The Missing Ingredient To Your Workouts: A Dollop Of This Is A Recipe For Gains!

If you are spending time at the gym every week, but you still aren’t reaching your goals, your workouts might be missing something.

This missing ingredient is integral to getting stronger, faster, fitter, and moving forward.

The following are irrelevant and all for naught:

• how much time you spend at the gym;
• the dollars you have spent on a membership, equipment, and/or spandex pants; and
• the number of Instagram posts you've uploaded that catch your biceps in just the right light

if you are missing THIS INGREDIENT.

The ingredient is…

INTENSITY! RAAAAAAWR.

WHAT IS INTENSITY?

The intensity you bring to your workouts has to do with the power, vigor, and force you bring to each movement.

I liken intensity to the level of commitment you owe to each rep/set/workout.

If you can text, talk, or think about something else during your workouts/sets, that’s a pretty significant sign that you aren’t bringing enough intensity to the gym!

Although doing any type of physical activity at any level of intensity is better than nothing, going through the motions session after session is a surefire way to not realize your potential.

It is easy to give yourself a pat on the back for showing up to the gym in the first place and then proceed to half-ass your workout. Some days, we need to take the little victories!

But if this has been your approach to working out for the past month/months/year, it’s about time you add some UMPH to your workouts!!!

Intensity might not always require you to add extra weight or try to beat a clock. Deload workouts can also be done with intensity (i.e. attention, commitment, and ferocity).

It’s about giving your workouts your full mental attention in order to direct all your physical effort and energy towards them, too. When your workouts are afforded all your physical and mental intentions in the moment, that’s where the magic happens.

HOW DO I TURN DOWN THE SUCK AND TURN UP THE INTENSITY??

If you’ve been performing the same workouts, over and over and over again, you’re getting complacent with your workouts.

If you:

• haven’t tried a new exercise in a while, but have wanted to;
• can’t remember the last time you acknowledged or attacked a weakness; or
• you recently went to the gym and left thinking, “lol did I even workout? I just did that on auto-pilot!”

THEN IT’S TIME TO SWITCH THINGS UP!

After you have mastered the movements of an exercise, progress slows.

As well, with mastery you might start to get bored, which can lead to losing motivation and momentum in the long term.

Boredom leads to complacency, and when you get complacent you become mentally detached and divested from the activity. And, therefore, lack intensity.

To get your heart rate back up and redirect your focus to your workouts, changing up your workout and incorporating a new exercise tool can be the perfect step forward!

If you are hyper focused on performing a new movement, it is hard to be complacent. Commit yourself to feeling the rep, the range of motion, and how the new exercise is making your muscles feel for a renewed sense of focus, determination, and - yes- intensity. 

SHAKE THINGS UP

Some fun, new tools that can help you harness the intensity in your workouts are Battle Ropes and Plyo Boxes.

If you haven’t used these before, they are the perfect solution for adding novelty – and in turn, intensity – to your workouts!

These tools are awesome for incorporating new cardio and weight training modules into your workouts.

Instead of running for 20 minutes straight at an unvaried pace, try a Tabata (8 rounds, 20 sec of work, 10 seconds of rest) waving the Battle Ropes.

Or do weighted step ups on your Plyo Box for a cardio and strength training challenge!

Looking to add some variety to your lifting routine? Switch up your squatting routine by incorporating some Bulgarian Split squats with a Plyo Box! Squatting with one foot elevated will be a great unilateral challenge for you, and help develop your balance!

With the multitude of equipment out there, and the endless options for getting your sweat on, why stick with one thing?

The magic happens outside of your comfort zone.

And we’ve got the equipment to help you venture outside of it!