Book your Bespoke Consultation Now! Book Consultation
CHANGING THE NARRATIVE
For anyone that has taken Dan Savage’s insane HIIT classes, you will already know that his workouts are incredible challenging (sometimes seemingly impossible). But he gets us through every time! We can’t think of anyone better to share their top tips on completing your reps and pushing that little bit harder. So if you need some motivation to level up your training, this one is for you.
From a very young age I have always been involved in sports, from playing rugby at school boy level to track and field in my teens, and finally, playing football at a semi-professional standard from university up to about 5 years ago. I have always had a good relationship with training and it’s important, not just to my lifestyle but my mentality. I studied at Manchester Metropolitan University where we had the opportunity to work with professionals at Manchester City Academy and Team GB, and obtained my degree in Sports and Exercise Science.
I am now a dad, so I keep my competitive side going by competing in Functional Fitness games, including Turf Games, National Fitness Games, and Hyrox. These competitions keep me motivated and helps me targets, which keep me focused and consistent.
The great Albert Einstein once said the definition of insanity is ‘doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results’. I think I most people apply this particular saying to their life but never to their fitness, hence why people tend to stay in their comfort zone.
Pushing yourself keeps you motivated, helps you to improve, and allows you to set goals you didn’t believe possible. We are all individuals therefore the key here is finding that threshold and then understanding what it feels like to work beyond that.
I believe the reason most people get a trainer isn’t necessarily because they could not train themselves, it is because they need someone to hold them accountable, motivate them on the days they “just don’t feel like it” and makes them feel confident that they can do something they did not believe they were capable of.
Pushing yourself doesn’t necessarily mean you need to do anything extreme from my experience, it’s my client feeling comfortable wearing her favourite dress, or going on their first date after being diagnosed with depression for 2 years, beating cancer twice and now trying to improve their lung capacity. To smash these goals they had to get out of their comfort zone.
My favourite saying is to improve you have get comfortable being uncomfortable!
How often are you training? The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, 5 times per week, but what exactly are you doing in those 30 mins? And how hard are you working? Your workouts need to have be at a certain intensity to meet your goals.
Exercising at too high an intensity will likely cause burnout later down the line, which is demotivating as all your hard work is taking your further from your goals. Whether you are trying to improve your cardiovascular fitness (heart health), burn fat or build muscle, you need to find out what percentage of your maximum heart rate you need to be working at (MHR = 220-age). However, the general rule is to increase your heart rate, this trains your body to be more efficient when transporting oxygen and blood to your muscles, improving your stamina, which then allows you to go further for longer.
I advise you (especially is you are new) to get yourself a journal to write out a plan for your programmes, the weights/equipment you will use, the sets etc. That way, when you come into your training space, you know exactly what you are going to be doing. This takes away the opportunity to procrastinate or make excuses. It also prepares you for when it’s time to progress, which is empowering as you will have done all the preparatory work and are now ready to push yourself further.
Getting a trainer, coach, buddy or spotter. Sometime we just need someone there to give us the confidence to make that extra rep happen. So do not hesitate to ask someone for support if you are struggling, I promise you it goes a long way.
Drop sets are great for pushing past when you are fatigued and depleted. So, instead of sacrificing form and risking injury, stop and rest for 10-15 seconds, them aim to do as many reps as possible on your next set. And you can repeat this sequence again, this is a perfect way to perform that overload to help recruit those extra muscle fibres.
Pause reps are a deliberate pause often where the movement changes from lowering to raising i.e. the bottom of a squat. They are perfect for when you’ve reached 70-80% of your max. It is a brilliant way to progressively overload your muscles putting them under stress for longer time.
Negatives are slowing down the eccentric part of the exercise (the lowering of a push up, the lowering in a squat) and will often need a spotter. Slow eccentric movements have been shown to have high muscle fibre recruitment.
Eating well, not just well but the timing for meals when preparing for training are both important considerations. What you are eating and how hydrated you are before training is also important. How much energy/carbs do you need for you workout? Do you drink EAAs or BCAAs or just water etc? What are you having after training? Remember to replenish your glycogen stores after.
Rest is just as important as training. If you feel like you have plateaued or you are getting aches and niggles because you may just be over training, then you have 2 options – take a break or deload. When we continually put our body through stress our central nervous system fatigues which means our muscles will generate less force. Depending on your programming, deloading means your muscles will recover from the constant wear and tear, most people find they perfect their personal best after a deload or rest.
Do not feel like every workout must be completed to failure. In fact, in most professional sports, athletes train at a sub-maximal level so that they are able to perform at their peak condition when competition day arrives. If you continually train to failure you will eventually only cause yourself harm and causes your muscles injury.
Sufficient amount of sleep means you have enough energy to train the next day, As you exert your muscles, your body has to repair and strengthen individual muscle cells. This requires changes in certain bodily functions, such as glucose levels, blood pressure and the overall rate of metabolism. Also, training close to bed time is shown to actually help you sleep better (longer and deeper).
Share
