7 Unique Ways to Push Through an Off Day at the Gym
“Three…
Four…
Oh my gosh, I hate lunges…
Ugh!!! I miss my pillow…
…
Wait, how many reps was that?…
…
Damn.”
Same boat, fellow gym goer! I’ve had so many versions of this inner dialogue at the gym. Believe me, I know how frustrating it is.
Let’s face it. It’s easy to get distracted from getting the most out of our workout on some days.
Sometimes we legitimately feel like crap for no reason. On some days, our stress levels are up more than usual. Hello, bills and deadlines! *wink*
You made it to the gym. You won half the battle. You’re there and you’re in the middle of your workout…
you realize you’re not that into it, your balance is off, or you keep thinking about other things.
I don’t have any forbidden secret to make off days at the gym go away forever, but I can help you fight them and come out on top! Here are 7 things to help you push through a rough day’s workout (they’ve helped me, too.)
Shut. Them. Up.
You probably thought of someone after reading that, huh? Someone has commented negatively on your strength or fitness level before.
“You can’t lift that by yourself.”
“Are you sure you want to go to this event with us? There’s going to be a lot of walking.”
“Going to the gym again, huh? I give it a month.”
First… f*** these people.
Second, even if no one has voiced it out loud, you know you have haters and people who’d love to see you fail. When I catch myself trying to get by with the bare minimum in a workout, more often than not, I think these three words “Shut. Them. Up.”
Think about showing them you can lift heavy things by yourself, or that this amount of exercise is a piece of cake to you. Picture their confusion or them rolling their eyes while you’re still pushing through your workout a year later and thinking, “Haha, why you mad?!”
Imagine shutting them up.
An Embarrassing Moment You Had Due to Your Fitness Level
This one hits harder for some people than others. I use this one a lot.
I was maybe 13 or 14 years old and I went to the lake with some of my cousins. I couldn’t knee board… yes, you read it correctly. I could not hold on to the rope to knee board because my upper body was too weak.
I think about that situation A LOT at the gym and it makes me push so much harder. It was so embarrassing because I could not hold mySELF up.
If I notice I’m lagging in an upper body workout, I think of my embarrassing moment and I’m back with a vengeance.
If you have a certain moment that held you back or embarrassed you because of how out of shape you were (and if you don’t have one, congratulations) use that moment of shame or embarrassment. Harness that horribly low point of self-esteem and push harder to get the most out of your workout. Do it for “past you,” baby!
Think About a Difficult Body Movement You’ve Always Wanted to Do…
… and how far you are from it right now. Pick one exercise you’ve always been impressed with and work towards it.
Have you always been in awe of people who can jump really high, do a back flip, a one-arm pull-up, or a handstand push up?
You can absolutely get to that point, but first, you have to make sure you’re working out consistently and working out hard enough (a.k.a. Not just moving things around in the weight room.)
To progress, you have to push yourself, my friend, and you know this. Just try to remember it and play it in your brain repeatedly on sluggish gym days.
What Are Some Everyday Things You Wish You Could Do Better?
How long can you play outside with your kids before you need a break? Does a flight of stairs get you really winded? Does your back start to hurt after standing for less than an hour? Are you able to help a friend move and load their furniture on a mover truck without worrying about an injury?
- Five more minutes on the treadmill could turn into five more minutes (or more) of playing tag with your children.
- Good form on this dead lift could be you confidently helping a friend move into a new place.
- Hitting this circuit hard is going to make a flight of stairs easier for you.
- Keeping your back tight for those back extensions is soon going to have you able to stand up longer without pain.
Practice Your Mind to Muscle Connection
Speaking of keeping your back tight, mind to muscle connection is the thought we all strive to keep at the front of our mind in the gym.
The connection is basically being able to think about the muscle you are trying to work and flexing it throughout the exercise you are doing. For example, squeezing your shoulder blades together when you’re performing a bent over barbell row.
Even though it might be your first time hearing the term “mind to muscle connection,” you’ve probably executed it before.
“Am I actually engaging the muscles I’m targeting?” or, “I thought this was supposed to work my shoulders?” are common thoughts associated with the connection.
To activate it here are just a few tips:
- Imagine flexing your clothes to shreds over the targeted muscles.
- Focus on the muscle contraction (the squeeze at the end) part of the exercise and hold the contraction for a second or two longer.
- Pretend every rep is your last. Tremble. Shake with effort. Tense every muscle you can.
Good Angel, Bad Angel
You know? Like the ones in cartoons? Yeah.
Imagine an out-of-shape and sluggish you in red gym clothes on one shoulder, and a toughing-it-out and sweaty-but-feeling-good you in white gym clothes on the other. I’m being serious.
Don’t give your Good Angel cliche shit to say which you know is not motivating you. No one knows what sets you off except you, right? So make him/her a badass!
Maybe you work harder with tough love so you need an intense Good Angel who calls you “Pudge”, maybe you need one who constantly reminds you of one specific goal, maybe one who can get you through it with self-deprecating humor, or maybe one who is perky and energetic if that’s what you’re trying to be.
On the other end of the spectrum, don’t give your Bad Angel cool stuff to say. Don’t give them a leather jacket, any kind of shades, relaxed “keepin’ it real” swag or “Idgaf” attitudes. Make them whiny and dependent and pretty much the most annoying person you can imagine.
Try to Inspire Others Yourself
Has anybody ever come up to you to tell you you’re doing a good job? Probably. Maybe many times or at least a few. How many times has someone said it to you at the gym, though?
Unless you do a lot of group classes, it’s rare. Most people at the gym are just trying to do their own thing. Occasionally it does happen, however.
A while back I was upset because my quads were not sore after what I thought was a brutal leg day. Soreness is not the only, nor the end-all-be-all way to tell if you’ve worked out hard enough, but I like it. A lot of us do… Anyway, I convinced myself I was just doing the movements and not engaging my quads.
The next time leg day came around, I hit my quadriceps hardddd! This girl came up to me and said, “I need to workout with you. You are working your legs, man. That’s my weakest area.”
That girl made everything worth it. I worked out even harder. Those months where it seemed like I wasn’t progressing at all? The times I pushed through when I just wanted to lay down on the floor right where I was? I’d definitely do it all over again just to get to that point where I inspired another lifter to push harder.
Now (re)Grab Your Workout by the Horns
Making the most out of your gym time gets difficult every now and then. And it sucks when you reflect after a gym session and know you didn’t give it your all.
When you started, it was hard enough to even get to a gym. Then you had to get to it regularly. Then you’re there one day and you realize you’re just getting by in the middle of this workout?
No.
Wake yourself up again and try thinking about some of these suggestions. Motivation is out there, yes. Lots of motivation is out there, hell yes. Looking at you, Pinterest.
You, though… you needed a little help thinking outside the box and a couple of views to see in a different light. I got you, boo, and I hope this helps. Losing count of your reps? Start over, hit reset, and Shut. Them. Up.
