Before I dissappoint too many people, this is not about how to get sexual turned on while working out. In fact, that should be the furthest thing from your mind at that time. I’m writing about increasing your concentration and motivational arousal to sufficient levels to maximize your results in the gym.

There are many psychological factors that impact the results achieved from your exercise or fitness program. I recently wrote about the importance of finding your motivation for changing your body, but that is just part of a bigger picture. For optimal progression, you also need a high level of arousal before as well as during the workout. I’m not talking about the arousal you get from checking out the opposite sex in compromising exercise positions, although this can make the gym experience more enjoyable. I’m talking about your level of arousal to complete the task at hand with the utmost enthusiasm and vigour. The fittest athletes in the world have many attributes in common contributing to their wellness. Sure, they have a high level of motivation, great discipline, exude great diligence in completing tasks but they also make sure that every workout is met with the highest level of arousal possible. So just how do they accomplish this and why are most of us in the dark about this seldom talked about, but crucial element to one’s training program?

Before I get into what it means to be aroused during your workout, I want to point out that I’m speaking to the trainees who want to get the most out of their gym experience. These are people who have a targeted goal to be a lot better physically than they currently are. For those who are only interested in “general fitness” and just go though the motions of exercise to feel good about themselves then high levels of arousal may not be necessary.

Establishing heightened arousal means to look within one’s mind to find those motivating factors that will increase performance and an adrenaline reaction. 

By definition, the word arousal means to stir up into activity or  elicit excitement. It can range in intensity from low (sleeping) to high (as experienced during a natural disaster).  A low level of arousal does not permit a high level of focus or concentration since it allows too many external distractions to enter your mind. Annoying gym music, excessive conversations in the training area, t.v.’s in every corner of the gym and pushy salespeople are all common examples. What happens is that low arousal inhibits adequate stimulation of the brain’s neurotransmitters, and the result may be a weak nervous signal that can affect yourworkout intensity. At this point it should be obvious that relaxation, deep breathing, and meditation are mental practices one should do before and after a workout, but not during.

Conversely, too much arousal can increase adrenaline, anxiety and muscular tension to such a degree that coordination difficulties can result. You may even find yourself oblivious to other important information; namely, a potential for injury while proper biomechanics deteriorate. This is especially true in highly skilled sports, such as hockey and football, where too much aggression ultimately results in error or injury. Therefore it should stand to reason that for a serious exerciser, their state of arousal should be one step below the highest level to avoid this problem.

A Question Of Sex

To achieve the best results from exercise, you must invoke a certain level of aggression or anger in order to become sufficiently aroused. It’s very common to see men displaying their aggression in the gym through their facial expressions and their grunting and moaning symphonies. Women, on the other hand, prefer to “suffer” in silence. Most women are raised to be “lady-like”, polite and different from men. Passiveness must be avoided if women want to achieve optimum results, whether it is to add muscle and strength or to lose fat. Just look at seasoned female athletes, they are very aggressive and they need to be aggressive to be competitive and to reach the pinnacle of competition. Regardless of your training experience or gender, aggressiveness and intense mental focus (without being concerned about what others in the gym think of you) takes practice.  I’ll offer some suggestions of how to do so shortly .

Are you not properly aroused?

Most people can identify when they aren’t  adequately aroused prior to a workout. Your mind wonders and you become easily distracted. You lack concern about how well the workout will proceed or how you will perform. You  lack enthusiasm or don’t not look forward to the exercise session. You may feel heavy in the limbs with no “bounce” in your step. If the goal is to maximize workout productivity, then you should watch for those signs and deal with them accordingly.

How to get aroused in the gym

You can increase your state of arousal , and the results of your training, by following a few simple guidelines. First, increase the rate of breathing, and focus on being energized. Eliminate any feelings of fatigue from the mind. Next, act energized; sustain good posture and perform some shadow boxing or household chores with vigour before exercise. Think of positive words or statements, like “energy”, “power”, “I can do it”, or “no pain, no gain”. Energized imagery can help to improve positive feelings, such as visualizing well-developed muscles, or an explosion of fireworks. Some people prefer to listen to upbeat rock music prior to exercise. Energetic music with 60 beats per minute is ideal during exercise since the music selections act as a metronome to maintain rep cadence. My personal preference is testosterone fueled hard rock of the 80′s to get things pumping.

