After moving from one ab movement to the next today I thought to myself “Damn, those three sets kicked my ass…” But realistically it was six because I was doing a something for each side but recruiting essentially the same exact muscles - it just depended which side I rotated to at the end.
So I thought I’d hop on here and see if anyone has any brilliant ways in which they do a lot but make it seem like a little.
Idk if this counts but when I do my morning cardio, which is always a pain in my ass, but I do it because I need to, I don’t look at the clock in the sense of how much time I am on the bike, I look at it in fractions. For example, I go for 5 minutes and I am doing a total of 30 minutes of cardio, instead of saying “fuck 25 more minutes,” I am saying ok, that’s 1/6 down, that was not so bad, I have to do that 5 more times. 15 minutes rolls around and I am like ok, I made it this far, let me do it one more time…
As far as training, I love training so I never have the issue of not doing more. Things like rest paused sets, thrown into the mix do allow me to cram more into the amount of time under the bar at once, but that’s just an intensity technique, and nothing special in the sense of tricking myself into doing more, ultimately I want to do more…
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
Idk if this counts but when I do my morning cardio, which is always a pain in my ass, but I do it because I need to, I don’t look at the clock in the sense of how much time I am on the bike, I look at it in fractions. For example, I go for 5 minutes and I am doing a total of 30 minutes of cardio, instead of saying “fuck 25 more minutes,” I am saying ok, that’s 1/6 down, that was not so bad, I have to do that 5 more times. 15 minutes rolls around and I am like ok, I made it this far, let me do it one more time…
[/quote]
I do that every cardio session, unless I’m outside without a watch then I’m fucked lol
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
Idk if this counts but when I do my morning cardio, which is always a pain in my ass, but I do it because I need to, I don’t look at the clock in the sense of how much time I am on the bike, I look at it in fractions. For example, I go for 5 minutes and I am doing a total of 30 minutes of cardio, instead of saying “fuck 25 more minutes,” I am saying ok, that’s 1/6 down, that was not so bad, I have to do that 5 more times. 15 minutes rolls around and I am like ok, I made it this far, let me do it one more time…[/quote]
I do something similar. Sometimes I fraction up my time into say 9 parts and then I picture a cube and fill it in. Or I assign each of a bunch my ceiling tiles a time slice and do them. This is when I’m bored on the treadmill.
I used to do all my sets in powers of two and picture bits being flipped as I did them. (Now I just do them.)
[quote]debraD wrote:
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
Idk if this counts but when I do my morning cardio, which is always a pain in my ass, but I do it because I need to, I don’t look at the clock in the sense of how much time I am on the bike, I look at it in fractions. For example, I go for 5 minutes and I am doing a total of 30 minutes of cardio, instead of saying “fuck 25 more minutes,” I am saying ok, that’s 1/6 down, that was not so bad, I have to do that 5 more times. 15 minutes rolls around and I am like ok, I made it this far, let me do it one more time…[/quote]
I do something similar. Sometimes I fraction up my time into say 9 parts and then I picture a cube and fill it in. Or I assign each of a bunch my ceiling tiles a time slice and do them. This is when I’m bored on the treadmill.
I used to do all my sets in powers of two and picture bits being flipped as I did them. (Now I just do them.)
[/quote]
I like that cube/ceiling idea, I am about to start doing that.
To be honest though, since I have an indoor bike at home, I just park in front of the TV, slap on some action packed movie and the time flies…
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
As far as training, I love training so I never have the issue of not doing more. Things like rest paused sets, thrown into the mix do allow me to cram more into the amount of time under the bar at once, but that’s just an intensity technique, and nothing special in the sense of tricking myself into doing more, ultimately I want to do more…[/quote]
True story, I guess I did make myself out to be a bit of a bitch the way I worded it haha… Oh well
I’m relieved to hear that I’m not the only person that tries to break down workouts in weird ways. I’ve always tried to “trick” myself especially when I ran cross country. 8 or 10 miles on a treadmill can not be done without warping your mind somehow. A lot of times my thought process with shorter cardio training was “just one more minute until I have one more minute until I get to the last minute” See what I did there, eh? 3 minutes and I tricked my brain into thinking it was only 1 minute. FUCK i’m clever.
I do that kind of thing with widowmaker sets, because I know I can get those first 10 reps, then I pause and try and forget I’ve done 10 reps, and I say to myself I need to get 5 now. Then I go for 2 more, then 1, then I’ve already done 18 and I know I’m so close to finishing I can get those last two no matter what.
I always run outside and there are trees every so often, so I always repeat to myself “Just focus on getting to the next tree.” After I pass tree A, then I focus on getting to tree B.
