As you get started doing your exercise program itself, there are some habits you’ll want to build that will help ensure those workouts deliver the best possible results.

 

Work-out Habits to Follow –

Always Prioritize Form –

The first habit you must build is always making sure that you are prioritizing proper form.

Never let your ego stand in the way. Sure, it may feel great to add 10 more pounds on the bar, but if you are not using proper form, that exercise is doing you no good. Form is a must. If you don’t know what good form is on any given exercise, book a session with a trainer to teach you. An exercise is only going to be effective if it
hits the muscles in the way it was designed to.

Build Good Breathing Habits –

Another must that you want to do is build the habit of breathing right while doing any strength training exercises.

Far too many people make the mistake of holding their breath as they do their set, which only leaves them feeling light headed and ready to pass out, not to mention takes away from the amount of strength they are able togenerate.

Breathing correctly during exercise can significantly enhance your workout’s effectiveness.

Focus on exhaling during the contraction phase of an exercise, where the muscle shortens (concentric movement). Conversely, inhale during the eccentric phase, as you return to the starting position. Establishing this pattern of proper breathing early on in your training program is crucial.

Without this habit, you might inadvertently hold your breath, a mistake that can be challenging to correct later.

Additionally, it’s vital to cultivate a strong mind-muscle connection. This concept involves actively focusing on the muscle you are targeting during exercise—feeling it contract, squeeze, and relax.

Being mentally present prevents your mind from wandering to unrelated thoughts, like weekend plans or your grocery list, which can detract from the intensity of your workout.

If you’re struggling to maintain this connection, consider reducing the weight you’re lifting. Often, overly heavy weights can disconnect you from feeling the muscle work effectively. If this adjustment doesn’t help, try physically touching the muscle being exercised with your free hand.

This tactile feedback can reinforce the connection, making it easier to maintain focus. Once you establish this habit, maintaining that connection in future workouts becomes more intuitive.

Take The Time To Warm-Up –

Skipping your warm-up might seem like a fine plan when you’re pressed for time, but take note that it is not.

Your warm-up is essential to help prepare you for the workout ahead, making sure your blood is flowing and that you are not putting yourself at risk of an injury. When your body is cold and you attempt to lift a heavy weight, this is a fast way to strain a tendon or ligament, so this can get you into some serious trouble.

Spend the five minutes or so it takes to warm-up. You will perform far better during your workout because of it. In most cases, you’d actually be better off to cut your workout short by five minutes but make sure that you can exercise with that proper level of intensity than to forgo the warm-up and exercise in a less effective manner.

Watch The Clock –

Another habit you’ll want to get into is making sure that you keep tabs on the clock as you move through your session.

Don’t get into the habit of letting rest periods drag on longer than they should.

If you have 30 seconds scheduled for rest between sets, make sure that you are using 30 seconds. If you let it go longer, it will impact the entire intensity of your session, making the whole workout that much less effective.

Too many people let themselves get distracted between sets either talking to someone else, wasting time at the water fountain, or simply letting their mind drift onto other things.

If it helps, consider getting a beeping timer to go off so that you know when it’s time to start that next set again.

As For Help When You Need It –

Don’t be shy about asking for help when you need it.

Whether this means asking for someone to help spot you when you are between sets and need help to ensure you can get the next weight level up or asking for help from a trainer when you need to learn how to do an exercise properly – or builda new workout program.

Get into the habit of seeking help as you need it and you will find that you make far faster and more efficient progress with your workout sessions.

Track Your Workout Sessions –

Another good habit you’ll want to form is making sure to track your workout sessions regularly.

Keep tabs on how you are progressing along so that you can constantly be monitoring progress and making sure the workout you are currently doing is better than the last. You can either write down what you are doing in a workout journal, or if you prefer, simply track it on one of the many phone applications now available.

Tracking your sessions will not only serve to help ensure that you are progressing forward, but it can also be an excellent motivational tool to use when you aren’t feeling so motivated.

Looking back at how far you’ve come can do just the trick to get you excited again about your future workout sessions.

Switch Things Up –

Finally, the last thing that you want to remember to do is switch things up. Get into the habit of trying to add new exercises into your workout program regularly.

Remember that the body responds best to variety, so the more variety you have in place, the faster, generally speaking, your progress will be.

Aim to change one thing about your workout program each and every week. This could be a new exercise, a new rep range, a new number of sets, a different order in which you perform your exercises, or something else.

This will not just keep your body stimulated, but your mind stimulated as well.

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And remember…when it comes to your health and fitness, “something” always trumps “nothing.”