Having a weak session?
Down about your performance?
this is something that comes up somewhat regularly with many women
I like to go through a little bit of a check list to see if there is anything that could be an immediate and simple explanation for why things aren’t feeling great.
PHYSICAL:
Youre in the menstrual flop stage of the month – about to start your period
Did you go harder in any of your prior sessions that week?
You’re doing way too much exercise but under training because of this… Recovery matters
You’re focusing more on burning calories or being the smallest version of yourself versus chasing performance
LIFESTYLE:
Did you get enough sleep? Was it quality? Were you over stimulated the day prior?
Were you more active than usual the prior day or on your feet all day?
Is there anything going on in your life that is causing you a lot of stress
Is your mind elsewhere? Are you overthinking or hyperfixating on other things?
NUTRITION:
Your breakfast was just coffee… or better yet, nothing (except maybe a pre workout) aka you didn’t fuel enough
You don’t eat enough carbs EACH day (&consistently)
Are you eating enough in general?
You lack quality nutrition (if you’re low on any vitamins & minerals…)
OTHER:
…. Life, its normal…
You aren’t weak, doing anything wrong, broken or failing.
Not every workout is a home run
YOU WONT PR YOUR LOG BOOK EVERY WEEK!
80% is just showing up and doing the work
FEELING UNMOTIVATED is normal… even for fitness professionals and coaches
Stop relying on it
Having bad body image days is also normal, don’t let it impact how you show up to the gym.
YOU WILL FEEL WEAKER some days, sometimes NOT EVEN MEET your log book.
Strength fluctuates. Maybe you slept like crap or maybe you’re in your emotions. Some days your warm up weights will feel HEFTY, other days youll smash em
This is SO DANG NORMAL – you just don’t want it to keep happening over the long run and make sure you address the above checklist.
Too many women are doing TOO much work that’s low quality, and not doing the work that creates the results you want. End result = more fatigue, more frustration
Need someone who can work with you and work on your approach to training
WHAT TO DO:
Well, you have a couple of options:
1. Sack it off, walk it off for 30+ mins in the treadmill instead and reflect on the session and your week… any lessons to take away? Is it your mindset? Are you being a d*ck to yourself? Go home, eat some food, recover for the next day.
2. Drop the weight, ditch the pursuit of perfection or log book beating & really tune into how it feels. Just give your best for each set and marinate more tempol
3. Take extra time to warm up, more warm up sets, move around with some dynamic body flow in between sets, etc… and just get the session done while you moan about but CELEBRATE your efforts after so you end it feeling proud you got through
4. Throw a fit, cry to your coach, and tell yourself you’re going to quit, youre weak, you never improve blah blah all the BS you KNOW isnt true
WHAT NOT TO DO:
No.4 from above.
Don’t make up for missed volume or work by tossing in drop sets, extra sets, extra work…
Don’t do finishers and burn outs or some random circuit bc you don’t feel you worked hard enough, did enough… even if you “fuelled yourself” before your session and you “don’t want to waste it” I would assess your relationship with food, calories and this process… (+ your body)
Its so easy to feel frustrated… like youre reversing, losing progress (& for some of you, fearing “gaining fat” – irrational beliefs can rear their head if you haven’t yet worked through them)
REMEMBER:
Not every workout is a home run
YOU WONT PR YOUR LOG BOOK EVERY WEEK!
80% is just showing up and doing the work
10% will be stellar
10% will be pretty💩
Welcome to real life 😊
Bad training days & mediocre sessions happen
Maybe you don’t feel great physically today
Maybe your cramps are trying to rip your insides out.
Maybe you’re feeling all the emotions today, kids are acting up, work was hard
Maybe you just feel off, not focused…
Sore, tired, overwhelmed, frustrated or just low energy.
whatever.
Stop stressing or getting down about not hitting top reps schemes or not being able to add reps or weight – this is an overtime thing not an overnight thing
When you start training to proper intensity you most likely will not progress every week. it can fluctuate
the goal is to SEEK progress simply by giving your 100% FOR THAT DAY
now when they do happen – first accept they WILL & the stress you usually get over it will disappear.
Look at the MACRO not the micro.
Its not so much about dealing with our bad training days as it is dealing with our mindset and how we allow being HUMAN to hit us so hard.
Give yourself permission to have bad training days. You WILL have them. ESPECIALLY if you experience the symptoms of PMS week or your period hits hard.
your self talk here is VITAL
improvement isnt about your output but about your INPUTS. Your best effort. Which looks different each day. Don’t be blinded by a lower than expected end result with no credit given to the effort applied, or the training effect of that effort. Its effort not results that determine long term improvement. Remember that.
Leave the training session at the gym and go do what actually matters in all of this.
LIVE YOUR LIFE! Don’t forget WHY youre doing this. To live a higher quality life and improve over time. To build a better more resilient you!
When you zoom TF out and realise this… the game changes
You enjoy it more
you make MORE progress
AND IT STICKS!!!
give yourself permission to move even when it doesn’t feel awesome
TRANSFORM x RUBY 