7 Keys to Have a Great Workout, Especially When You’re On Your Own
This one is for the person who carved out the time, laced up the shoes, and walked through the door. You deserve to get every single thing out of this workout that you came for. Let’s make sure you do.
I see it happen all the time. The door swings open and in walks a busy professional woman, attorney, executive, business owner, doesn’t matter, and she’s already somewhere else. Her body is here, but her mind is in the car, at the office, in the kitchen figuring out dinner. She has twenty-five minutes, and she’s already spending them somewhere else.
That’s the first thing we have to fix before anyone touches a single piece of equipment. You made an appointment with yourself. Now be there for it.
Here are the seven things I coach every client through, week after week, to make sure they get the most out of every session they show up for.
1. Get Your Mind Right
Take two to five minutes before you begin. Sit down. Breathe. Be where your feet are. You’re not just training for who you are today. You’re training for the person you’re going to be, the one who’s going to need the strength, the mobility, and the freedom to live a functionally independent life.
2. Know Your Numbers
Tracking your weight, your reps, and your seat settings isn’t optional if you want results. What gets measured gets improved.
3. Breathe With Intention
Most people hold their breath or breathe randomly during a workout. Your breath is a performance tool, not background noise.
4. Control the Weight, Don’t Let It Control You
The real strength happens in the lowering of the resistance, not the lifting. Momentum increases injury potential. Control protects everything.
5. Check Your Form Before You Wreck Yourself
Ego and momentum are the two fastest paths to injury. Form first, intensity second, progression third.
6. Finish Strong, Not Just Done
How you finish a set is a decision, not just a physical act. It becomes resilience you can draw on outside the gym too.
7. Rest With Daily Activity and Healthy Habits
Your body doesn’t recover one muscle group at a time. Rest, sleep, and nutrition all work as a system, not a checklist.
I go much deeper into each one of these, including the coaching cues I use with clients every week, in this week’s article for my paid Substack subscribers. If you’re ready for the full breakdown, you can read it here.
If you are local and want to experience proper strength training and get advice for what to do outside of the gym to achieve great results, book a Free Training Session with us! Our expert Fitness Coaches will get you started off on the right path towards changing your life with strength.
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