You’ve cleared your schedule, you’ve changed into your workout clothes and a heart-pumping, sweat-inducing workout is within your reach. Until… it goes off the rails. There are so many ways people can derail their best intentions to workout, and here are three of the most common ones.
1. Wandering Around
If you go into the gym without a plan you can almost guarantee this will happen. Not only does this derail your workout, but if you walk around every time you’re at the gym you’ll never see progress and that familiar frustrated feeling will start to creep in. Don’t let something so simple keep you from making the most of the time you’ve penciled in for a workout.
Stay on the rails: Make a plan before you go, for example:
x 10, 2 rounds
Bicep curls w/ 15
Tri dips
Pushups
Pull ups
2. Talking Too Much
While working out is time for you to do the things you like to do—workout and gossip with your friend—you’re efforts go right off the hinges when you focus more on the gabbing and less on the workout; one heated conversation and you could lose 10 minutes of your very precious time.
Stay on the rails: Don’t stop and talk. Instead, walk and talk—whether you’re on the treadmill, the elliptical or just doing laps on the track. Not only will chatting with a friend make the time go by faster, but you can get two things done at once: have a catch-up session and crush your workout.
3. Indulging Post-Workout
Exercise breaks down the carbohydrate stores in our muscles, as well as the protein structures. If you eat pizza after a tough workout, you’re selling your workout short.
“Signals are generated to tell the body to rebuild. However, as I hope you can now see, without the proper protein and carbohydrate raw materials, this building can’t take place. You’ll be left with muscles that never reach their potential,” says John Beradri of BodyBuilding.com.
Stay on the rails: Plan your post-workout munchies before you go to the gym. Whether you stop at a smoothie shop or have an apple with peanut butter in the car, make sure you’re giving your body what it needs to take your great workout and actually make something of it.
In our ever-busy world, it’s more important than ever that you keep your workout on track to make the most of every little minute you have, whether you’re at the gym, running on a trail or just working out in your living room. If you write a plan, walk and talk, and prep your post-workout snack, it’ll be no problem.
