Last night on the Biggest Loser I found that the over arching theme to the show seems to be that people were working out harder than they ever had before. Actually some of the people did not even know how hard that they could push themselves.
Our mind is very slow to adapt when it comes to diet and exercise. If you live a sedentary lifestyle of years and then begin to work out your body will think that it can run let’s say 100 feet. So you run 100 feet and your chest is sore and you are out of wind. Now let’s say you do this every day and after two weeks you finish this ‘workout’ of running 100 feet and you are still winded and your chest is sore. Your mind thinks that you are just as strong but really you could push yourself a lot harder.
Discomfort is a trigger to the brain telling you that you have pushed yourself to hard and no one like to be in discomfort. Most trainers know that you have a sticking point in your own mind where you think that you cannot go any farther or harder. This is just a psychological sticking point that is not real but just a level that you are not comfortable going past. The trouble is that this is the level where all of your gains come from.
I am a victim of this lack of pushing myself as easily as anyone else. The thing that helps is to remember before your workout that you are setting low levels of limits on yourself and to set goals every single time that you workout.
Another way that you can make yourself work out harder on a regular basis is to read and see success stories. I am sure that this is the reason that I watch the Biggest Loser and also the reason that success stories are always so popular in the sports sections in newspapers be it home run kings or the greatest quarterback this week kind of stories.
Stop looking at how hard you are working as being the hardest that you can work out. There is always a step farther, a pound more, a minute quicker. Try today to make sure you have great goals and you will make greater improvements in your health and fitness endeavors.