Gym hacks I swear by
In my gym bag: resistance band, wire jump rope, grips
In today's Workout Wednesday, I wanted to share five gym hacks I swear by. You know, easy things I do to make sure I get the most out of my time and energy when it comes to my workouts. I'd love to hear yours down in the comments below!
Count your rounds with chalk
1. Use chalk to count rounds
You know when you're in the middle of a WOD and you're working so hard and sweating so much that you can barely think straight? You're supposed to do six rounds but you're not sure if you're on round two or round four! The easiest solution I've come up with is to use my chalk. At the end of each round, I'll dip my thumb in the chalk and make a mark on the ground. When my rounds are up, I know I'm done. Easy.
2. Make your playlist match your length of your workout
If you're a music person, this is a good way to stay motivated throughout your gym sesh. If I know I've got a 20 minute hiit workout planned, I'll make a 20 minute playlist with all the tunes that get me amped up. I find that by doing this, I stay upbeat and actually enjoy the workouts more when there's a good playlist.
Repurpose old containers - Gym Hacks
3. Repurpose old containers as catch-alls for things you need
I have an old emergency first aid kit box that at one point was filled with bandaids and little rubber alcohol pads. Instead of throwing it out, I've been using it to hold all the essentials: bobby pins (#shorthairprobs), lock for the lockers, floss-ups, go-betweens, hair ties, and tampons.
4. If you're struggling, load the bar with smaller plates
At my gym, the bumper plates are different colors. The tens are black and the twenty-fives are green. When I first started going up in weight, I mentally started freaking out. I could clean two tends and a five when they were all black, but the second I put on the green plate with its brightly contrasting TWENTY FIVE imprinted in bright white ink, I couldn't clean it to save my life. Weight lifting is a mental battle, that's for sure.
So, I put the bright green plate to the side, and used smaller plates that added up to the same amount of weight. That seemed to do the trick for me. I cleaned it and I cleaned it some more, and eventually, once I was confident with the weight, I switched to the green plates and had no problems. If you're going up in weight and struggling with it, see if it's perhaps a mental struggle and use smaller plates for a bit until you feel more secure.
5. Always end on a high note
I never want to leave the gym feeling down, so if I'm struggling with a particular lift, I will do what it takes to get one final lift that I feel really good about. If that means going down big time in weight, I'll do it and not worry about it, because it's important to me to leave feeling confident. Same thing with my stretching and yoga practice. If I'm ending the workout with a handstand practice, I'll end it after I've done the best handstand because I always want to leave feeling upbeat.
Gym hacks I swear by
Wearing: Sweaty Betty capris, APL sneakers, Sadhana bra
I'd love to know - what gym hacks do you swear by?!
Shop my gym picks below - disclaimer: these are affiliate links, which means that YBC earns a small commission when you check them out. These links do not change the cost to you. Thanks for supporting YBC!