How To Get The Most Out Of Your Workout

Increasing the effectiveness of your workout is important for avoiding hitting that dreaded wall. Yet, squeezing the most out of every second gets challenging as your body gets into shape. Fortunately, all it takes is a few small tweaks to maximize the benefits of your daily workouts.

Stay Focused In Your Sessions
Spend just a few minutes at any gym, and you will quickly notice which people allow distractions to interfere with their workouts. While it may seem like a great idea to work in a phone call while you are on the treadmill or quickly check your email between sets, these types of activities stop you from paying attention to your body. Instead, choose to focus on your breathing and notice how your body feels as you progress through your workout. This helps you to identify whether or not your exercise routine is ready for an upgrade. If necessary, write down potential distractions in a to-do list before you start your workout so that you will not be tempted to try to do them out of the fear that you might forget.

Schedule Workouts As a Priority
It happens every day. People buy a pair of running shoes or join a gym with the best intentions, yet they never show up for more than one workout or two. This is because life does keep going, and your responsibilities will quickly overshadow your desire to get in shape. That is, if you don’t make working out a priority. Grab a day planner, and start putting your workouts on your daily schedule. Seeing it right up there next to your company meeting or child’s school play establishes it as a priority. So go ahead and use a pen, there’s no need to just pencil it in. Working out should be a permanent part of your schedule.

Track Your Progress
Once you start scheduling your workouts on your day planner, you can also use it to track your progress. Next to your workout reminder, write in how many laps you swam or how many reps you did at your new weight level. Weigh-ins and race times are additional stats to include in your planner. As you look back at your previous stats, you will see a pattern of progress that serves as motivation to keep striving for higher challenges. The confidence boost you receive after achieving a new goal also makes it easier to decide that working out is worth every minute.

Reward Your Efforts
Planning little rewards for your accomplishments reinforces desirable behavior. However, it is important to avoid rewards such as food that interfere with your goals. Instead, upgrade your planner after a month of solid workouts or purchase a new set of workout clothes when you master that boot camp class. Having a reward to strive toward is an excellent motivator for pushing past those little hurdles.

Fitness is a state of being that is only achieved through hard work and dedication. Getting the most out of your workout begins with simply showing up and putting your entire focus on how it is affecting your body. Then, wrap up every session by jotting down a few notes about your progress so that you can enjoy looking at all that you have achieved. By making your workouts a priority, you will always know that you are doing what it takes to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

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