RingoLast night I puked after a work out for the first time in close to 3 years. I came close to collapsing multiple times after and could find the energy to stand up from over-heatting. If you think, Damn Ringo’s in shape he must have really killed it, to push himself to that level, you wrong. This was not me reaching a new personal best in output or energy. This was not a particularly brutal workout, leagues beyond my norm.
Nah this was me realizing how badly I’ve been phoning it in for weeks…probably months. I’ve been lazy, not doing the work. I slacked off. I mean, I’ve been working out, sometimes every day of the week, hell sometimes doubles, so you may find this incredulous. I mean how much more can I do? But it’s not about the amount of work I’ve been putting in. It’s the quality.
HIIT workout work by pushing yourself to near max HR for short intervals repeatedly. If you don’t put in maximum effort, if you’re not on the edge of failure, you’re not doing it right. It’s better than not working out, but you’re losing out on the effectiveness of what that type of workout is designed to do…and that’s just what I’ve been doing. I’ve been taking breaks, saying it’s ok, I’ll catch my breath then push hard. Telling myself I should pat myself on the back for even being out there. Giving myself bitch ass excuses. When I planked I didn’t squeeze my core. I didn’t focus on glutes on my Kettle Swings. I didn’t explode when I jumped. I took the easy way, looked for the cheap method.
I read a great post from a Personal Trainer friend of mine the other day, Jason Demakis. To paraphrase, It’s not the number of reps you do, it’s making sure when you do them, you engage the muscles you’re targeting. In short, Quality over Quantity. I read that and re-read some articles on the Tabata method and when I went into my workout, I did it right. I focused on form and keeping my core tight. I squeezed my muscles when reached then end of a movement. I pushed everything to full extension. During my timed 10 second breaks I focused my breathing so that I would be as close to fresh to push as hard as possible during my time on. And about halfway through I was already as tired as I normally feel at the end of a workout…I struggled. Which is the point. It’s a WORK out, not a chill out. You should work, you should struggle, hell you should hurt, though not too much. Pain is good. Injury is bad.
I had forgotten, gotten soft and sloppy. Fuck that shit. I bought my own hype and god damn am I pissed about it. This should just be an admission of failure, but because I have this pathological need to tell people how to live their lives, take a lesson from my example. Make sure you understand the point of your work out and are doing it right. If it’s max effort, make it MAX EFFORT. Make sure you know good form and what muscles you’re after. Make sure you squeeze them good and hard. If you got the cash, get a personal trainer to do a form check. You might be doing the right work…but if you’re doing it wrong, you ain’t gonna get the results you want.
It’s one month to Denmark. Still plenty of time to make up for that failure. Fights are won in the gym. So that’s where ya’ll find me till then. See you on the fucking podium.