5 min read
How do you keep training the main topic of discussion? When it is training time, stay focused on getting the most out of your body.
It is natural to become friends with people you train with or around. In many cases, these are friendships with years of history or young relationships with deep common values. Some of the greatest friendships are formed around doing positive things for your health, vitality, and performance. So with all the positivity in the ‘gym’, it can be easy to get off topic and turn your training time into social time.
There are a few keys to keeping on task while training…
Start off by sharing in the short and long term vision. Being on the same page of why you are training is both the easiest and most difficult thing to achieve for people training together. Because training progress is dynamic the reasons for training will change over time. Ideally, the place you train shares a specific common goal, if not be sure to have your own personal vision for your training so you understand why you are doing what you are doing (and equally important why you are not doing certain things).
What to do when 1 on 1 training?
If you are working with a trainer/coach or you are a student/client/athlete, there should be a pre-defined objective of each session. This objective may change, but to go in without one is a mistake. The objective may be a specific movement like a squat, or it may be a concept like active recovery, focusing on warming up joints/ligaments/tendons. Simply stating the objective often times is enough to set the mood of the day and keep everyone focused on the session.
What to do when attending an open gym?
When you are training at an open gym where other individuals are training as well, it is important to manage the reps/sets/rest. A great tool is simply having a timer that alerts you when to begin the next set. A timer is great because it is easy to lose focus of sets while in a conversation. The timer’s alert is less ‘rude’ and everyone at the gym will understand you are following a training protocol, and should not take offense exiting the conversation.
As a gym owner, it is important to create a space for socializing (if possible). That way it is understood that when on the training floor the topics discussed must pertain to the training session. This is similar to using your bedroom only for sleeping and not media consumption. Pyscologicly having a socializing space in the gym conditions everyone to separate themselves from outside topics upon leaving the socializing space and entering the training floor.
It is important to plan social time outside of training time.
For those people who wish to engage with each other socially, the best thing to do is plan events outside of training. Getting coffee, planning bbq’s, going to the movies, and meeting at the gym to discuss training on rest days are all great things to do together. Sometimes getting outside of the training environment can help people open up and look at their training from a new perspective. This can help mentally with breaking training plateaus or changing behaviors.
Sometimes just hearing things described in a different way is enough to solve a long-standing problem.
Remember, always make training the first priority at the gym for the benefit of your overall mental and emotional well-being.
Often times the reason people engage with others at the gym about social topics not related to training is because something unusually positive or negative is happening in their lives. They then naturally believe that sharing this with someone will help their mental and emotional state.
Yes, sharing things about our lives with others is extremely effective at improving and shaping our mental and emotional state, but so is physical exercise, and because we are at the gym, the act of physical exercise should be the stimulation created and nothing should distract us from it.
Physical exercise alone can completely transform your mental and emotional condition, and if you only have time two or three days a week to commit a couple hours to it, do not spend that time socializing with others instead.
Because exercise creates tension when done at the proper frequency and intensity the result is relaxation. But understand that is possible to both under exert and over exert, causing no effect or negative effects to the body, mind and emotional state.
Have a goal and make sure you are doing what you need to do in order to achieve it!
All The Very Best,
Dan Baruch
BARUCHealth: Founder
info@baruchealth.com
BARUCHealth Programs For Health Vitality & Performance
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