10 workout tips

Even the best-motivated gym devotees have days when they’re really not up for it and would rather be in the pub than in the gym, which results in them struggling through a lacklustre workout. On other days you can be really fired up, feeling strong and focused and you blast through a great workout. Of course, the better your workouts the quicker you’ll achieve your training goals, and the difference between a great training session and a mediocre one starts in your head. Try the following ten techniques and you’ll make every set better, every workout more intense and your whole exercise programme more effective.

1 Pre-plan that great workout

If you wait until you’re in the changing room before psyching yourself up, you will have lost half the battle. Start preparing for your workout hours before you get to the gym. When you’re eating your lunch think about what you want to accomplish in your workout and how you’re going to do it.

2 Make a decision to work hard

The easy bit is telling yourself you’re going to have a really intense workout. The hard bit is actually doing it when there are so many distractions and bad habits to break. If you think your workouts are on the feeble side, then look at the things that are getting in your way and change them. Do you tend to rest for too long between sets? Is that girl in the Lycra crop-top taking your mind off your reps? Put her out of your mind – you can always catch up with her in the juice bar afterwards.

3 Visualise success

Visualisation may sound like a kaftan-wearing, lentil-eating practice but it has become a common way for successful athletes to prepare for a workout or a competition. Close your eyes and imagine lifting the amount of weight you’re working on with perfect form and little effort. Visualise the first three repetitions and your body will be primed to do as it’s told.

4 Set the right goals

Make your goals SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-framed. If you wander into the gym, pick any bit of free kit and work until you get bored you will never reach your goals. Decide what you want to achieve – lose five pounds, add more muscle, train for an event – and then find out how to do it by reading MF. Your workouts will be more focused and exciting as you approach your goal.

5 Keep records

If you don’t keep track of what you’re doing at the gym, then how can you know if you’re progressing? While resting between sets, write down the number of reps and weight you just did then aim to increase the amount by about ten per cent every four weeks or so.

6 Give yourself a challenge

You may have a long-term goal in mind, but setting yourself little challenges each workout will help to keep you motivated. You might decide that today is the day you set a personal best on a particular exercise. Or you could test your speed over a mile on the treadmill, rather than just doing your usual ten-minute jog.

7 Get psyched

If this was America you’d start each workout with a chorus of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ followed by high-fiving other gym members and shouting, ‘You’re the man!’ However this is Britain, so we suggest listening to rousing music on your personal stereo and telling yourself, quietly, how great this workout is going to be.

8 Work out in an intensive environment

Whether you exercise at home or in a gym, the atmosphere can have a big effect on your energy levels. If everyone around you is listless or just hanging around, find a different gym where everyone else is focused and working hard. It will motivate you to do the same. At home, try to change whatever room you’re exercising in into a true ‘workout room’. It’s hard to get an intense workout in a space that you associate with slobbing on the sofa.

9 Get help

Encouragement from a competent personal trainer can help you squeeze out those last couple of reps. If you can’t afford one a workout partner can do the same job. But choose someone who is going to inspire you and push you to greater heights, not someone who is going to laugh at your feeble bench presses or become distracted by the ladies aerobics class.

10 Reward yourself

Working out has plenty of long-term benefits – better health, better looks, better self-confidence – but in the short-term you should reward yourself. Just completed a really good workout? Then treat yourself to a new CD or a trip to your favourite (healthy) restaurant. This will keep you positive and will make you want to go and do it all over again tomorrow.