I do morning cardio outside in the sun while bouncing a tennis ball for walks jumps and sprints… the album I listen to pretty much let’s me know the time… also good to be outside and get some sun. I also think of like 5 or 6 sets or 3 for the high 15-20 lactic acid workouts where the reps are slower.
I did this by accident once; loaded up a 20kg plate each side to warm up for DL, then for another warm up I thought I put another 25kg plate each side, then proceeded to ramp as per my plan. I hit 150kg for a single which was a PR at the time and I felt awesome about it. On de-racking the bar I realised I had put on 25kg plates the second time round. I had added another 10kg to my PR without realising it, and had actually pulled 160kg!
Power of the mind. If I could figure out a way of doing something like that every time that would be suh-weet.
More in keeping with the thread, a lot of the time I “forget” to count the first rep of a set and then try and do the planned number of reps anyway.
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
I like that cube/ceiling idea, I am about to start doing that.
To be honest though, since I have an indoor bike at home, I just park in front of the TV, slap on some action packed movie and the time flies…[/quote]
aww lucky bastard ! i have an indoor bike but i always get so fucking bored during commercials !
so i found the only way to do it is to turn on my playstation and play while biking… but thats the bomb tho… 45 minutes equal 2-3 games of Fifa 10 !
I used to break things up like alot of previous posters but still got bored. It wasn’t so much the length of time as much as how boring most cardio is. Mindless runs on the treadmill or stationary bike. No matter what I would dread it. I think that was the wosrt part of getting in the work although it did help push my time a little farther. So I tried different things until I found something I enjoy doing.
I love to lift so I began doing farmers walks in the parking lot for time. I started with once a week and in a very short time I am doing it three times a week. I look forward to it. Plus it is the best cardio I have ever done. In a short period of time I my heart rate is through the roof. I have made it a contest with myself, always trying to beat my previous runs.
I think the key is to find something you enjoy.
[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
Idk if this counts but when I do my morning cardio, which is always a pain in my ass, but I do it because I need to, I don’t look at the clock in the sense of how much time I am on the bike, I look at it in fractions. For example, I go for 5 minutes and I am doing a total of 30 minutes of cardio, instead of saying “fuck 25 more minutes,” I am saying ok, that’s 1/6 down, that was not so bad, I have to do that 5 more times. 15 minutes rolls around and I am like ok, I made it this far, let me do it one more time…
[/quote]
I love doing this too. Also, splitting up cardio and lifting to different parts of the day is nice.
I put my cardio bike in my living room so I could watch TV while doing cardio, I knew it would be maddenly boring if I didn’t.
I still break my cardio up into fractions like evryone else has previouly stated.
The only time I can think of that I ‘tricked’ myself was when I was progressing with high rep (10-12) front squats.
I meant to bump the weight by 10lbs, and not paying attention I jumped 20. I remember getting to the 6th rep and thinking, “Man, this feels really heavy. It has to be all mental though, it’s only an extra 10 damn pounds!”
Once I ground through the set I examined the bar a little closer and realized my (kinda cool) mistake.
I always do hills for my cardio now.
It hurts, but it gives you a very clearly defined goal and obstacle, 6 more times up the hill, and you go up as hard as you can so the hill doesn’t “win”.
[quote]Westclock wrote:
I always do hills for my cardio now.
It hurts, but it gives you a very clearly defined goal and obstacle, 6 more times up the hill, and you go up as hard as you can so the hill doesn’t “win”.[/quote]
This is also my latest strategy for cardio; knee and weather permitting.
[quote]Westclock wrote:
I always do hills for my cardio now.
It hurts, but it gives you a very clearly defined goal and obstacle, 6 more times up the hill, and you go up as hard as you can so the hill doesn’t “win”.[/quote]
Definately - I always like having something or someone to beat. This works well with stairs and a weight vest too.
Get up on the step mill with a good novel, set your arms up on the top of the tower to cradle the book and put the step speed to a descent level. Takes a while to get used to the rhythem, but once you’re going you’re alright.
45-60 minutes later, sweat has pooled around the step mill and you’re totally smoked. I find reading really helps get the mind distracted from being on the stepmill or the arctrainer, as long as you can push yourself a little bit.
Then if you’re just ready to kick some ass, kick up some Tabata intervals for 30 seconds of fast pace stepping, down to an easy level for 10 seconds, then back up. Pretty much toast after about 10 minutes of that, and you’re praying for those 10 seconds to go by slowly.
You don’t really have time to think about how boring cardio is when the intensity is high like that, and if you can go over a 15 minutes you’re not doing a high enough interval.
v/r
Gremlin