Workout day has arrived. Whether you’re about to tackle an intense bench press session, a loud and wild spin class, or just put in your 45 minutes on the treadmill watching the Today Show, you want to perform at your best. Most workout intensity boosting ideas tend to focus upon what we do inside the gym, and we are continually adjusting those factors to find the greatest amount of success. Today, let’s take a look at some of the things we can do prior to entering the gym. Ready to learn what can be done in the hours before a workout session, to make that workout better? Let’s dive in!
Select a training rival
Very often, we see people training in pairs and consider them to be partners, or even “training buddies”. You can gain a lot of advantages in your training by adding a second person to your workout, but you can gain even more by removing the term ‘partner’ or label’ from the discussion. Rather, you and your lifting partner should look at each other as rivals! Once you see yourselves as friendly competitors, both of whom are there to outperform the other in terms of sets, reps, weight used and perfection of lifting form, you’ll quickly learn to push yourself much further than you do when just training with a casual friend having a few laughs as you saunter through your workout. Choose a training rival orf similar strength and size for best results.
Pre-workout to the rescue
Your body is a massive collection of intertwined systems, working in conjunction to keep you eating, breathing, and kicking butt in the gym on a daily basis! You’re not a machine, no matter how much you may believe so! Being of an organic nature, you are sometimes going to display some unpredictability when it comes to how you feel and perform, particularly when encountering tasks such as lifting very heavy weights for extended periods of time. When you feel your energy levels are fluctuating in a downward direction, it may be time to enjoy a pre-workout drink! They’ll boost your training energy, increase mental focus, and allow you to enjoy more extensive muscle pumps. They’re designed to start working with 30 minutes of drinking, and will boost your body’s performance for 60 to 90 minutes. Plan accordingly, and don’t use them with every workout.
Put on your uniform
You probably haven’t put much thought into the clothes you wear to the gym. Most people will wear everything from some basketball shorts and a t-shirt, down to their pajamas. Typically, gyms don’t allow shorts with buckles, belts or zippers, so casual tends to win out. However, when you look at the gym as a job, you begin to think if a better uniform might help you to perform at a higher level. Slightly more rugged gym-purposed wear will help you stay focused and support your body in ways you never may have considered before. If you look like a gym rat, your performance as a gym rat might just improve as well!
Get motivated
Many of us train just to see a smaller midsection in the mirror each day. Others train with a very specific set of goals in mind, listing everything from lifting goals to body fat percentage to how many NPC or IFBB trophies we’ll have on our mantle when all is said and done. The more vivid and clear you can make your goal, the more likely you will be to take those steps required to achieve it. Find pictures of physiques with a similar shape to yours, with much more training experience. Attend physique or bodybuilding shows. It can be very difficult to achieve a goal which you cannot clearly define, so learning precisely how you would like to look and perform can definitely help your motivational levels heading into the gym.
Pre-covery
Okay, this isn’t really a word, but it can be used to define the factors which include eating, hydration and resting prior to a workout. When you run out of energy in the spin room, it’s not because you lack willpower or dedication. Rather, you didn’t consume an adequate amount of complex carbohydrates (rice, pasta, beans) during the 48 hours before you trained. When your muscles cramp, it isn’t due to you not wanting to achieve some arbitrary goal badly enough. Rather, it is because you didn’t consume water all day, and your cramping is your body’s way of reminding you the muscles cannot contract without adequate water present. When you yawn during deadlifts, it isn’t due to you not being strong enough or tough enough. Rather, it is because you spend the evening watching reruns of The Blacklist on Netflix instead of going to bed early and enjoying the 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep that your body truly requires to put out 60 to 90 minutes of intense workout effort. As always, what you do before the gym in terms of nutrition, hydration and resting, will have a profound effect upon what you are able to do once you are inside the gym.
You should always be continually analyzing everything you do in the gym to make sure you’re not overlooking any of the easy fixes to whatever ails your workout. However, by tweaking some of the practices you employ before entering the gym, you can change up your circumstances to provide yourself with the best possible advantages prior to your workout even beginning. Good luck!
