In this article I want to discuss about weight lifting and work out in general.I will not mention the benefits of working out or how the chemical reactions to your body after work out makes you less stressed and more happy, there are dozens of articles out there about this. I want to describe how I use these facts to fight my inner demons!
The last month and more I have been visiting the gym 6 days a week. Maybe you think that is too much and you are right, but this is the way I fight my inner demons. Everytime I visit gym I try to reach my limits,why? because I need that chemical reaction to my body, that makes me feel indestructible. Only the physical pain of work out can give you this reward, a warrior's reward!
I am not some kind of adrenaline junky or a mindless buffed dude but when I go to the gym I love overdoing it with the weights. I go as heavy and as many reps as I can!This may be considered wrong from many fitness instructors, but none of them speaks about how to get that fire to motivate you to go there, how to maintain the motivation the next day when your body is in pain,when you cant move your arms because are shore. And the only way to keep yourself motivated is to workout the way you love.Don't think too much about the perfect form and the perfect workout just get yourself there and enjoy it. I am not saying to get injured just have the right balance between the perfect from and the urge to enjoy the session by beating your personal record in reps , in weight or however yo enjoy your time in the gym. Maybe you like crossfit, maybe you want to powerlift go and do it by yourself don't be afraid so much of injuries as long as you know the limits of your body. Know your body better than you know the execution of your exercise!
So the previous paragraph was just to justify myself about my bad excercising routine. The main goal of this article is to describe how I feel when I work out. Usually after work(developer) my mind is very stressed and I can't relax. One hour after work I have appointment to the gym. I wear my headphones, I blast some metal and I start with abs excercises, every day(also wrong will say my fittness instructor), for half hour as warm up. After that I start my main work out of the day. I have separated the days as : chest day , back day , arms(shoulders,byceps,triceps) day and legs day, repeating this circle. I try to do as many reps as I can with the maximum weight I can lift, one of the set is with the maximum kgs I can lift.Everyday I change the order and the type of excercises so my body don't get used to. This way I keep my motivation in high levels because of the difficulty of the session. I am fan of no pain no gain because it is true. Why when we think of mind struggling we consider a hard working and intelligent man but when it is about physical activity you prefer a non difficult way. I believe that the physical activity should be more intense than a work that consumes all your mind's energy. I read somewhere that jobs that demand too much effort of thinking lead to stress, anxiety and depression and for me at least is very real. Every time I do some demanding tasks at work I feel exhausted and unmotivated to do anything funny. I release this tension and stress through high hard core workout and it works believe me. It just makes these not important worries about work disappear because you have to cope with psysical pain and struggle, a temporary and harmless pain. Your mind is just healthy and clear after that.
Keep in mind that I didn't start with max reps and weight , always listen to your body but not too much, sometimes talks too much and sometimes it screams, only if it screams listen to it!
That was falks,
Thank you for reading Eneas Lari.