Why taking the easy route is ruining your workout
Humans naturally take the easiest path available. It all comes down to the fact that when we were cavemen, we had to conserve energy when food was in much shorter supply than it is now. We naturally do things with the least amount of effort involved and this spills over into our workouts, which I’ll touch on later. Firstly, we’re going to look at how to stop taking the easy route in our day-to-day lives.
Move better
It’s not necessarily about moving more when it comes to fat loss but it’s about moving better. Jog up your stairs instead of walking up them; use a full range of movement when it comes to getting something out of a low kitchen cupboard. Do something yourself rather than asking a colleague/family member/friend.
When was the last time you needed to get something but couldn’t be bothered or decided to go down the easier route that required less effort? I can’t count the amount of times I’ve been upstairs in the office and have decided not to go downstairs for something I needed. (Food, my to-do list, a pen, iPad, cardigan.)
Little tricks to increase your movement
- Park further away at the supermarket
- Park on the highest floor of the multi-storey and take the stairs
- Take the slightly longer route when walking to the shops
- Climb over a low wall rather than walking around it
- Get your kids (or friends’ kids) involved in activities where you can join in: Football, a game of it, tree climbing etc.
- Looking forward to that podcast/radio show you like so much? Listen to it while out for a walk
- Offer to help friends move house
- Go dancing
- Take the stairs, ignore the lift (even after climbing mountains I still took the stairs to the 2nd floor once we were back at our hotel, it just becomes normal)
Why the easy route is ruining your workouts
Do you look around the gym, feel a little overwhelmed and head straight for the machines you know and trust? A lot of people do and this is most certainly taking the easy route. While machines are good at working specific muscles, you don’t get any of the other benefits associated with free weights.
Simply picking up a dumbell or barbell and carrying it to your workout spot, gets your muscles working. It also helps you to build practical strength (i.e. for carrying heavy things) rather than simply building strength on one muscle in one direction.
Stop taking the easy route and go and pick up some weights. If you don’t want to or are a little intimidated by the weights area, there are bodyweight exercises you can do to get the same effect. For example, the chest press machine is often replaced by a proper bench press. Don’t want to do this? Go and do some push ups (on your knees is fine if you’re a beginner).
Pushing yourself to 100% is a skill
I learnt this skill at bootcamp. We really don’t know how hard we can push ourselves and there’s usually a mental block to overcome before you can really get there. Exercise puts your body under stress so your brain tells you that you need to stop pretty quickly. This is the point where whatever you are doing is going to have an effect on your body so you need to keep going.
I would recommend that everyone works out with a personal trainer at least once in their lifetime because you’ll see just how far you can be pushed. Once you know what your max feels like (the threat of extra exercise always helps to push me to my max) you’ll be able to push yourself to that point when you work out alone.
Body weight exercises and HIIT
If you want to push yourself to your limit but aren’t too sure about weights then there are so many exercises and routines out there that both an unfit person and an athlete could both push themselves to 100% on.
For example, squats. If you’re just starting out and can only bend your knees a little way before you have to come up that’s fine. Keep going until those legs BURN and work on getting lower in subsequent workouts. Perhaps do as many full squats as you can and once you hit your limit do some slightly less intense ones.
Once you’re stronger and more flexible, go down into a full squat – legs past 90 degrees. Then add weight or go to single leg squats. (Or, try
High intensity interval training is the same. Your 100% might be three burpees in 30 seconds while mine might be 20 burpees in 30 seconds (it’s not…). Whatever your level you can always work on speed and form. There are also some crazy versions of these exercises like
It’s not laziness
This isn’t an article about laziness, if you’re working out then you’re probably not lazy. This is all about overcoming how we were programmed to perform and retraining our brains to tell us to push rather than to quit.
Now, be honest with me, how hard do you push yourself when you work out?
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