By: Anthony Campo
When it comes to exercise, it is very important to remember that you are trying to change your body. Whether your goals are to lose weight, get stronger or healthier, the idea is to force your body into an adaptation. This means you must place new demands on your body so that it will want to change. This concept seems to get lost in the gym sometimes. You must attempt weights and exercises that you can “barely” do, and not just exercises and weights you can do for a while or for many reps. If you are just exercising to sweat and burn calories, you are missing out on one of the most important aspects of training. Do not place limits on yourself, and remember that if you can “barely” do something, that means you CAN do it. Force yourself to do more and more things you can “barely” do, and your body will also be forced to adapt to the new circumstances, which ultimately means new levels achieved! An example of this would be performing Farmers’ Walks. Farmers’ Walks are a great exercise for many reasons and essentially consists of just carrying a weight for a certain distance or time. Too many times I will have a client who picks up a weight and says to me, “this is too heavy I can’t do this.” Keep in mind they are saying this to me while they are standing there holding the weight. This means they can do it! It just feels challenging, which is exactly what you want. So be confident, grip the weight, fight the pain, and do an activity or weight that you thought you couldn’t do, and you’ll be surprised what you can accomplish when you don’t place limitations on yourself.