Are You Allowing Yourself To Be Pushed Where You Need To Go?

No one ever died of doing three more reps. That may sound harsh, but let’s explore this more deeply.

A lot of people get stuck on asking their trainer how many reps they are going to do. What if I told you that when we as trainers workout we don’t normally count our reps. We lift until the body is highly challenged on the last three reps. Not all sets we do end up being the same number either because we may be fatiguing earlier when it’s a third or fourth set.

What we are looking for is the muscle to hit fatigue. What is fatigue, and what is failure you might be asking?

Let’s dive in. Fatigue is your body's way of adapting to a fitness regimen and making you aware that you have reached your metabolic/psychological limit. We want you to fatigue towards the end of your set because we want to maximize your results. Fatiguing at the end of the set should feel like a challenge and you may start breathing harder and the muscle may start burning. This is a good thing. Muscle fatigue is when your muscle is still capable of performing, but your brain is trying to tell you to quit. You may feel like the muscle has reached failure, but it’s actually really only thoroughly tired.

Failure is when you go to do a rep, and you literally cannot get the weight in the air. When you are in failure you may get half a rep and know there is absolutely nothing left to give. What most people think is muscle failure is actually fatigue. And fatigue is where we want you to be. You may go to failure on your absolute last set of a workout and that’s okay. The most important piece here is that you are actually allowing yourself to be pushed to where it feels uncomfortable. And most of the time when you work out like this you will get sore. This is why we ask,” On a scale from 1-10 how hard was that by the end?” Fatigue is about an 8. Failure would be a 10.

That 8 effort is ideal for creating results. If you aren’t hitting an 8, you’re giving up too soon and we need to increase the difficulty.

But what if I get sore you may be asking?

The truth about soreness.

Even trainers get sore. Since progression is always what someone is working towards, you never really get to a point where you don’t feel sore muscles, if you are working to muscular fatigue in your workouts. This is how you build strength, endurance, and power.

Soreness is not bad or wrong. In the beginning if you are new to fitness you may experience really intense soreness and overtime it won’t be as bad as you become more consistent. The best thing to do when you’re sore is move. Believe it or not, sitting still without movement makes it worse. Getting some light cardio is ideal as well as dynamic stretching. Taking hot Epsom salt baths can help alleviate soreness as well.

If you’re new to working out or you’ve never let yourself be pushed it might feel scary at first to allow yourself to hit fatigue. This is where you have to remember why it is that you wanted to get fit and trust in your trainer that they know how to help you reach your goals. The best way to help us to help you is to refocus before every workout on how you want to show up for yourself. If you need a little guidance then refer back to this article we wrote at the beginning of the year. Being willing and able is the best way you can be in each session.

Remember this when it feels like it’s getting hard and your trainer asks,”Can you do three more?” You’re going to be okay. And you’re going to get the results you want.