Making Progress on my Form! (My Fitness Journey – Vertex Fitness Diary 21)

Time for a celebratory post! I had a really good workout today. I’m finally starting to unlearn some bad habits and poor form that I picked up with other trainers, and its making a really noticeable difference in my workouts.

For one thing, I’m working harder than I ever have, completing more reps at a higher weight, but I feel like I’m struggling less than I ever have. It’s not that it’s not challenging, or that I never feel any muscle burn–you’re supposed to feel those things, and I definitely do. I still feel fatigue, but I don’t feel the struggle–the feeling that I know I’m not getting it, and that each set seems to drag on and on while I try and fail to correct my form. That feeling of struggle is what happens when you don’t feel the sense of purpose and accomplishment that comes from a more well-performed set.

The second factor in the better workouts is the improvements in my breathing. I don’t feel as tired towards the end of each set and I’m able to finish more strongly, without my form totally unraveling at the end because I’m crawling towards the finish line and praying to hear “two more”. My form only started to click after my breathing did. The extra oxygen makes it possible to do more work, so I feel like I’ve got some energy left over to focus on form. When you’re really tired, it’s so tempting to get the weight up via “any means necessary” to try to get to the end faster. You start recruiting other muscles, not even necessarily realizing it, and your form falls apart.

The feelings of struggle are disappearing, and the burn is replacing it. It’s surprising just how much more you can feel it in the intended muscle when you perform an exercise properly. It instantly gets ten times harder to do. I feel the burn the strongest in my abs and my outer thighs when I’m in the zone on those exercises.

It feels like a whole lot of work is starting to pay off. My workouts are more focused and more effective than they’ve been in the past, and it’s starting to show. I’m going to keep working on my form and breathing techniques, and next stop, giant shredded muscles! (Okay, actually not. Giant muscles are a function genetics, and I do not seem to have been gifted with the capacity for hulking biceps.)

“Making Progress on my Form!”, was written for Vertex Fitness Personal Training Studio by Nicole Hallberg

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