Pushing Yourself

deisedude

How do you push yourself when your arms/legs/abs are aching and all you want to do is stop?

Looking for some mental techniques just so I can push myself that little bit more in the gym and would be interested to see what other boardsies do to push through the pain barrier

mikec1992

i try to block out every other thought really and focus on that single task.

Does this sound cringe? I used to try and think of motivational quotes and stuff like that when it got strenuous lol but i found that it just didn't work for long.

i love to do endurance running, so being calm and relaxed all the way through the run is the most important thing. literally trying to have no thoughts what so ever. i might not be for everyone but it works for myself.

JC01

Music is my biggest one, I'v basically got a couple of songs for the last set of most lifts at this stage.

Other than that I find the mirror great for eh visualising what your feeling the pain for.

And roaring, so long as I'm not pissing a load of people off a bit of roaring at myself on the last rep or two seems to do the trick.

Mr. CooL ICE

Rest is for the dead

Deco99

If ive got five reps left I think of five people I dont like and each rep is the rep they would do so I have to match.... that and straight outta compton... tune.

astonaidan

mikec1992 wrote: »

i try to block out every other thought really and focus on that single task.

Does this sound cringe? I used to try and think of motivational quotes and stuff like that when it got strenuous lol but i found that it just didn't work for long.

i love to do endurance running, so being calm and relaxed all the way through the run is the most important thing. literally trying to have no thoughts what so ever. i might not be for everyone but it works for myself.

I do the same on the bike in the gym every motivational quote I can think.
I usually end up speaking to myself like the general in full Metal jacket 😂

Irishcrx

Deco99 wrote: »

If ive got five reps left I think of five people I dont like and each rep is the rep they would do so I have to match.... that and straight outta compton... tune.

Lol , That's my go to for a tough set as well.

'Burglary..the definition is JACK'N'

Blackclaret

I tend to think that those last reps/km are the ones going to make the difference and it will take me an entire session to get back there again, so make the best of them.

Grueller

From a running point of view, those last few 800s I tell myself that my rival (changes frequently, depending on who was one place ahead of me in my last race) is not doing this tonight.

deisedude

Interesting responses, keep them coming!

gutenberg

When I swim, I try & race people in the surrounding lanes It doesn't need to be side-by-side racing - I might decide to try draw level with/pass out someone who is a bit ahead in the next lane, over the course of the distance I'm doing, or try to make sure that the distance between me & someone faster doesn't increase over the course of the interval, stuff like that. Maybe I'm too competitive

When I do other kinds of exercises (strength, circuits etc.) I find it harder to motivate myself. Just try to think of the benefits of what I'm doing I suppose!

FTA69

I'm a boxer so I remember the times in the ring when I was gassed and my opponent was still punching, that awful feeling that you're unable to give your best in front of a thousand odd people watching you fight.

siochain

for weights and metcon's it tunes, visualisation, focused breathing.

long hill climbs on bike its relaxed focused breathing

Augme

This is completely different to everyone else it seems but I just have everything planned and structured before I start my session. If I have it written that I have to do 10 reps then I'll do 10 reps. Previously when I had programs with a rep range of 8-12 etc I'd go into the gym and aim for 12 and see how I'd go. Nearly always I'd take the easy option and quit early though because I wouldn't have really seen it as quitting since I never fully committed to that rep range properly. So now I give myself a specific target to hit and I find it much less likely I'll give up before that, or at least I'll go until I know the next rep is a bad idea.

Deco99

Augme wrote: »

This is completely different to everyone else it seems but I just have everything planned and structured before I start my session. If I have it written that I have to do 10 reps then I'll do 10 reps. Previously when I had programs with a rep range of 8-12 etc I'd go into the gym and aim for 12 and see how I'd go. Nearly always I'd take the easy option and quit early though because I wouldn't have really seen it as quitting since I never fully committed to that rep range properly. So now I give myself a specific target to hit and I find it much less likely I'll give up before that, or at least I'll go until I know the next rep is a bad idea.

I think though that if you are setting your target correctly, (E.g. 3 sets of ten reps) then you should struggle to get 8, 9 and 10 on the last set because thats the slight gain on last time, therefore knowing who's face you want to smash comes in handy then :-)

Interesting question - something I've been thinking about lately too…

Recently, I've been actively just reminding myself that the only way to do something (i.e. last 2 reps, rounds, seconds, whatever) is to just do it. I kinda remind myself that I'm gonna have to get there some day so it might as well be today - shutting off several extra sessions of playing around. This presupposes that the target isn't crazy out there of course. Simple but works for me - probably because it just shuts down the rationalisations!

I also remind myself that even though I think I'm done, I'm really not - isn't there usually a mythical extra 40% or whatever in the tank? And sometime if I'm feeling really stubborn think that hey if I needed to lift this/sprint to here to save a child from a car or whatever that it'd get done. Nothing like mindf*&^ing oneself :-)

If it's not a focus or lazy/it's really kinda hard and hurts issue then the good tunes or angry thing is better.

Zillah

Cali_girl wrote: »

And sometime if I'm feeling really stubborn think that hey if I needed to lift this/sprint to here to save a child from a car or whatever that it'd get done.

Yeah but I wouldn't mind wrenching a joint of tearing a tendon if it meant saving a child's life. I usually stop when I'm getting weak enough that my form is degrading. I can only imagine that psyching myself up to go beyond that point is only going to make it likely I'll hurt myself.

I have a plan. I follow the plan.
Do, or do not. There is no try.