Motivation vs Discipline

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This Weeks Healthy Discussion

1. Motivation vs Discipline

2. Your Ideal Rep Range

3. Strengthening the Lower Back

Motivation vs Discipline

When starting out in the gym, usually it comes from a great burst of “I need to change my lifestyle” or “I need to get healthier”.

At least that’s what happened with me.

Growing up, I was the small kid in high school who was short and skinny. It was only until I realized I could fix one of those issues, that gave me a huge burst of motivation to go to the gym.

I was so excited to find a solution that I felt like I’d never lose this feeling of motivation.

What I came to realize is that my motivation wouldn’t always be with me. I’d wake up one day and absolutely dread going to the gym. There would be weeks where I didn’t enjoy one single workout. However, I still forced myself to go.

This is when you need to have strong discipline. You are going to have days where your motivation won’t be as strong as it usually is. Reaching deep into your core values is what will drive you to do what is right, even if you don’t want to do it.

Motivation is the starting point of anyone who works out. This is what will get you into the door and start moving your body.

Discipline is what will keep you going.

Ideal Rep Range

Rep ranges get confused by many people, so let’s simplify it for you today.

Rep ranges are the amount of repetitions you complete in a set of an exercise.

When training, everyone likes to know what the best number of repetitions to grow is…

There isn’t one

We have a range of 5-30 reps where we see that as long as you train to failure, if you fall within that range, you are building muscle. So this is where you can pick your favourite number and enjoy counting to it.

For myself, I prefer a 6-10 rep range for most of the time. Sometimes I will do my first set at 6-10 reps and my second set at 10-15.

There is one thing we do need to keep in mind. We get fatigued.

If you decide to choose a higher rep range, you may notice that it is much more fatiguing than doing 5 reps. So this is why a lot of influencers will say 8-12 is amazing because it is a happy medium between the two.

However, don’t let that convince that 8-12 is the best for muscle growth. Someone doing 30 reps to failure will grow just as much as you will, only with a little added rest times between sets.

Strengthening Your Lower Back

Having a strong low back is like having the highest level of armour in a video game.

Here are two of my GO-TO lower back exercises as of right now.

1. Hyperextension’s

2. SLDL (Stiff Leg Deadlifts)

Programming these was the best decision I could have ever made. They have become two of my favourite exercises to do, as well as strengthening my lower back, hamstrings, and glutes.

Give these a try on your next leg day!