Are You Pushing Yourself Hard Enough?
I just read this post by the GymJunkies, How To Build Your Mental Toughness in the Gym, and it got me to thinking. Am I pushing MYSELF hard enough? I know I push my clients harder than they would ever push themselves. I can see it in their eyes…that glassy look of “why are you doing this to me?” It’s much eaiser to push someone else that it is to push ourselves. In boot camp they even tell me, “oh yea, its much easier when I am doing this at home to say, well that’s enough..its getting to hard” and isn’t that so true!
This is one reason why I stress a support system, such as a workout buddy, group training or a personal trainer. I would have LOVED to had a trainer standing over me telling me to work harder. When you have that person holding you accountable, its so much easier to make sure you push on through, even though you don’t want to.
I have been getting better at pushing myself a bit more lately. Remember back when I talked about being done with cardio. I was bored with it, didn’t like it and wasn’t going to do it anymore, and I didn’t. Not for about 3 months, no interval training, just body weight circuits. Well, as boot camp progressed and I could feel my endurance improving, I actually started liking the short little cardio circuits we were doing in my boot camp workouts.
Then it came down to this and not being happy with my body. So I decided I would jump back into interval training and to keep me motivated along with a client of mine, I challenged her to 2 weeks of intervals, 6 x a week anywhere from 10-20 minutes. (Again, how important a support system is) Even though I was the trainer, I didn’t want to let my client down. Every day we texted each other what we had done for intervals. And it didn’t always have to be in machine form, it could be as simple as step up intervals for 10 minutes or a rotation of 2 exercises, such as KB swings and step ups, which I found to really enjoy.
Now back to pushing yourself….I was bound and determined to drop those pounds and some body fat and get my body back and by pushing myself to the max, even with the 10 minute intervals, I felt great and it only took me those 2 weeks to make huge progress! In just 2 weeks, I had lost 1% BF, 1.5 inches and 2 lbs! I increased my intensity of my intervals from 5.5 up to 7.0!!
So as I feel I have rambled on enough..I just want you to know just how important that support system is AND how much progress you can make if you set your mind to it and PUSH yourself to the max!
Have you pushed yourself lately? In what ways? Do you have a social support? If not, come join our Fat Blasting Boot Camp Support Group! I am throwing out challenges for them all the time to get them to push themselves to the limit!
Angie Schumacher is a Certified Fitness Professional who trains clients in her home and is a Women's Boot Camp Instructor in Colorado. She is the author of The Fat Blasting Boot Camp Program and has offered a one stop website to help you with all of your health and fitness needs. Please visit www.BuildingABetterU.com to find exactly what you are looking for!
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Wow,what a great post!! I’m going to try this myself! I like the idea of step ups combined with KB swings!
i don’t think too much workout is good for us. it will affect our muscles. a simple exercise will help.
I think that every time you visit the gym, you should increase the intensity of the workout, to not only build muscle but to become stronger each time. My trainer Roland Semprie taught me that every time I run i should increase the speed and run at a high speed for 1 min, and then slow it down a little. I found that eventually I ran a farther distance in less time.
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