Prepare For a Struggle

Performing proper exercise is hard. If it wasn't difficult, then it would not be effective. This is one reason that I believe so many people avoid doing it altogether. They choose an easier (and less effective) route, preferring a haphazard approach rather than accepting the temporary discomfort that comes with creating enduring physical change. Life will present challenges to even the most disciplined individuals, and you must do what is necessary to embrace and overcome obstacles if you want to succeed in any endeavor. You must mentally and physically prepare yourself for a struggle.

Exercise is a physical undertaking, but there is a mental component that can never be underestimated. Your mind controls your body, and if your mind is not in the right place your body will not respond in the appropriate fashion. Even Total Results clients, who are intelligent, driven, and successful people, occasionally lose sight of how demanding our workouts are if they have been away for even a few weeks or if they are not in the right frame of mind. Starting the first repetition of an exercise is difficult for two primary reasons. First, you are overcoming inertia, which is defined as, "A property of matter by which it remains at rest or in unchanging motion unless acted upon by some external force." You are that external force, and that means if there is 100 pounds on the weight stack, you must produce at least 101 pounds of force to produce movement. The second reason the start of the first repetition is difficult is that our machines are cammed, which means there is variable resistance through the range of motion. In most cases, you are strongest in the beginning part of the movement, thus that is where the resistance is heaviest. If you understand this ahead of time, you won't have as much of a mental hang-up in starting the exercise. Also keep in mind that in most cases, the amount of weight that you are using is either the same or only slightly heavier than what you did in your previous workout. This is why I typically do not inform clients that I raised their weight until after that particular exercise has been completed.

Exertional discomfort, or that burning sensation that you experience in your muscles during an exercise, is not an indication of an injury. Instead, it is a natural by-product of an intense metabolic event. Properly applied effort will trigger the body's growth mechanism and will set the wheels in motion for positive physical adaptations. Do not be fearful! It is temporary and also perfectly normal. As my friend Al Coleman used to say, "Don't run from the discomfort, chase after it." People suffer from all kinds of phobias, whether it involves public speaking, having difficult conversations, or going to the dentist. What you create in your mind is usually far worse than what is true in reality, and temporary discomfort is no different. You are far more resilient than you realize. Prepare your mind in advance of your workout. It will be hard. It will be a struggle. Understand that your workout will require focus and labor, but that it only lasts for twenty minutes.

Other weight training philosophies involve some form of periodization, in which the intensity of effort and volume vary for certain time frames. I have heard collegiate and professional strength coaches talk about this, and even lay out their plan for how they achieve this periodization. I think that many of them have bet on the wrong horse. What they fail to understand is that in order to stimulate physical change, intensity of effort must be high, and you cannot make up for a lack of intensity with greater volume or more repetitions with less weight. If a person's progress has stalled or gone backwards, it is far more likely due to insufficient recovery or excessive activity. The workout itself must be a struggle or a perceived threat, as the human body wants to maintain homeostasis and will only adapt if given a very good reason. This means that in order to have sustained progress, you must balance the factors of intensity, frequency, and volume. If you are working with the requisite intensity, then one or two brief workouts per week is all that you will need.

We never said this would be easy! You are far better off mentally and physically by looking at Total Results exercise as a personal challenge rather than an obstacle, by accepting that this is what it takes rather than living in denial. No, this is not the only way to achieve lasting physical change, but it makes the most physiological sense. In many ways, the daily grind of life is a struggle, and it requires discipline to do the things you don't necessarily want to do to get to where you want to go, while avoiding the things you want to do that will impede your progress. The best way that you can prepare yourself for the struggles of life is to strengthen your mind and body with regular Total Results workouts. Your future self will thank you.