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Train With Purpose

How do YOU feel after a workout?

I was just thinking as I was driving home from the gym the other day about how GOOD my workouts make me feel! Yes, my muscles are a little shaky and fatigued, but after a workout I am energized and leave the gym in a great mood!

It got me thinking about how so many people think that they must absolutely KILL themselves at the gym every single time to get anything out of their workouts, which is just not the case. For one thing, thinking that you have to go to the gym and completely annihilate your body every time is at some point going to make you not enjoy going. And for another, it’s just not necessary.

If the main goal of my workouts was  to “kill” myself, I would just do a million burpees, or heck, just jump on the treadmill and run 5 miles(or one, haha!). But really, what good is that going to do me? it's not going to make me stronger, that's for sure. Beating your body to death is not what training is about. And there IS a difference between "exercising" and "training".

To me, training means that you have goals and every day you go in to workout you are working towards those goals. My workouts always have a purpose. There is always a rhyme and reason to the exercises that I include in my workouts, as well as my client’s workouts. I don’t just throw together a bunch of random exercises with the intention of fatiguing myself or my clients. I carefully select the exercises for each workout and pair specific exercises together for a reason. I make sure to work every muscle group evenly, paying careful attention to bodyparts that many people neglect.

Yes, you should always push yourself hard, lift weights that are heavy, and give every set 100% focus and effort … BUT feeling like  you're going to puke or pass out shouldn't always be the main goal of all your workouts, nor should burning a certain number of calories be your main concern.  Just because you're not drenched in sweat or about to pass out after a workout, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t effective! There are some days I go into the gym, hit the weights hard, and leave without a single drop of sweat.

Now, there is nothing wrong with programming in conditioning or HIIT workouts along with your strength training-that's not what I'm talking about here. Those workouts do serve a purpose. And I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't ever do tough workouts that just completely wipe you out every now and then. Because sometimes it's  fun to do a random workout just to work up a good sweat. But in the long run, you're going to get better results if most of your workouts have a plan and a purpose, when you're not just going through the motions of "exercising" or trying to beat yourself to death.

Remember, it's all about making yourself better...and killing yourself day after day after day is not going to do that. Exercise should energize you, not wear you down!

Train to get strong.
Set goals.
Work on your weaknesses.
Always train with purpose.

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