You must think I’m crazy, but you heard me right. Make yourself uncomfortable!!! One sure way to improve yourself is to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself. This past Wisdom Wednesday, I shared with you The Habits Of The Wise, one of them being Push Yourself Physically. What I am saying here is that if you want to grow and get stronger, you have to push yourself, physically, at least once a week. This means you have to perform an exercise that makes you very uncomfortable, makes you want to stop, and pours on the sweat. Here are a three ways to make that happen…
1. Run As Fast As You Can
Yes, I said this Wednesday and I am saying it again. One sure way to get the heart pumping and the sweat going is to push yourself hard in a run. You can go outside and make this happen, or you can go on a treadmill. You could even use an elliptical. The point here is to push yourself to your limit. Try to run as fast as you can for as long as you can. Imagine a dog is chasing you and he is nipping at your heals!!!
2. Perform An Extra Exercise Circuit
Most of the time when I work out, I either do supersets or circuits. A superset is performing two exercises back to back, without a break in between. A circuit is when you perform three or more exercises before you take a break. If you want to make yourself uncomfortable, once you have completed your normal workout, do one additional cardio based exercise circuit. There are many to choose from. Just go online and search for “cardio based circuit.” Actually, let me Google that for you: https://lmgtfy.com/?q=cardio+based+circuit.
3. Perform Another Set Of Your Exercise
Let’s say you typically perform three sets of each exercise before you move on to the next one. I typically like to perform three sets of an exercise, for each muscle group, each time I work out. If I am supersetting, I group the following muscles groups together: chest/triceps, back/biceps, legs/shoulders. I then try to wrap up with some sort of abdominal circuit. If you want to make yourself uncomfortable with this type of workout, simply add one more set to each larger muscle group I have listed. You could add one more set for each: chest, back, and legs. But don’t do them during your workout. When you think you are done workout, do all of these in a circuit at the end. This will surely make you uncomfortable and push you a bit harder in your routine.
The Takeaway
In order for real growth to happen, you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. You have to push yourself to some sort of physical limit (as much as you can tolerate), if you want to up your game. I have provided three ways to do that, but there are many more. Just do a little research if you want more options. If you don’t typically work out, I don’t suggest you do this right away. You should talk to your doctor whenever you are considering starting a workout routine. It’s also a good idea to talk to your doctor about pushing yourself physically and if they approve, ask for some healthy ways to do that. I have suggested a few things here, but you need to know your limits. If you don’t know your limits, make sure you talk to your doctor.
Once you have spoken to your doctor or know your limits, try a few of these things out. But DON’T make this the first thing you do in your workout. Make it the last thing. Once you have completed your workout and feel pretty exhausted, perform these exercises that will push you physically. You will feel like you are spent, and these will push you to your limits.
I will leave you with The 40% Rule practiced by the Navy Seals:
“When you think you are done, you are only at 40% of what your body is capable of doing.
That’s just the limit we put on ourselves.”