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.
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.
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 |
© 2016 Fitness
Together, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
About | Contact | Franchise | Suppliers | History | Leadership | NutritionTogether |Sitemap| PrivacyPolicy | TermsofUse | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Linkedin | Yelp
No comments:
Post a Comment