Continuing from part 1. Read the struggle series of diet part 1, part 2, part 3 as well!
Mental motivation
Staying motivated and committed to a consistent workout routine.
If you don't mind shouting, swearing and calling you weak, I recommend listening to David Goggings, this one is a light start with him, most consecutive sentences I heard from him without swearing. Try to focus on what he is telling, not how he is doing that if you don't like his style.
If your drug is Instagram, then this is your guy for daily motivation: Swolenormous. He has hundreds of reels in which he will tell you to go to the gym with various lead ups. I did go to the gym on some occasions because he told me to. 😁
If you struggle with motivation, scroll to the end, then scroll back and read the rest as well.
Finding and effective training program
This point is about having a vast quantity of information and workout plans online and you have no clue how to choose one, because for sure, there is no comparison of these and it's even hard to compare them anyway, due to all the factors that need customization for your own case.
I have already wrote about this topic, you can find these here:
In a quick summary, you should checkout musclewiki, get to know the muscle groups and get familiar with 3-5 exercises for each, then go to the gym, try out all the machines, ask for help from the staff on proper usage as you need. You will know fast enough which one you like, so you will be able to pick 1 exercise per muscle group and start doing it for 1-2 sets per session, as a full body workout, working all muscle groups. Then gradually increase number of exercise per muscle groups and number of sets, slowly, month by month. If you feel you don't get enough rest, you may need to opt for a split routine and so on.
Track, track, track! So can train harder than last time and motivate yourself with your progress at the same time, plus you can share your results with friends and family.
If you need help assembling your program, reach out to me, see how at the end.
Recovery and Rest
Muscles are growing on the rest days, when healing. The recovery time depends on the intensity of the training and also the individual's capability of it. It is faster when we are young, gets slower as we age, it can be manipulated for some degree with cheaper and more expensive tricks - cold shower, ice bath, cold plunge, cryo, pressure chamber, massage and so on. Interesting fact that women recover faster, that's why they can hit legs so often, while men working with the same intensity (adjusted to size and strength) might need to accept that once a week is the reality.
There are 3 main areas in play: 1. muscles, of course, 2. joints, 3. nervous system.
For muscles, with more and more experience you will be able to feel how the muscles are, in a regular case 1-2 days are required for proper recovery. If you go light you can work the same muscle daily, if you go crazy hard you might need to rest for two weeks.
For joints, band exercises for strengthening them are highly recommended, as well as for warming up, because you will be working out regularly, regularly causing damage in a joint is a bad thing for the long run. Hopefully we will have better options in healthcare, but currently you better be careful.
A joint injury will set you back for months, shortest for me was 3 months, some even needed 9.... I could lift heavier weights, but my joints couldn't cope, getting more and more painful to use them, till I gave up and do something else leaving them alone for months to heal.
Nervous system. I wasn't thinking about this for years, but lifting heavy weights or putting in the intensity is quite stressful, a lot of cells are screaming in pain, signalling that you should stop what you are doing. Recently I was thinking about this at the end of my 1.5 hour session while doing the last exercise and I did notice that I wasn't giving out 100%, my muscle wasn't completely tired, my joints were fine, but it felt really hard and tiring that I stopped at 10 reps and I was thinking I could have done a few more, but my brain cut it off. I haven't faint, but I think that would be the next level of how the body would try to cope with the stress, just straight shut down. I have this feeling with leg extensions lately as well, it feels really hard and tiring, but honestly, I could do more. Don't get me wrong, when I'm finished with the set I have to jump up otherwise I feel like my leg would cramp and I'm mostly out of air, still it bothers me that I may be mentally weak, I could do more. 🙂
This leads as the the most important part of the rest: sleep. Do sleep your 7-9 hours
Accountability and Support
Similar to the Lack of motivation and Lack of support we discussed in the diet struggle series, you need partners on the workout journey too, who can push you when you fail to push yourself. It's normal to lose focus from time to time, there are a lot of things going on in our lives, but you went to the gym, because of a goal, because of a vision and someone can remind you about that and challenge you each time, so you remain on track.
If you can't find anyone around you drop me a message on linkedin, email me at [email protected] or book a free appointment, I will support you daily, free of charge.
What's your struggle with muscle building? - Part 2/2