You should focus on nothing but your performance at the gym. Don’t worry about burning calories or working yourself to exhaustion. I don’t care if all you want is to look better naked or to simply improve your quality of life— no matter what your goal, focus on achieving a better workout than the time before. That can simply mean using more weight or performing more reps than last time. Keeping this goal in mind can have great consequences for your body composition (less body fat and more muscle), training goals, and overall health.
Focus on Performance
Training specifically for improved performance is the best way to reach your goals. Even if your goal is to look better in a swimsuit, focus on getting stronger and improving your performance in the gym.
When I tell my clients we’re simply going to focus on increasing their overall strength, many respond saying, “I don’t care about getting stronger! I just want to look better!” But, after a few weeks of performing exercises they once weren’t capable of doing, they tell me, “I’ve lost inches off my body, my clothes are looser, I have more energy, and I feel amazing!”
Find greater motivation to train consistently. Almost anyone can start a training program, but not everyone sticks with it. Many people get bored, burned out, or simply don’t get the results they hoped for. So they quit just as fast as they began.
But if you focus on improving your performance, you’ll be motivated to return to the gym week after week, and month after month. This goal is a positive motivator— as opposed to something like trying to lose weight. Instead of going to the gym trying to burn as many calories as possible, you’ll aim to do better than last time— performing an extra rep or adding more weight to the bar. That’s the ultimate way to achieve the results you want because you know exactly what to accomplish every time you’re in the gym and you can easily track your progress.
Simple Ways to Improve Your Performance
Get stronger. This is the simplest and easiest way to improve your performance. Each time you repeat a training session, try to perform at least one more rep than last time with the same weight. You can also add more weight to the bar or use a heavier dumbbell, kettlebell, or whatever tool(s) you use in your training.
My main goal is a triple bodyweight deadlift. As I work towards that goal, my body composition has improved, my self-confidence has increased, and I continue to learn what I am capable of achieving.
Train to achieve feats of strength you aren’t currently able to perform. Maybe you can only perform push-ups on your knees or you think a body weight pull-up will never happen. Follow a sound training program to achieve those milestones. You’ll have a stronger body and mind once you’re able to perform bodyweight exercises like push-ups, parallel bar dips, inverted rows, and chin ups.
Take the Performance Challenge
Check out Club Sweat’s group training program where we use FitRanx exercise level system so you always have attainable exercise goals to keep pushing you and motivating you to strive forward. Try us out for 1 week of unlimited training for only $20
