What do you do before workouts?

vanityy99 wrote: »

To get you motivated and pumped. Also “tricks” to give you more energy, get you going longer ( legal of course, and besides the normal a well balanced meal answer).

For example I like to take a shot of espresso. So what do you do to help you pro long your workouts?

I record and monitor my short/long term fatigue and recovery. Drink my oats/protie/coffee shake on the way into the gym to fuel me properly without draining energy to digest.

Motivation? I don't feel lacking in the past four decades of training very often. I sometimes envision my next record breaking lift on the platform and understand that my training is setup for long term mostly and not to do anything outside the plan that would jeopardize it within my control.

Wake up at 445. Complain and whine internally. Pee. Put on cute gym clothes for inspiration. Frink a glass of water. Decide which Pandora channel will rock my socks off. Drive to gym. Hit the mill by 5:05.

To get you motivated and pumped.
I'm motivated because I enjoy the majority of my workouts and always enjoy the results of my training - living in a fit and healthy body is a big reward in itself. Now I'm retired I'm training more than ever because I have more "me time" and exercise is a big part of that for me.
I don't need to ne "pumped" - it's just a normal activity but an mostly enjoyable one. Some of my winter indoor training is a PITA (literally and figuratively) and it's the payback of helping my good weather riding performance that keeps me going, very much training towards a goal not exercising for fun.

Also “tricks” to give you more energy, get you going longer ( legal of course, and besides the normal a well balanced meal answer).
Getting very fit allows me to train harder and longer. I eat for performance for cycle rides over roughly 2hrs. I don't usually need to eat in any special way - excluding really long rides most training just fits in my day and normal eating pattern. For most of my training (weights or cardio) fed or fasted makes no discernable difference to my performance.

For example I like to take a shot of espresso. So what do you do to help you pro long your workouts?
Make sure I'm hydrated (water only sub 2hrs), apply chamois cream to avoid soreness on long rides, riding to beautiful countryside is a great motivator to ride further.
I'm a very low responder to caffeine but don't really get the whole pre-workout thing. I simply don't want or need to feel pumped or wired to train effectively.

Oatmeal and banana

HeliumIsNoble wrote: »

100% not getting at you- this is not a pile-in, but when you say you enjoy your workouts, what do you mean?

Are these things you do to get into shape, or things that you do because they're leisure activities that happen to be energetic? That's a bit of a binary choice there, admittedly; it's less an either-or in RL.

Anyway, if you read back through this thread, you can see that people are answering from different perspectives. No-one's superhuman, but the mindset of someone on the treadmill to get into a dress is very different to the mindset of a lifelong runner who placed for gold at her last race and wants to keep her streak going.

On a scale of 0-10, where 0 is doing the washing-up and 10 is dancing the night away at a nightclub, where are these workouts? Do you feel happy during it, or is part of you counting the minutes down until you're done?

Some good food for thought here.

I've admittedly been at both ends of that spectrum, but in light of the topic, one of my unspoken goals is to get back into the kind of shape where exertion, being able to do what I call on my body to do, brings that old elation I used to feel. The journey to get there can be exciting.

One thing is certain though. No matter how much info I get here, no matter how inspired I am by someone else, there's just never been anything like a "Health through vicarious living" program out there that has ever worked for anyone.

Phirrgus wrote: »

HeliumIsNoble wrote: »

100% not getting at you- this is not a pile-in, but when you say you enjoy your workouts, what do you mean?

Are these things you do to get into shape, or things that you do because they're leisure activities that happen to be energetic? That's a bit of a binary choice there, admittedly; it's less an either-or in RL.

Anyway, if you read back through this thread, you can see that people are answering from different perspectives. No-one's superhuman, but the mindset of someone on the treadmill to get into a dress is very different to the mindset of a lifelong runner who placed for gold at her last race and wants to keep her streak going.

On a scale of 0-10, where 0 is doing the washing-up and 10 is dancing the night away at a nightclub, where are these workouts? Do you feel happy during it, or is part of you counting the minutes down until you're done?

Some good food for thought here.

I've admittedly been at both ends of that spectrum, but in light of the topic, one of my unspoken goals is to get back into the kind of shape where exertion, being able to do what I call on my body to do, brings that old elation I used to feel. The journey to get there can be exciting.

