to work. For example, you might do bodyweight hip thrusts for glute activation prior to weight training.
Track your progress. Measure your progress so you can measure your results. Tracking progress goes beyond tracking weight loss because losing weight isn't part of everyone’s fitness journey. Learn to keep track of the weight that you’re lifting so that you know where to pick up for the next session. Sometimes you can get too comfortable lifting the same weight all the time, but that won’t create change for your body. Keep track of your reps too; it’s helpful to know how many reps you can perform with a certain weight or of a certain movement to know when you’re making improvements.
Train in a way that you enjoy. Going to the gym should not be your punishment. You forcing yourself to do movements you hate isn’t going to make the process of getting your results any better. There are often other exercises that work muscles that can be incorporated in your training routine. For instance, personally, I hate bench pressing, so it wouldn't make sense for me to force myself to keep training in that way that I don’t enjoy and isn’t aligned with my fitness goals. I don't really have a goal to push progressive strength for my chest but am more interested in improving endurance so I opt for push up variations instead. Exercise can be an outlet; it can make you feel stronger and more powerful. For some people, resistance weight training is not. There isn’t only one way to get results. There isn’t only one way to improve your body.
For your next workout, put these five tips in practice and I bet you’ll see an improvement not only in your training session, but also in your overall results.