Motivation Monday: Don't 'Phone In' Your Workouts!

While I'm pretty vigilant about working out 5-7 days out of the week, there are certainly days when I haven't given it my all. I'm sure everyone has these moments, just slogging through the motions without paying attention to precise positions, proper postures, or a complete follow-through of the movements.

So, I was rather inspired to hear personal trainer Angela Parker (of Body Inspired Fitness) to tell me and others to NOT PHONE IN YOUR WORKOUTS.

When I did a weekend bootcamp workout with her last week (more on that in a near-future post,) Angela made it loud and clear that she expects 100% participation and focus out of her attendees. And I definitely agree that the more mentally-engaged I am with my exercise, the more effective it felt and the more satisfied I am after since I *knew* that I did give it my all, pushing through limits I didn't think I could do (this time, it was doing 100 bicycle crunches in one session! Yowza for my obliques!)

I do yoga regularly so I'm aware of the mind-body connection (it takes a lot of willpower to maintain those postures!) but I was floored by how that can be channeled into a helluva active interval cardio & strength routine.

And it's not just all in the head too, if you're not focused on the workout, you're not truly engaging your body in the exercise... which means less effective fat burn & muscle-building and even a greater risk of injury (esp. if you mindlessly let momentum carry you through the motions.)

So next time you workout, instead of challenging yourself by upping your reps or sets or how many pounds you can lift... see if you can stay mentally focused on your exercises throughout the whole session. And once you notice how making that 100% effort feels, you may never wanna go back!