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That was my attitude for many years, then I let it go, and now I'm actually enjoying my workiouts, and feeling alot more energetic too. My strategy now is to leave the gym feeling like I could have done more. It makes my workout seem easy, so my mind has nothing to rebel against. Most of the time anyway, I look forward to going to the gym. On occassion my mind rebels anyway, so I give myself permission to take it really easy. Once I get started however, I'm right back in the flow and it's business as usual.
That was my attitude for many years, then I let it go, and now I'm actually enjoying my workiouts, and feeling alot more energetic too. My strategy now is to leave the gym feeling like I could have done more. It makes my workout seem easy, so my mind has nothing to rebel against. Most of the time anyway, I look forward to going to the gym. On occassion my mind rebels anyway, so I give myself permission to take it really easy. Once I get started however, I'm right back in the flow and it's business as usual.
I am TOTALLY the opposite. If after my workout I feel like I could have done more, I usually turn back around an go and do it. I feel like "whats the point" if I didnt give it my ALL. I am of the mindset to "leave it all" in the gym, which means to workout at maximum intensity levels to the maximum of my ability, otherwise, whats the point of going if half-a$$ing it or even 3/4 a$$ing it?
I am TOTALLY the opposite. If after my workout I feel like I could have done more, I usually turn back around an go and do it. I feel like "whats the point" if I didnt give it my ALL. I am of the mindset to "leave it all" in the gym, which means to workout at maximum intensity levels to the maximum of my ability, otherwise, whats the point of going if half-a$$ing it or even 3/4 a$$ing it?
I agree. You won't see progress if you don't push yourself to the limit every single time you train.
Unless you're in maintenance mode. Even then you have to challenge yourself cuz if you don't use it you lose it.
DaBeez....To me it so cool that we can have totally opposite strategies, yet we both have the perfect strategy for our personalities!
Crustedfilth wrote: You won't see progress if you don't push yourself to the limit every single time you train.
Total nonsense! I rarely ever push myself to the limit. I generally come close to it, but I stay below that threshhold, yet I continue to make enough progress to stay motivated for my next workout. During the 45 years that I've been working out, I rarely ever missed a workout. Most 30 somethings can not stay with me thru my workout ( matching my pace, weights, and reps ), yet it seems relatively easy to me.
I don't mean to give the impression that I don't challenge myself, because I certainly do. What I'm saying is that it is not necessary to push it to the limit to challenge yourself. I went thru many years of leaving it all in the gym, so I know what that's like. Since I made the shift about 12 years ago from leaving it all in the gym to leaving the gym feeling like I could have done more, my workouts are far more enjoyable and my results are just as good as they were when I always pushed it to the limit and left it all in the gym. The trick is not to push it to your limit, but rather to find the point of optimum return. Once you reach a certain point, no matter how much more you do, what little extra benefit you might get is just not worth the massive extra effort. For some of us, at certain times in our lives it may well be that the point of optimum return is indeed to push it to the limit all the time. But that is temporary. It's not sustainable. Guaranteed that you'll reach a point where it does more harm than good. EG: IF you are needing to take more and more supplements to maintain your workout intensity, it's a pretty clear signal that your body is not too happy. It's just a matter of time until you end up on the injured reserve list.
Last edited by CosmicWizard; 03-18-2009 at 11:25 AM..
DaBeez....To me it so cool that we can have totally opposite strategies, yet we both have the perfect strategy for our personalities!
Crustedfilth wrote: You won't see progress if you don't push yourself to the limit every single time you train.
Total nonsense! I rarely ever push myself to the limit. I generally come close to it, but I stay below that threshhold, yet I continue to make enough progress to stay motivated for my next workout. During the 45 years that I've been working out, I rarely ever missed a workout. Most 30 somethings can not stay with me thru my workout ( matching my pace, weights, and reps ), yet it seems relatively easy to me.
I don't mean to give the impression that I don't challenge myself, because I certainly do. What I'm saying is that it is not necessary to push it to the limit to challenge yourself. I went thru many years of leaving it all in the gym, so I know what that's like. Since I made the shift about 12 years ago from leaving it all in the gym to leaving the gym feeling like I could have done more, my workouts are far more enjoyable and my results are just as good as they were when I always pushed it to the limit and left it all in the gym. The trick is not to push it to your limit, but rather to find the point of optimum return. Once you reach a certain point, no matter how much more you do, what little extra benefit you might get is just not worth the massive extra effort. For some of us, at certain times in our lives it may well be that the point of optimum return is indeed to push it to the limit all the time. But that is temporary. It's not sustainable. Guaranteed that you'll reach a point where it does more harm than good. EG: IF you are needing to take more and more supplements to maintain your workout intensity, it's a pretty clear signal that your body is not too happy. It's just a matter of time until you end up on the injured reserve list.
I agree with most of this post. My one rep max went from 360 up to 425 lbs. in the deadlift in a span of just a few months.....and all I did was just a few set of 3-5 reps (with 80% of my max), never taking any set to failure. I did this four days per week. I made the same type of gains with the squat, same with the bench press. If your body is able to take the abuse of going all out, then more power to you, but I just don't work that way. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
DaBeez....To me it so cool that we can have totally opposite strategies, yet we both have the perfect strategy for our personalities!
Crustedfilth wrote: You won't see progress if you don't push yourself to the limit every single time you train.
Total nonsense! I rarely ever push myself to the limit. I generally come close to it, but I stay below that threshhold, yet I continue to make enough progress to stay motivated for my next workout. During the 45 years that I've been working out, I rarely ever missed a workout. Most 30 somethings can not stay with me thru my workout ( matching my pace, weights, and reps ), yet it seems relatively easy to me.
I don't mean to give the impression that I don't challenge myself, because I certainly do. What I'm saying is that it is not necessary to push it to the limit to challenge yourself. I went thru many years of leaving it all in the gym, so I know what that's like. Since I made the shift about 12 years ago from leaving it all in the gym to leaving the gym feeling like I could have done more, my workouts are far more enjoyable and my results are just as good as they were when I always pushed it to the limit and left it all in the gym. The trick is not to push it to your limit, but rather to find the point of optimum return. Once you reach a certain point, no matter how much more you do, what little extra benefit you might get is just not worth the massive extra effort. For some of us, at certain times in our lives it may well be that the point of optimum return is indeed to push it to the limit all the time. But that is temporary. It's not sustainable. Guaranteed that you'll reach a point where it does more harm than good. EG: IF you are needing to take more and more supplements to maintain your workout intensity, it's a pretty clear signal that your body is not too happy. It's just a matter of time until you end up on the injured reserve list.
Very interesting debate.
I'm guesing (?) the peeps on this thread are of the body-building/weight-lifter variety?
I'm a long-time (20+ years) endurance junkie (cyclist and runner) and on our side of the table I know that every elite athlete has at least one "rest day" per week built into their schedule. A "rest day" can mean a day off, but usually it would be a 30 min. jog (for a distance runner) or an easy 1 hour spin (for a bike racer).
I also know that most coaches alternate "hard days" (intervals, hill repeats etc) with easier, but usually longer-distance, efforts. In other words, no we do not "leave it all" in the gym (or on the road or trail ) every workout.
So, my curiosity is piqued, are things in the weighlifting world different?
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) every workout.