One thing is certain though. No matter how much info I get here, no matter how inspired I am by someone else, there's just never been anything like a "Health through vicarious living" program out there that has ever worked for anyone.

I hear you on both those. I want to get back to my fittest for the summer months so that restarting Cto5k can be fun, instead of a penance. I only like running when I'm fit, and I'm sticking to the other stuff I can do indoors until I get there.

If only I could get fit by just watching fit stuntmen and stuntwomen performing in Marvel films....

I take my pre-workout drink 30 minutes before leaving work. Get home change into my workout gear, get water and put in my earbuds. Then I go to the garage which is my gym, do 30 minutes on the elliptical, 4 sets of abs and start my workout (weights).

HeliumIsNoble wrote: »

100% not getting at you- this is not a pile-in, but when you say you enjoy your workouts, what do you mean?

Are these things you do to get into shape, or things that you do because they're leisure activities that happen to be energetic? That's a bit of a binary choice there, admittedly; it's less an either-or in RL.

Anyway, if you read back through this thread, you can see that people are answering from different perspectives. No-one's superhuman, but the mindset of someone on the treadmill to get into a dress is very different to the mindset of a lifelong runner who placed for gold at her last race and wants to keep her streak going.

On a scale of 0-10, where 0 is doing the washing-up and 10 is dancing the night away at a nightclub, where are these workouts? Do you feel happy during it, or is part of you counting the minutes down until you're done?

Exactly.

On that specific 1 to 10 scale, on-water rowing, for me, is about a 15 (not much of a dancer ). I don't do it all day every day, because I like balance in my life (there are other things I enjoy, too). But I would totally do it if it weren't even good for me, probably even if it were actively bad for me (if not too severely bad).

So, if I back off the hyperbole, and say on-water rowing is easily a 10, my other regular activity, spin class, is maybe a 7 or an 8. And one of the things I like about it is that I can go really hard at it, without worrying about my safety (as I do on a real bike, though that's fun, too). It seems like a bit of a communal/social experience - group doing the same thing, pounding music playing - and that sort of thing has deep cultural roots: It's irrationally satisfying. At the same time, I can literally close my eyes (usually do), push hard, and have my own private workout in that context. I like it!

If I didn't push myself hard, it would be less fun. The only thing I sort of sense behind this is that all that heart-pumping, and hard breathing, with no safety fears offsetting those feelings, is very exhilarating. It makes me feel so alive. Speaking as a (long-term) survivor of advanced cancer, and a cancer widow besides, that "aliveness" feeling is a huge positive thing in my life.

I don't love my solo Winter rowing machine workouts, so I do have to "motivate" myself to do those. Mainly, I do it for the sake of being able to better enjoy on-water season. If I don't work out in Winter, I have to regain lost fitness before I can go long/hard on the water. Boo. But I definitely do much less volume in Winter, because it's just not inherently fun. Sometimes I drop back just to twice a week spin, and once a week team rowing machine practice. Those are fun.

I do have to have the right fuel, but breakfast works for me (more carbs before on-water rowing, less for spin, so I get why some people might need a pre-workout).

I don't get the seemingly offended reaction that's coming from people who do need motivation, or a boost, in order to do their workouts. In my mind, it's not a moral issue. I work out for fun. It's good for other reasons, but fun is why I do it, mostly. (I did it for a decade plus, while obese.)

And if it were a moral issue - speaking only for myself here - II think I'm saying "I'm such a weak character that I probably wouldn't even work out if it weren't so fun that I'd do it for its own sake". That's not exactly a statement of superiority!

I compete in Powerlifting (my sport of choice - it will likely be different for you), and I keep my next meet date and goal numbers on my fridge. It helps me remember that if I don't get to my training sessions, those numbers will not happen.

The rest is habit. I go to the gym at these specific times. I see my friends there. I know that once that day's workout is done, I don't have to do it again.

Otherwise, I try to eat something with carbs before I go (I used to be on the coffee & candy train, but I've been trying to eat more nutritionally dense foods because I'm not great at choosing vegetables if I can choose something else) and caffeine screws up my sleep now that I'm training at night.