Fitness Together Brecksville: What Was the Most Challenging Workout You Have Ever Done, And How Did You Make it Through?

Trainer Tuesdays

Welcome back to the weekly edition on Trainer Tuesdays. Make sure to check in at our blog every Tuesday evening to learn the expertise of our great staff of expert personal trainers. Aside from being fantastic exercise coaches, they are also extremely knowledgeable in many aspects of health and fitness; so, it's time that you get to know them a little better! Each week, we will post a frequently asked, or sometimes just a fun fitness related question followed by the answers of each of the personal trainers at Fitness Together Brecksville.

What Was The Most Challenging Workout You Have Ever Done, And How Did You Make it Through?

Brooke Kratche: It's hard to pinpoint my hardest workout ever but I would have to think it probably involved an angry basketball coach. There was one practice that slightly resembled the "again" scene from the movie Miracle. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about. It was brutal. I had teammates not even make it to the line before she would yell, "again!". Looking back it's pretty funny but at the time I was sure I would never again see the light of day. The important thing is my whole team survived that day and we look back on it and laugh... often. We now have many inside jokes about it that are overused and still not old. How did we get through it? Because we were in it together. Going through a tough workout is hard on its own but if you have someone with you encouraging you and reminding you that you can do it, it is a whole lot more realistic and doable. That's why we do what we do, so that you can go harder and make it through the tough workouts that seem unending and impossible! At Fitness Together you never have to do it alone.

Personal Trainer Brooke Kratche laughs now but suffered through an "Again!" workout

Amanda Ricci: Most challenges that you may face are 4x more mental than they are physical. That is unless you’re lifting an enormous amount of weight or running a distance that is more extreme than what you have been training for. I use several different tactics to get myself through difficult workouts. One of the most challenging workouts I have ever done has been a really difficult leg work out that I constructed. During the workout, I will just try to get through that particular exercise and focus on how many repetitions I have already completed rather than how many I have left to finish. I will then also focus on my breath and inhaling during the release portion of the exercise, and exhaling during the muscle contraction. When I am competing in running races and I find the race to be getting difficult I will start counting up to 10 in my mind, and then when finished counting up to ten start over again. Because you can do anything for ten seconds!! No matter how much longer you have to run it or the amount of reps left there are to complete, incorporating some of these techniques can be used to assist you in your workouts. Different techniques work for different people, so if these don’t work feel free to experiment with different ones on your own. It is also good to be realistic with yourself as far as what you think is challenging as opposed to what could be dangerous. For example, if you have been curling the 15 pound dumbbells then it would be wise not to just move yourself up to the 30 pound dumbbells. Or if you’ve only been running 5k races then just going out and running a half marathon would probably not be a realistic expectation from yourself.

Steven Madden: The hardest workout I have ever done was Kris Gethin's 12 week trainer. This was a beast of a workout. While we tend to change the protocol every four to six weeks for our clients, this changed every week. This prevented me from adapting to the workout at all. I was suffering from DOMS almost every day. One week, reps would be as high as 50, or I would be doing 10 sets of an exercise. The first few weeks were fine because it was new and exciting. I did start to bog down though shortly after half way through because I knew how punishing the workout was going to be, and it made starting hard. I just made sure I kept going to the gym, as long as I was at the gym, I knew I would move the weights. The last few weeks were physically awful, but easier mentally to get through because I saw the end of the tunnel. I never look at it as a whole though. I just focused on today's workout and prepping for tomorrow's workout. It was just too much to worry about otherwise. Just break it all into digestible chunks.

Personal Trainer Steven Madden says Kris Gethin's 12 Week Trainer in a Beast!

Adam Teplitz: My most challenging workouts are any that involve high intensity interval training (HIIT) or using more weight than I'm accustomed too. I employ a few different strategies to conquer the workout.

One is repeating over and over again ' I think I can, I know I can .' Mantras can be the necessary motivation to keep on trucking to the end.

Another strategy is breaking down the workout. I focus on one exercise at a time as opposed to the entire workout.

This might sound counter intuitive, but I savor the pain. 'pain is weakness leaving the body,'
When I'm strength training, I hone in and focus on the specific muscle targeted by each exercise. This helps me maintain proper form, and remember, each lift will bring me one rep closer to my goal.

Ultimately, keeping a positive mentality will help break through barriers and take your workouts to the next level.

Justin Traft: One of my most challenge workouts I have ever done was plate carries, plyo box jumps and deadlifts. Let's just say the lack of oxygen was a real thing. My legs could barely hold me up. But I thought to myself if I can make it through this, this is basically as hard as it gets. Then I thought about how good this workout really is for me in terms of leg training and cardio vascular, so I kept pushing. One of my favorite quotes I kept saying is “Mind over matter”! There's nothing you can't do when you put your mind to it. The key is to always find something inside yourself that will give you the drive to finish. I finished the workout and ended up doing it once a week to keep myself honest.

Michael Roberto: my toughest workout had to be when I was first learning to first do barbell front squats. It was awkward to hold as the weight was on the front of my shoulders, something I was not used to. I was also doing my best to focus on my form and not lift my heels off the ground. On top of that I was squatting 155 pounds so the load was heavier than normal. But I overcame the challenge by imagining myself doing the exercise with flawless form for 6 reps. That visual imagery allowed me to be strong and do the exercise with little problem or irritation. Now, I can front squat as well as my back squat.

Personal Trainer Michael Roberto worked hard to master the Barbell Front Squat

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

What Was the Most Challenging Workout You Have Ever Done, And How Did You Make it Through?

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