It’s important, like anything in life really, to be cyclical in your approach. Your level of arousal should coincide with the demands of that particular workout or phase of your training. When the training is more demanding, these techniques can be used and backed off a little when the training demands are lower. For example, due to a lack of available energy and nutrients, it is hard to engage maximum mental fortitude when you’re in a fat loss phase . Conversely, an intense strength or muscle building program (where heavy weight and exhaustive workouts are used) would allow for a much higher level of concentration as the diet will likely supply the body with excess energy and nutritional support. In addition, you will find it easier to sustain your motivation long term on an exercise progam if you cycle or fluctuate your mental effort to avoid “mental burnout”.

As I always tell my personal training clients before each session, use your anger, resentment, jealousy or any other destructive emotion to facilitate the productivity of your workout. Not only will you release a lot of tension but you will have accomplished more than you ever thought possible.

Please leave your comments below!

It’s the summertime and I’m sure everyone is out hiking, running or climbing their way to new fitness levels right? Even if you’re not, I’m sure everyone has either experienced, or watched someone else experience, the dreaded “side stitch” that has crippled many an athlete or fitness enthusiast while exercising. It usually occurs in actions that involve repetitive rotation or hyper-extension of the torso, such as running or swimming. It manifests as an aching sensation in the side of the torso that usually forces the individual to stop in their tracks, flex the spine, tighten the abdominals, breathe through tightened lips and vigorously massage the affected area. These are in fact the best ways to alleviate the pain. But what causes this phenomenon and how do we prevent it?

I’m glad you asked. There is nothing more frustrating than getting in the zone for an intense cardiovascular challenge only to be plagued by this condition. When I started doing the Grouse Grind again this year I found myself disabled at the 1/2 mark but I wasn’t even out of breath. I noticed it was happening at the same time and on a regular basis. This encouraged me to look into this matter a little more deeply and here’s what I uncovered.

If you ask people what causes side stitching, most will respond that it’s a buildup of  lactic acid or waste product in the muscle. This completely unfounded. Why does lactic acid get blamed for everything? It even gets blamed for sore muscles. All untrue. Medical experts recognize this condition as ETAP or exercise-related transient abdominal pain , and have several theories as to its cause.

What Causes Side Stitches

The first theory suggests that the pain begins as the flow of blood to the respiratory organs is compromised as it is diverted to the working muscles or to aid in digestion. So what your mother always told you was sound advice. Don’t go swimming or playing right after dinner. I’m sure my mother had no clue about ETAP, rather she just knew what was right and wrong. Don’t all mothers have that uncanny instinct? Anyway, in this scenario it should be obvious that the quality, quantity and timing  of your pre-exercise meal should be considered

Possible Solutions: Wait 2-3 hours after a meal or consuming a large amount of fluid before engaging in vigorous physical activity. Just like Mom said. To reduce the amount of fluid in the stomach, drink small amounts frequently during the course of activity and avoid one large drink.

The second theory suggests that the stitch occurs from the stomach area  pulling on ligaments connecting to the diaphragm. It can occur when the stomach is sufficiently full of fluid adding to the pressure in the abdomen. It also appears that fluids containing dirrent forms of carbohydrate  can also have an impact on the incidence of the stitch. This is likely due to varying digestibility and absorption rates of different types of sugars used in the drinks. It has been found that sucrose and frutose are the biggest culprits, while plain old H2O and manufactured sweeteners such as maltodextrin result in the least incidence of side stitch.

Possible Solutions: It should be obvious that sports drinks containing glucose-polymers are a better choice than soft drinks and even sports drinks like Powerade that use a glucose-frutose blend, at least for preventing side stitches. Incidentally I eventually uncovered why I was getting stitches at the half way mark on the Grind; because that’s when I took a break and guzzled back half a bottle of Powerade. Within 10 minutes it hit me every time. Now I don’t drink anything. I just periodically bum some water from my girlfriend when the need arises. Aren’t I a nice guy?

Lastly, the third theory suggests that ETAP is related to inflammation of the parietal peritoneum when it becomes irritated. The peritoneum is the thin portion of connective tissue lining our abdominal region and encases most of the digestive organs and glands. It’s main job is  to protect and lubricate the entrails. Said irritation can elicit a sharp localized  pain.

I should also note that there are 2 types of side stitching that you can experience. The common “minor annoyance” kind that is related to food and beverage consumption. The other type is more severe and can be described as “extremely painful and debilitating”. This form is brought on by dehydration from insufficient fluid intake and or missed meals. Make sure you drink enough water to stay hydrated throughout the day.

In addition to adequate fluid consumption, you need to pay attention to pH levels, antioxidant intake and electrolyte balance . You must understand the quality and quantity of the fluids you require. At the very minimum, I recommend you get at least of 2-4 liters (depending on body weight and activity levels) of filtered water daily. Sadly, most people don’t even come close.

