9 Surprising Factors That Impact the Quality of Your Workout

A quality workout is a thing of beauty, but you don’t always reach the flow state. Surprising elements can influence the quality of your workout.

When you have a busy schedule, you hate wasting time, especially on a gym session that disappoints you. Watch out for these factors that can deflate your motivation and hold you back from achieving a gym flow.

1. Poor Preparation

Warmups are vital to workout success. They take time, so ensure you arrive early enough to commit to some good prep. The longer you intend to work out, the longer your warmup routine should be.

An effective pre-workout warmup covers every muscle group. Miss one, and you’re sure to find a squat that suddenly feels wrong or a burpee that makes your toes hurt.

Fix it: Set a timer for your warmup routine and stick to it. When you’re ready, the gym is there for you.

2. Reaching Your Goal and Plateauing

Your body plateaus when your workout levels off, meaning you’ve trained enough that it’s now too easy for you. The athlete’s equivalent of limbo can frustrate you and destroy motivation.

Fix it: Find a new challenge. Plateauing can start occurring four to six months after starting your current regimen, so you’re probably ready to switch things up, anyway.

3. Loneliness

People who feel lonely may not enjoy exercising in a gym. If you need some more daily excitement in your fitness routine, you may need the motivation and challenge of an exercise partner. With the uptick in solo users for home gym apps rising to 86.3 million Americans, technology has even begun creating communities to facilitate online partnerships.

Fix it: Get a gym partner. If you can’t find anyone who’s interested, try exercising with rock and rap songs to raise your heart rate to match. You may find yourself enjoying longer exercise sets and reps.

4. Injury and the Fear of Injury

The fear of injury can hold you back as much as a real injury. When you’ve worked so hard to reach your goals, you fear a sudden setback like a torn muscle will derail progress.

Stress ruins the fun of working out and enjoying your body’s abilities. When you’re worry-free, you’re more likely to enjoy physical activity.

Fix it: Prepare with a warmup to avoid injuries. Additionally, learn the proper form for the machines and equipment you use.

5. Hormone Horrors

The monthly madness can put a stop to any workout routine. Hormone imbalances, cramps and menopause symptoms hold back many women from exercising.

Fix it: Hydrate and get enough electrolytes to offset hormonal imbalances.

6. The Heat and Sweat

Nobody likes being sticky and hot while exercising. Sweaty hands, soaked exercise clothes and heat exhaustion make enjoying your exercise routine challenging.

Fix it: Ensure wherever you’re working out is well-ventilated, exercise during the cooler parts of the day or work out in a park. If the local temperature soars, try some aquarobics to ensure you get a workout without a sweat-out.

7. Boredom

When your workout routine becomes “bleh,” it’s time to shake things up and try different techniques. Novelty wears off — unless you disrupt it, it becomes so familiar that your body is bored.

Fix it: Change the routine. Work out at a new time or with a new program.

8. Sleep Quality and Rest Days

When life gets busy, you might sacrifice your sleep, which can severely impact your workout performance and enjoyment. During your sleep hours, your body recovers and rebuilds muscle tears, which is how you bulk up on muscle mass. Keeping rest days is essential to ensure you don’t overwork yourself or damage your muscle tissue beyond the body’s ability to recover.

The resulting pain from sore muscles can strip away your motivation and leave you feeling tired, even causing you to make mistakes.

Fix it: Ensure you get in a full seven to nine hours of sleep and keep to at least one rest day per week.

9. Hydration Levels

A dehydrated body is a body that doesn’t meet its potential. If you don’t hydrate sufficiently, which includes a good balance of electrolytes, you may find your stamina declining. Even a small drop in hydration can result in an increased risk of cramps and fatigue or hyponatremia, which is severe dehydration, and this can even result in death.

Fix it: Sip water and ensure you get enough electrolytes to replace lost tissue salts. Avoid drinking too much water at a time to ensure you don’t super-hydrate the tissue cells, causing them to burst. Just sip water — frequently.

Basics of a Good Workout

Knowing what helps you enjoy a fabulous workout session is the best place to start. These basics should always accompany any exercise set:

Create an effective warmup routine that gently prepares your body and mind for exercise.
Pick the correct training weights to complement your fitness level and mental inspiration.
Learn the correct way to hold yourself — poor form increases the risk of injury in any exercise.
Ensure you feel healthy and energetic enough to exercise. Sometimes, your body is telling you, “Not today.”
Create a workout routine that inspires you, offers challenging entertainment and brings out your best.

A Bit of Workout Wisdom

You can successfully maintain your body and workout routine with warmups, novel exercises, a healthy diet, and a sufficient intake of electrolytes. Find a partner to motivate you and have fun while you sweat it. With careful planning and clear thinking, you’ll find that flow state with the next sit-up.