Do You Push Yourself Hard Enough? Or are You Wasting Your Time?

How often do you end your workout knowing that you pushed yourself to at least an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10?? Assuming you are healthy, not rehabbing an injury or recovering from illness, do you push yourself hard enough to challenge your muscles appropriately? I know first-hand that's a hard thing to do. If you train in a gym, there are a lot of distractions and potential interruptions to your workout. Wearing earphones can help let other people know that you are there to workout and not to chit-chat. The problem is that there are a lot of people in the gym who are looking for reasons to stall or avoid working out. They are more than anxious to strike up a conversation which can be counter-productive to your intensity. If you workout at home, it's pretty easy to let yourself slack off. There's nobody watching, nobody to impress, so it's easy to just go through the motions. At least in a gym setting, the energy of other people as well as desire to impress others may give you reason to push yourself harder. At home, by yourself, it's all you and your level of desire. If you workout in a class setting, the opposite can sometimes occur and people will push themselves too hard. I have heard of more people getting hurt in classes because they were trying to keep up with everyone else. In that situation you can easily twist an ankle, tweak a knee and cause an injury that will sideline you for weeks. So what's the answer? How do you make sure that you're not wasting your time and that you're getting the most out of every workout? How do you commit to making sure every workout is at least an 8 or above?

This is what works for me. I workout in my home gym, alone or with my husband. We have on our favorite music or sometimes we prefer to workout in quiet. I spend 5 minutes on the treadmill to warm-up my muscles, get the blood flowing and to just loosen everything up. Then I spend a few minutes on the foam roller to get a few knots out of my back. Next I hit the weights. I have a definite plan in my mind as to which exercises I'm going to do. If you don't have a plan, there's a good chance you'll waste time figuring it out. The lack of focus will lessen your intensity. I break my workouts down into a 5-day split:
Day 1: Quads, Hams, Calves, Abs, Cardio
Day 2: Chest, Shoulders, Tris
Day 3: Inner, Outer, Glutes, Cardio
Day 4: Back, Biceps, Abs, Cardio
Day 5: Rest
With this split, it ensures that I can keep my workouts to an hour or less and it allows me to focus on each muscle group deeply and challenge it effectively. I can always get myself sore. As I'm lifting, all motions are done in a slow, controller manner. I'm thinking about the muscles I'm working. I'm not thinking about what I need at the grocery store. The cell phone is definitely turned off. Let me repeat that - the cell phone is turned off. When I'm lifting, the rest of the world goes away and my mind is on my muscles. I'm assessing if the weight is the right amount. If not, I'll use the most precise form possible, do a few extra reps, and go up in weight the next set. I have a 30 second timer that I use to keep my rest periods short and keep me on schedule. My timer has made a huge difference in keeping me from slacking and pumping up my intensity. I constantly vary my workouts to keep my muscles guessing. I also have a few favorite exercises that I include because I enjoy doing them. I usually do 3 sets of 10, but sometimes I'll do 100-rep workouts, or the Body-For-Life style workouts. After the first set of 10, I like my intensity level to be around a 6, after the second set a 7 and after the third set, I want to be at an 8 or above. If I accomplish this, I know I've given myself a workout of sufficient intensity that I will get sore, my muscles will respond by growing and building.

As for cardio, sometimes I like doing a steady pace for 30 minutes. The pace for me on my own treadmill is between 3.5 - 4 mph. At 5'2", this pace has me doing a very fast walk to a slow jog. I like to close my eyes when I'm walking on the treadmill, but if I try to close them without holding on, I'll easily lose my balance. I know this goes against the grain, but sometimes I'll hold on lightly with a finger so I can close my eyes and just focus on my breath and meditate, so to speak. Other times I crank it up and do some interval training. This really makes the 30 minutes go by quickly and provides an intense workout. I'll warm up for a few minutes, then take it up to 4 mph for 30 seconds and take it back down for 30 seconds. Up to 4.5 mph, then down. Up to 5, then 5.5, then 6 mph. I'll do a few circuits and I'm definitely at an 8 or above by the end.

So this is what works for me. Some days it's harder to get going than others, but I always feel so much better when I've accomplished this daily goal. I'm a believer in self-reliance, so I try to be my own motivator and provide accountability to myself. I'm not always perfect, but like Vince Lombardi said, "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."