I could go into detail on this one, but do us all a favour and make sure you bring your best jams. Most people with bubbly personalities or too many friends in the gym tend to talk too much. That means not only are you messing my workout up, but your also hurting yours. Music is also a great motivator. There is nothing like getting ready for a lift or running on the treadmill listening to that one song that gets you fired up.
What gets you fired up? Make a play-list of your top 10 most motivating songs and hit shuffle. Your workouts will get better.
Only doing your skill set
We all do it in more areas of our life than fitness. We like to do what we are good at. It’s time to step it up and do something new. If all you do are lunges and the rower because you think your great at them, then try one of the other hundred ways of working legs.
It’s nice to be really good at a few things but you want to be good at as many things as you can. It also adds a challenge to your workouts. Doing something new usually causes you to either drop weight or spend more time mastering. It’s like your starting from scratch! Embrace it.
Plan it out
Where are you going to go? What are you going to be doing between sets? What exercises are you going to do first? Which ones are your compound exercises and which ones are not? How much weight did you do last time? How are you going to change your program up this week to support progression? Most of these questions need to be worked out before you start moving around.
Call me old school, but I love writing everything down so I know where to challenge myself next week and what needs to change for the next month cycle. Sure you can just walk in to a gym and start moving stuff around but you’re not going to get far. So if you’re serious about seeing results, start writing.
Lifting with your friends
I have lifted with small groups of guys before and the majority of the time gets spent messing around and getting too much of nothing done. Stick to one partner or none at all (see my next point). The more people you have, the less you can get done; 45 minute workouts turn into 1:15 minute workouts.
You may have all the motivation and drive in the world, but banking on the rest of the guys/ladies your with to have that same drive — don’t hold your breath. Stop using the gym as your social hour.
Inviting other people along
I am blessed to have a beast partner that pushes me and is always down to try new things. We are seeing results and getting things done. I had partners in the past that always showed up late or never at all, and never really changed much up. I just wasn’t there to do that and like anyone else, time is precious.
These kinds of partners are not going to help you get results. You’re better off lifting alone to get more things done, or get a trainer who will crack on with what you want to do, and do more than you imagined you could do in the same time frame.
Lift until you’re blue in the face
Do me a favour for a few weeks: try not going into ultimate failure and then some with every set. Tone it down some. Do as many reps as you can with perfect form then hang it up. You can do this with any rep range, whether it’s a low rep or high.
Do what you can with good form and leave it alone. This protects your central nervous system from being over worked and not being able to help repair your body after your workouts. You will feel better and recover faster for the next time.
Lift with your other half
Only do this if you two-part ways the minute you walk into the door. Odds are she is afraid to do anything heavy and will walk over to a few machines and end up in the stability ball and band area. If you take the time to explain to her the importance of doing heavy weights and compound exercises and she is on board, then let her join you.
My other half is pretty rocking. She will do just about anything I tell her to as long as it’s not going to put her life in danger (although sometimes there is always that chance). She is willing to push heavier weights and stay away from the bosu balls. Total respect for you ladies doing work in the gym!
Being a member of a commercial gym
Meat market, drama, and clickish tendencies is what I hear the most coming from these places. They are great for the classes and variety of equipment, but if you’re like any other social person your workouts could turn into a social hour. I’m not knocking them completely. Total respect for the guys and gals who go into those places and grind out killer workouts and not get mixed up in all the mess! However the hottest gyms are the little hole in the wall studios you see around town.
Working for a franchise gym as a trainer for a little while gave me somewhat of a feel for the bigger gym atmosphere. Spending most of my career in small studios has really allowed me to grow a passion for the smaller studio feel. It’s just better. You get the family atmosphere, and depending on the owner, you can find some pretty odd objects to use in your workout.
Doing olympic lifts with straps
I have heard horror stories of newbies trying to hang clean or full clean weights and actually breaking their wrists, because of the weight and lack of proper technique. You can’t clean tons of weight and expect your wrists to have the proper range of motion (along with the rest of your arms) as a newbie. If you’re new to the clean, then go light and work on your catch and range of motion when it’s at rest (top position).
Catch with your elbows pointing straight out and landing the bar across your upper chest and shoulders. If your grip is suffering, then spend some extra time on your off days working on grip exercises.
Bringing the phone
Leave the phone in your car. Nowadays, you probably send well over a thousand texts a month, if not more. You don’t need to have that thing right on your side the whole time. Facebook, Twitter and emails all get sent to our phones, which means you’re probably checking some kind of notification every few minutes. This is time away from your lifts. Whatever it is can wait.
If it’s an emergency, then let those people know where you are. What happened to just calling the main building the person was in? Now, if you’re doing everything I say, then you’re probably lifting at a small local studio, therefore they can call you there almost directly.
