How To Get The Best From Your Work Out

If you’ve been going to the gym or working out for a while now, but seeing very little in the way of results, there’s a good chance you haven’t been doing the exercises’ properly, or really pushed yourself to the limit of what you can currently do.

Heres a few obvious ways to tell if you’re not working to the best of your ability

• You never stall or lose strength when you get to the end of your sets
• You don’t feel the ‘burning sensation’ in your muscles once you get to the end of your sets
• You seem to be able to do far more sets and reps than the more built up guy next to you
• You don’t break a sweat at all
• You haven’t changed the weight or exercises at all since you started
• You’ve never used some of the other equipment available to you

I can associate with this since I’ve been there, I done all the same stuff, on all the same weights, doing all the same exercises for a good few months every time I went to the gym or worked out at home, initially I noticed a few differences, but that was all. It got to a point where I didn’t break a sweat at all anymore and it all became a bit easy, repetitive and effortless and crucially boring. I then lost a lot of motivation and packed it in for a while.

Then I realised that I have to push to see the difference, not just a little, to the point where my body physically couldn’t do anymore, I’d just stall. If my goal was to do 3 sets of 10 chin ups, I’d just keep going at it till I literally couldn’t lift any more. It’d end up like this if you can picture it

• 1^st set of 10 chin ups

I’d probably manage 10

• Around about 7 or 8 chin ups I physically wasn’t able to pull myself up any more, every time I tried I’d Just stall
• 3^rd Set of 10 chin up

It used to be around 5 – 7 chin ups till I’d stall.

After a while I’d manage to do just a few more each time, This is when I knew it that my workouts were being productive and useful. After about a month or two, I could do 10 chin ups no problem in the first two sets, and about 8-9 in the 3^rd set.

A few top tips now on how to get the best from your workout.

• ALWAYS push till you physically can’t do any more reps, this will increase over time.
• Make sure you feel the tension in your muscles, or that ‘burning sensation’ I was on about.
• Don’t rest for any longer than a minute between sets, because you will lose the tension
• Increase your workout in increments, like an extra 5kgs on the weights instead of 10kgs or 20kgs, this will keep your muscles well toned, and won’t put any unnecessary stress on them
• Don’t feel that you have to keep up with anyone, A lot of people are in their own worlds at the gym and have their own workout schedule.
• Add variation to your workouts, this will stop it getting boring, and stop your body getting used to the same thing over and over.
• Always stay well hydrated, it’s easy to forget to drink when your in the middle of an intense workout, staying well hydrated will boost your performance significantly as well