Quit phoning in your workouts.
Since I started intermittent fasting, I’ve switched back to morning workouts for two of my three days at the gym per week. I arrive a few minutes after 5AM. Without fail, the same fellow is running lightly on the treadmill. He was there a year and a half ago when I was doing AM workouts as well. My assumption is that he goes there every day. While he isn’t obese, he doesn’t look terribly fit, either. In the 1.5 years I’ve observed him, his body composition doesn’t seem to have changed much, nor have his workouts. I’ve never spoken to this man, and I have no idea what his goals are – perhaps he was grossly over weight, and managed to drop a lot of fat with his current routine. Maybe he just likes running on the treadmill and doing crunches and bicep curls: however, from ocassionally watching his routine, and without giving the benefit of the doubt, I’ve drawn a few conclusions:
Just Showing Up Isn’t Enough.
5 days a week is a lot of time to spend at the gym. If you’re going that much, I would think you’re either trying to gain muscle or lose body fat- probably both. Every time I see the gentleman in question doing a strength exercises, he doesn’t seem to be pushing himself. He’s putting in a bit of an effort, but he’s not struggling. This is a mistake. He’d be better of to go to the gym twice per week and working his ass off, than going every day and phoning it in. Going to the gym is a great start, but it takes so much effort just to do that, why would you want to slack once you’re there and see minimal results. Push yourself. Sweat. Leave the gym feeling like you couldn’t possibly do any more exercise. That’s when you’ll start to see the results that you probably want.
Better Form Builds A Better Body
Each day I see this guy doing “crunches” I have to shake my head… mostly because he’s shaking his, while not moving much else, including his stomach muscles. I picture him saying to his friends “I work out 5 days a week and do 200 crunches every time I’m there and I still don’t have abs. I don’t get it.” It’s because your form sucks, brother.
There are lots of ideas out there about what good form is, but if you don’t feel an exercise primarily targeting the muscles that it’s supposed to, chances are your form sucks. Correct it by using those skuzzy gym mirrors, watching others at the gym who seem to know what they’re doing, and just generally slowing down your repitition speed. Unless you’re doing power exercises, you don’t have to do every rep as quickly as possible. Work hard and smart.
Change It Up Regularly
A few weeks ago I posted about a new routine that’s giving me great results. It’s now going to be one of my main routines, but it won’t be my only one. Some days I go for lower reps and heavier lifts, others I try to do many reps at lower weights. And I’m always down to try out a new routine. Change it up, otherwise it will become easier to slack off during your workouts, and exercising will become boring. Keep it interesting for your muscles AND your mind.
There are lots of other poor workout habits that I could get into, but I’ll leave it brief and give you my main piece of advice from watching this guy: don’t go to the gym every day. Unless you’re an elite athlete or an actor getting jacked for part, there’s just no need for it. 2-4 days at the gym per week is plenty to have good results, as long as your working hard/smart, and you have a good diet.
What do you think? Am I just a judgmental prick, or do these observations seem legit?