Don’t worry, I am guilty of this too. I hate it when I catch myself wasting time looking at an email or post. It’s all about productivity!
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Ross Burns is a community fitness instructor and personal trainer based in Lincoln. He also regularly blogs on his website about common fitness queries and issues, and run his own gym.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
It has been a tragic week with three deaths on Lincolnshire’s roads after two male motorbike riders and a man on a pedal bike lost their lives.
The roads are now busier again after further lockdown restrictions were eased on April 12, but since then three men have sadly died.
A man died after falling from his pedal bike in Branston on Wednesday, April 14 and police said his death is not being treated as suspicious.
On the same day, a 34-year-old male died after a crash involving two motorcycles near Gainsborough.
The man who lost his life in the collision was riding a silver Wuyang motorcycle. The second motorcycle was a blue Suzuki being ridden by a man in his 30s, who was taken to hospital with suspected serious injuries.
A 54-year-old man from North Lincolnshire also died after his motorbike crashed with a Royal Mail post van on the A631 near Glentham at around 4pm on Thursday, April 15.
This comes after it was revealed on March 11 that for the first time in over three decades nobody had died on the county’s roads in the first months of the year, according to Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.
Lincolnshire Police revealed earlier this week that between 2018 and 2020 twenty five motorcyclists lost their lives on Lincolnshire’s roads.
There have been 285 coronavirus cases in Greater Lincolnshire and eight COVID-related deaths so far this week – a 7% drop in cases and one less death from the previous week.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard on Friday recorded 32 new cases in Lincolnshire, eight in North Lincolnshire and three in North East Lincolnshire.
On April 16, three deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and none in Northern Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England reported two hospitals this week so far, compared to none this time last week.
On Friday, national cases increased by 2,596 to 4,383,732, while deaths rose by 34 to 127,225.
In local news, Lincolnshire health bosses expect COVID-19 cases to rise in our region as lockdown is eased, but are optimistic that if numbers are kept low enough, then people will be free to enjoy the summer.
Andy Fox, Deputy Director of Public Health at Lincolnshire County Council, said the lifting of coronavirus restrictions this week had not caused any specific concerns yet.
Since Wednesday, Greater Lincolnshire has again seen a decrease in its infection rates overall, against an increase nationally.
All districts have seen a fall in their rates, except small increases in North Lincolnshire and South Holland. Lincoln has stayed the same and has the lowest rate in the region.
Boston has the highest infection rate of COVID-19 in Greater Lincolnshire and is ranked 9th in the UK.
Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates up to April 16:
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Apr 9 to Apr 16. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite
England’s R number has dropped slightly to between 0.7 and 1 according to the latest data this week. This means for every 10 people infected with COVID-19, they will pass it on to between seven and 10 others.
The new Indian variant of the COVID virus that’s been detected in the UK has all the hallmarks of a very dangerous virus.
It has two new significant mutations in the spike protein that help it infect cells and evade the immune system.
People are “likely” to need a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine within 12 months of getting the first two, Pfizer’s chief executive has said.
Dr Albert Bourla said a booster jab could be necessary “somewhere between six and 12 months” after the second one – and every year thereafter.
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Friday, April 16
Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.
58,919 cases (up 43)
41,028 in Lincolnshire (up 32)
9,275 in North Lincolnshire (up eight)
8,616 in North East Lincolnshire (up three)
2,185 deaths (up three)
1,613 from Lincolnshire (up three)
304 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
268 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 1,302 hospital deaths (no change)
810 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (no change)
41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
450 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (no change)
4,383,732 UK cases, 127,225 deaths
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.
Plans to demolish part of a former play centre and Chinese takeaway to build 41 new student flats, have been submitted to the City of Lincoln Council.
Killingbeck PLG has applied for permission to demolish “most” of the existing facade of the former home of Imagination Station and Big Wok, on Beaumont Fee, and rebuild it as part of the development.
The main hall, a warehouse and a recently built “link block” to the rear of the building will also be demolished, and will be completely replaced with a new extension.
In documents to the council, the applicant describes how the 41”study bedrooms” will be en-suite and open off a central circulation area.
The build will form part of the Iconinc post-graduate residential units development next door and will sit opposite the Park Court student accommodation on Park Street.
It will include 12 apartments on the ground floor, 11 at first and second floor and seven units on the third floor.
How the build could look.
The application said: “There is a clear need for good quality, post-graduate, city centre, residential accommodation and the economic case for the redevelopment of the site is reinforced by the fact the site can be linked with the new Iconic development so amenities can be shared.
“The demolition of the existing property and the proposed redevelopment will bring positive benefits to the area economically and aesthetically.”
As part of the build, residents will gain shared access to existing facilities including the gym.