Nothing screams out mindless exercise more than the pink dumbbell
Most people who work out are merely exercising. They do this to lose weight or “get in shape.”
Most of them fail at their goal because they are exercising for the wrong reason.
People who train are also exercising. However, they are following a plan in order to improve performance.
Perhaps they have a goal of deadlifting 500 pounds, or maybe they want to complete a 5K run in a certain time.
Their time in the gym or running on the road is done with purpose and intent, and they are following a program.
As a by-product of their training, they are also in better shape than most people.
People who train are also far more likely to stick with their training. In fact, they hate missing a session.
This goes for just about any athletic endeavor.
I remember reading about legendary golfer Ben Hogan. He was renowned for the amount of time he spent practicing.
Learning the deadlift
He said that he hated to miss a day of practice, as it felt like he was falling a week behind.
On the other hand, people who only exercise to “get in shape” are far more likely to skip a day or week.
Eventually, they stop working out, and they are right back where they started.
These are also the people who use any excuse to not go to the gym.
People who train build their schedules around their training sessions. It is literally the most important part of their day.
As you may have guessed, training involves a different mindset than merely going to the gym to exercise.
Of course, as I’ve mentioned, you can’t just create the necessary mindset overnight. It takes time.
Therefore, if you have a training goal, you have to remember to start slow and keep your initial goals modest.
For example, if you follow the Starting Strength program for barbell training, you start out with conservative weights for the four main lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press).
Then, with each workout, you add a little weight to the bar, and continue to do the same number of sets and reps.
Within just a couple months, you will have added significant weight to the bar, which means you are much stronger than when you started.
This is when the training starts to get hard though.
For any elite athlete, getting those last bits of improvement requires the most work.
At this point, it is the process that provides us with the payoff.
Every time you post a new personal best, whether it is in your deadlift, running a 5K, or a win in a golf tournament, your hard work has paid off.
With this in mind, before you decide to step into the gym again, set some goals.
Don’t just go in there to burn some calories.
Go in there with a near term goal and perhaps a longer term goal.
Don’t let the number on the scale be your goal. These goals need to be performance based.
Also, don’t just have the goal of deadlifting 500 pounds in a year, or running a 5K in under 25 minutes.
Think of how achieving those goals would impact your performance in other areas.
Will your strength training improve your golf game? Will your cardio training help you keep up with your grandkids?
Or, perhaps doing both will help your performance in jiu jitsu.
If you can change your mindset to incorporate these other goals, you may be more likely to stick with whatever training program you pursue.
