The Mindset
Before you even pick up a weight, there are a few things you should do to make sure you are getting the most out of your time. In order to maximize your gains, you have got to tune your frame of mind into the details of your lifts. While it was important to develop a strong mindset to complete intense workouts when focusing on leaning out, the major summation of your focus is on just making it through the high intensity exercise and making sure you were pushing yourself.
When training for strength and growth, your mind needs to be completely focused on each rep, since generally you will be performing a lower (or at least pre-determined) amount of reps (anywhere from 1-15 reps/set compared to 12+) you need to make sure you are getting the most out of each.
If you want to see real results quickly, you cannot just pump up your headphones and go through the motions. You can tell exactly who does this at your gym; they are the guys and gals who look like they train hard, they are in the gym consistently, and may even have good form, but they look exactly the same as they did last year, and the year before.
Before you begin lifting, make sure you are completely focused and in the moment. If you are exceptionally distracted that day or in general, it may be good for you to practice Void Meditation prior to entering the gym to tune out all of the other distractions you may have, pulling you attention away from the here and now.
If you aren't looking forward to your session - or just want the additional motivation - take some time to do some visualization. Picture yourself as you want to look, or accomplishing the goal you are training for. See and feel it as if it has already happened, as if it has already been achieved.
This is also a great practice to prepare for especially difficult lifts or events. If you are about to attempt breaking your squat personal record, visualize yourself performing the lift with the weight you want to use - with perfect form and even for a few more reps than you intend to complete. This is a technique often used by powerlifters and other competitive athletes prior to their event to help get them in the zone for their victory.
When performing your lifts, you shouldn't be thinking about anything else, you shouldn't notice that hot girl or guy walking buy, or the terrible form of the person working out next to you (which is something us trainers can definitely be guilty of).
Focus on making sure each rep is performed with perfect technique. Focus on the feeling of the muscles as they contract. When you are on the last few reps or last set when you are coming close to muscle failure, squeeze out those additional reps by thinking to yourself on each rep “can I flex harder?” until your muscles finally give out.
This is how you use your mind to push your body to the point that forces it to adapt to the stressors you are throwing at it.
This is also where you can begin to maximize your lifts for your body. Everyone is built differently, so just because a fitness magazine shows you how a specific lift is supposed to be done, doesn't mean that that is exactly how it should be done to maximize its efficacy for your body.
If you are/have been paying attention to how target muscles feel during certain lifts, you can play with the movement to better target the musculature - optimizing your workouts. To that same effect - if you ever notice that you are not feeling the target muscle being worked during an exercise, you know that you need to make some form of adjustment. The more you do this, the better you will become at noticing and making adjustments in your technique - and when you are looking to isolate - you will easily be able to make tweaks to your exercises to do so.
The other element for preparing yourself for your training session is to actually go in with a plan. If you walk in the gym with no clue what you plan to do - unless you have been training for a very long time (with success) - putting together an effective training day that produces results on the spot is unlikely.
While you don’t have to have every set and rep planned ahead of time, knowing what your focus is going to be, the primary lift for the day, and some other exercises you want to perform is something you should have in mind before you pull into the parking lot at the gym. Then - depending on how training is going - if you get some form of inspiration, or some of the equipment you need is being used; you can adjust accordingly while knowing what you need to do in order to accomplish your goals for the day.
When training for strength and growth, your mind needs to be completely focused on each rep, since generally you will be performing a lower (or at least pre-determined) amount of reps (anywhere from 1-15 reps/set compared to 12+) you need to make sure you are getting the most out of each.
If you want to see real results quickly, you cannot just pump up your headphones and go through the motions. You can tell exactly who does this at your gym; they are the guys and gals who look like they train hard, they are in the gym consistently, and may even have good form, but they look exactly the same as they did last year, and the year before.
Before you begin lifting, make sure you are completely focused and in the moment. If you are exceptionally distracted that day or in general, it may be good for you to practice Void Meditation prior to entering the gym to tune out all of the other distractions you may have, pulling you attention away from the here and now.
If you aren't looking forward to your session - or just want the additional motivation - take some time to do some visualization. Picture yourself as you want to look, or accomplishing the goal you are training for. See and feel it as if it has already happened, as if it has already been achieved.
This is also a great practice to prepare for especially difficult lifts or events. If you are about to attempt breaking your squat personal record, visualize yourself performing the lift with the weight you want to use - with perfect form and even for a few more reps than you intend to complete. This is a technique often used by powerlifters and other competitive athletes prior to their event to help get them in the zone for their victory.
When performing your lifts, you shouldn't be thinking about anything else, you shouldn't notice that hot girl or guy walking buy, or the terrible form of the person working out next to you (which is something us trainers can definitely be guilty of).
Focus on making sure each rep is performed with perfect technique. Focus on the feeling of the muscles as they contract. When you are on the last few reps or last set when you are coming close to muscle failure, squeeze out those additional reps by thinking to yourself on each rep “can I flex harder?” until your muscles finally give out.
This is how you use your mind to push your body to the point that forces it to adapt to the stressors you are throwing at it.
This is also where you can begin to maximize your lifts for your body. Everyone is built differently, so just because a fitness magazine shows you how a specific lift is supposed to be done, doesn't mean that that is exactly how it should be done to maximize its efficacy for your body.
If you are/have been paying attention to how target muscles feel during certain lifts, you can play with the movement to better target the musculature - optimizing your workouts. To that same effect - if you ever notice that you are not feeling the target muscle being worked during an exercise, you know that you need to make some form of adjustment. The more you do this, the better you will become at noticing and making adjustments in your technique - and when you are looking to isolate - you will easily be able to make tweaks to your exercises to do so.
The other element for preparing yourself for your training session is to actually go in with a plan. If you walk in the gym with no clue what you plan to do - unless you have been training for a very long time (with success) - putting together an effective training day that produces results on the spot is unlikely.
While you don’t have to have every set and rep planned ahead of time, knowing what your focus is going to be, the primary lift for the day, and some other exercises you want to perform is something you should have in mind before you pull into the parking lot at the gym. Then - depending on how training is going - if you get some form of inspiration, or some of the equipment you need is being used; you can adjust accordingly while knowing what you need to do in order to accomplish your goals for the day.