Day after day you enter the gym.
If you are like most people, you come in with a very general goal to simply feel/look better and perhaps check it off the “to-do” list for the day. Naturally for most, the thrill of getting it over with exceeds the enjoyment of the actual process itself. Nonetheless, you get it done.
Weeks later, here you are. Frustrated that your perceived efforts to sweat and maintain a certain level of sanity during squats appears to be in vain. You didn’t drop 3 sizes like you thought, and now have an increasing dislike for any activity requiring lyra and a water bottle.
But what if I told you with a few changes to your approach, you could transform your body and completely revolutionize your gym experience?
Being in the fitness industry as a personal trainer for nearly a decade now, I’ve found that while it remains an individual-focused career, there are common themes that arise amongst the masses. Common fears, excuses, habits, and limiting self-perceptions are just to name a few. However, when it comes to the actual workout experience itself, I can’t help but address the pitfalls people fall into. Conscious or not, these mistakes can make or break you from meeting your goals. Sure there are others that arise on individual basis, but the following 3 are perhaps the most common…
GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS
One of the greatest things you can do for yourself physically is give YOU the mental focus and attention you deserve in the gym. We live in a society that has mastered the art of multitasking at the expense of clarity and learning to experience the present moment. When it comes to your fitness journey, focus is of utmost importance. For two main reasons: First, from the physical standpoint. The body is a complex, smart, and very adaptive creation. It will mundanely execute any movement pattern once learned out of mere muscle memory. While great in terms of sports-related movements that need to become second nature, it is anything but optimal in your resistance training. Every exercise targets a specific set of muscles or individual muscles to perform a lift. However, the body will always try to find the path of least resistance, even if it is biomechanically incorrect. When you are not focused on keeping the correct muscles engaged your body will resort to the easiest way possible. This not only leaves you susceptible to injury, but also missing the entire benefit of the exercise.
Secondly, focus is important from a self-respect standpoint. I often find women struggle with this slightly more than men in the gym. With a million things on the brain, it is hard to literally stop in the midst of that mental whirlwind to focus on SELF. However, it is good practical practice to be able to cognitively set aside the non-urgent things of life and for a moment and appreciate time you have to improve your health. Without that, you have nothing.
NEGLECTING THE NEGATIVE
When performing a resistance exercise, there are 3 phases in which a muscle exerts force: isometric, concentric, and eccentric. For the purpose of this article our focus is the latter two phases.
The concentric movement refers to any movement in which the muscle contracts and shortens to exert force. For example, raising the bar during a bicep curl, bringing the bar overhead during a shoulder press, or extending the weight upward during quad extensions. Most people are familiar with this phase because it’s generally the active “push” or “pull” against the resistance, whether it is a machine, dumbbell, kettlebell, or band.
But wait! There is still the eccentric movement that needs just as much, if not more attention. This refers to “negative resistance training” or the lengthening of the muscle in a controlled manner. For example, on a standard dumbbell chest press, the eccentric movement would be lowering the weight towards the chest before the upward push.
Why is the negative so important?
For starters, the body actually produces more force during the eccentric movement. What this means to you is that your efforts to build muscle and get stronger must include very controlled negative contractions. More growth hormone is released during eccentric movements because more “damage” is caused to the muscle. That’s exactly what resistance training is all about,…positive damage (small micro-tears to the muscle fibers), that when properly rested and fueled with good nutrition, repair themselves and come back stronger, more shapely, and better conditioned for the demands placed on them.
In addition, properly controlled negative movements are important for functional safety reasons. When you overload your muscles you are also overloading your joints. This certainly helps to strengthen them, but relaxing the muscles for just a second substantially increases the pressure on the joint(s) involved.
A good rule of thumb: The eccentric/negative phase of an exercise (lengthening of the muscle), should be twice as long as the concentric phase (shortening of the muscle).
THE SAME ‘OL SAME ‘OL
According to Albert Einstein, the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” And yet, how often do we find ourselves going to the gym and performing the same exercises in the same order for the same sets and the same reps,…only to discover no changes from weeks and months of sweating what we thought was going to be our butt off?! THAT is gym-insanity. Of course there are certain exercises that are critical to any healthy, functional program such as squats, pull-ups, lunges, etc. However, changing other variables like the order of exercises, the amount of selected weight, number of sets, number of reps, rest time between exercises, and tempo of the reps, is important to prevent the body from adapting to a program.
Why is adaptation not optimal in this circumstance?
When the body adapts to the demands we place on it, it becomes highly efficient. This means we use less effort to complete a task/exercise. From a metabolic standpoint, we ultimately burn fewer calories because our bodies have figured out the most efficient way of doing something without wasting unnecessary energy. This is great in terms of body intelligence, but not so great for the waistline. We want the body to use energy and keep it “guessing” to prevent plateaus. When we use energy we are burning calories and forcing our bodies to WORK!
I challenge you to examine your gym experience. You have the opportunity to push yourself towards your goals and ultimately walk out empowered and satisfied, or you can allow it to be just another sweat session.
Expect more from yourself. Give what you can with what you’ve got.
It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it…
Meredith Parker, CPT and TPI Certified Golf Fitness Professional