I hope this helps people understand this phenomenon a little better now. You don’t get them because you are out of shape but rather you failed to plan your food and liquid consumption properly.  And you know what they say ” If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Until next time, Stay fit and have fun!

I’m going to start a series aptly called “Reality Check” to help distill the information people receive in regards to planning a fitness program. In today’s fitness world there are many terms and concepts being erroneously perpetuated and I’ll look at couple of these now. Specifically I’ll be addressing some common confusion around women and weight training.

Reality Check #1 : Toning Your Muscles

As part of my my personal training service, I have all new clients fill out a detailed report that includes relevant information, not the least of which is goal setting. In that section I have clients put 8 common training goals in order of importance. These include weight loss, cardiovascular fitness and endurance to name a few. Most people, especially women, will almost always have strength and muscle building in positions #7 and 8. Now this isn’t because they don’t want to be strong with a lean muscular physique, rather that strength training or muscle building conjures up negative images for them. These same people will tell me their #1 goal is to be “toned” but they were concered that it wasn’t on the list. It must have been a mistake right? Actually no. When I’m confronted with this (almost every time I do a consultation) I promptly push strength training to the top of their list. Let me explain.

The term “muscle tone” or tonus describes an electrophysiological phenomenon, a measure of ionic flow across muscle cell membranes. It can be thought of as the muscle’s readiness to do anaerobic work. The more fit the muscle, the more electrophysiological activity it exhibits at rest. Lack of exercise leads to poor tone, aerobic exercise improves tone a little bit, low-intensity weight training improves tone more, and high-intensity training improves tone the fastest. This why a strength athlete’s musculature appears to be flexed even when  at rest.

Most exercise programs that claim to improve muscle tone are actually lower-intensity muscle building programs. You know the ones with very high reps counts. usually in a circuit setting. These are only moderately effective for improving muscle tone. If “tone” is the goal, strength is the method. Period.

Reality Check #2 : Women and Big Muscles

Everyone knows men want muscular development, for obvious reasons of masculine dominance and peer respect (and intimidation). But women who are afraid of developing ‘masculine’ muscles soon change their tune. Initial concerns of getting “too bulky” are quickly abandoned as they become aware of just how difficult it is too gain a significant amount of muscle. Strict nutritional, training and recovery protocol must be implamented 24/7 to accomplish this. In addition, you must possess the genetics and motivation to build large muscles. Most women have neither. Simply lifting weights is not enough to create more than a few pounds of muscle gain in most cases. However, this is the ideal scenario if you want to make subtle but noticable changes to your physique.

With rare exception, when a woman begins to see the shape of her triceps, roundness in her shoulders, sweep of the thighs, and particularly a hint of abs poking through the fat, she is hooked. Perhaps wearing smaller clothing sizes and being more ‘compact’ or ‘tight’ in dimensions is good encouragement to tolerate any added muscle. Such tolerance likely is the case since in today’s world an acceptable look for women ranges from the hourglass or ‘petite-and-slim’ look to the athletic.

Reality Check #3 : Developing flexibility

There is some concern from women that weight training will decrease their hard earned flexibility. This is simply not the case unless they train that way. A lot of younger women that I run into display an impressive degree of range of motion through most of their joints. This is usually because they regularly participate in activities that encourage extensive passive flexibility (ie. stretching on the floor) like most yoga. Of course there is nothing wrong with this (in most cases) but there needs to be an implement in place to develop ones active flexibility or ability to stretch under load .

In the same way a lot of weight lifters (if they develop too much mass)  eventually become stiff if they don’t stretch, you will likely soon develop hypermobile joints if you don’t get stronger. Your flexibility might seem impressive but is actually unsafe and unnatural. You cannot allow your joints to move through terminal ranges without a certain amount of strength supportting them or you risk injury. It’s always about balance. With intelligent weight training you can balance  out your active and passive flexibility (the active flexibility deficit).

An example might be someone performing a basic hamstring stretch on a mat to a desirable range but are unable to duplicate that range while under load in a Straight Leg  Deadlift. This is not good and may eventually result in injury. This deficit also correlates positively to your performance in a chosen sport. If your joints are unstable, your power and strength will suffer. The bottom line ladies: I know you love your yoga but make sure you compliment your flexibility with a sound strength training regimen.

I hope this helps some of you make more informed decisions about setting up a workout schedule. I’ll be back soon with more reality checks, this time for men.