What is “intuitive awareness” and how is it applied to working out? Intuitive awareness is being conscious of how you physically and mentally feel as you begin and go through your workout session. Being aware of how your body and mind feel during a workout can allow you to strategically use alternative solutions to keep your workouts effective, if necessary.
Some days we feel great with plenty of strength and energy for our workouts, while other days we would rather skip it altogether. But, instead of skipping your workout, how about you adjust the workout so you can still get the best out of it? Sounds good, but how do we do this? Let’s look at a few examples.
You come to the gym and begin your workout yet the weights seem so heavy today. On other days the same weight feels light, but today it feels much heavier. Alternative solution: lighten the weight and choose to slow down your repetition speed and really focus on your technique and control. You’ll now get a good workout and improve your technique.
You’re on the barbell bench press and it’s not just feeling right after your very first set. Your left shoulder has an uncomfortable feeling in it as well. Alternative solution: switch to another chest exercise like the pec fly. This will take the downward force of resistance off your shoulder joint and isolate the chest muscles a bit more than the bench press.
Not feeling this?
Then, try this.
You come in to do some cardio work and that first kilometre run on the treadmill feels like you just ran 2km. Alternative solution: jump on over to the elliptical or other cardio piece and see if it feels any easier. You’re switching cardio exercises not to make the workout easier, but rather to keep your body moving instead of dragging along and dreading the run on the treadmill.
You see, intuitive awareness allows you to continue to get positive results from a workout that just isn’t feeling right on any given day. By cross-training and using another piece of equipment and adjusting the exercise weight and/or repetitions, you keep your body working effectively without diminishing your results. Intuitive awareness during your workouts can also help your mindset and keep it positive, instead of getting all negative because you couldn’t lift the same weight as previously or run a certain distance.
Give intuitive awareness a try in your workouts. If you need any ideas for alternative solutions with exercises or how to change up the workout, see our expert staff trainers who are more than happy to help you.
