Push-ups & Progressive Overload
Mindset & Challenging Movements at the gym
Do you have any movements that continually challenge you in the gym? 🤨
I sure do! While I really enjoy hingeing and, increasingly, squatting and pressing, push and pull-pattern movements are my nemesis at times!😩
When something is hard — in life or in the gym — you have 2 options:
- Avoid it, keep a fixed mindset that says “I’m bad at X” and stay bad at it
- Lean into the challenge, cultivate a growth mindset that says “I’m not great at this, yet.” And begin to practice practice practice.
One of my favorite ways to do this kind of mindset work is very simple:
- Try shifting from a statement to a question. This will generate curiosity which is generally an engaging experience that makes you want to learn more.
Instead of stating “I can’t do a chin-up.” what if you asked
“Could I do a chin-up?” 🤔
What would happen if you simply shifted your period/statement to a question mark/inquiry? 🧐
Well, you’d probably want to answer the question. Now instead of your brain and body hitting a wall when you consider a chin-up you might get curious enough to wonder “what would it take to get strong enough to do a chin-up?” Or “what would I need to practice, and how often, to build strength to eventually be able to do a chin-up? What if any equipment or resources do I need? Who knows more about this than I do that I could ask for help?
And suddenly…roadmap!
Almost anything is figure-out-able, if you bring a growth mindset, curiosity, adequate time and resources, and a genuine, intentional commitment to consistently practice to it!
Some of my hardest movements in the gym are chin-ups and push-ups. AND I know these compound movements they have so many benefits!
For example, chin-ups help improve grip strength, posture and appearance, while also helping to strengthen muscles that stabilize the spine. This, in turn, can help reduce one’s risk of back pain and injury.
Push-ups, meanwhile, may seem like a basic exercise that works only your upper arms and chest, but when you do them the right way, they use muscles all over your body. You can do them just about anywhere, they can be adjusted to fit any ability level — and they’re free, protect your shoulders & low back from injury, improve balance, posture, and flexibility and work the core and abdominals effectively!
So I choose to lean into push-ups…because they are hard! I know that they will benefit me physically…and the mindset work to continue pushing with a challenging exercise will benefit me mentally and emotionally.
Practically speaking, to apply a growth mindset to a challenging exercise like push-ups, I use ALL variations available to get as many reps in as possible. I wanted to show that process in video, so that you can see the breakdown in form and rep # as I fatigue over 3 sets.
- Set 1: I got 11 feet-elevated push-ups from my toes. Then I started to lower from my toes but come to my knees to push back up for an additional 5 reps (16 reps total)
- Set 2: I got 10 from my toes, then went on to add 5 more reps lowering on my toes and pushing up from my knees, and then 1 last rep eeked out on my knees (16 reps total)
- Set 3: I got 7 from my toes, 2 toe-knee up, 2 on my knees, and then flipped around an inclined my upper body on the step to get 1 incline push-up from my toes, then 2 toe-knee incline push-ups and then 3 incline push-ups from my knees (17 rep total)
If I had simply done these from my toes I would only have gotten 11, 10, 7 reps, or 27 total reps. Using ALL the variations I got 49 reps — nearly double! You can bet my nervous system got a stronger message to adapt because I am asking it to do more work this way.
Also, because I take notes during my workouts, I was able to look back at week 1 of my training and see that, last week, I got 8 reps on my toes for set 1, 8 on my toes and 4 toe to knee set 2 (12 rep) , and 5 on my toes, 5 toes down knees up, and 3 on my knees for set 3 (13 rep).
So, I went from 33 total reps in week 1 to 49 total reps in week 2! This is progressive overload in action and will send a strong message to my body to adapt and get stronger to be able to do more work! 💪
When you are doing challenging things — in life or at the gym — try pushing yourself a little more than you think you should or could. Try changing statements to questions and getting curious about what it would take to answer them. You are so much stronger than you think, both mentally and physically! Prove it to yourself 😍
How about you? What movement patterns challenge you at the gym? Is there an opportunity to apply a growth mindset to those? What might that look or feel like this week during your workouts? Would love to hear your thoughts below or over on instagram!
#trainer #personaltrainer #coach #strengthcoach #progressiveoverload #mindset #growthmindset #fixedminidset #pushups #chinups #curiosity
