Bad workouts happen to good athletes all the time, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But too many subpar workouts can leave you feeling unmotivated and cause your gains to come to a halt. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but it’s not impossible to turn a bad workout into a great one.
If you find you’re constantly struggling to get through your prescribed sets and reps in the gym or not making progress with each session, there are steps you can take to get your plan back on track and stay motivated. But if your workouts start off great then go bad before you know it, we’ve got a few hacks that can help turn them around in a flash.
Here, we take a look at ways to overcome even the suckiest of workouts.
1 of 4
Teresa Recena / EyeEm
Go High
If you get to the end of a lackluster workout and feel as if you need to do something more to tax your muscles, simply take your last exercise to failure. However, instead of doing 40 reps with the same weight (in which case, at least the first 30 reps will be low intensity), we recommend descending sets, wherein you do several sets in a row of approximately eight to 12 reps with a progressively lighter weight. So you might do 10 reps of side laterals with 40-pound dumbbells, followed immediately by 10 reps with 30s, 10 reps with 25s, and 10 nal reps with 20s, pushing each set to failure.
2 of 4
Westend61 / Getty
Begin Again
Often, a workout that starts strong ends weak. If you’re at or near your strength peak for your first exercise, but your intensity and focus fizzle for subsequent lifts, return to your initial exercise at the end of your workout. If, for example, you did heavy bench presses, followed by incline presses, dumbbell flyes, and pec deck yes, conclude your workout with a final set of 12 to 15 reps of bench presses. You’ll get a good pump and reaccustom your muscles to the range of motion and strength of your initial lift.
3 of 4
Per Bernal
Do Rapid Reps
Pick an isolation exercise like leg extensions or triceps pushdowns and pump out reps at about twice your normal speed with good form. Aim for approximately 15 full reps. When you can’t do another, perform partial reps until you reach complete failure. Speed reps are often utilized by bodybuilding competitors pumping up backstage. That kind of rep is the quickest way to bring blood to your targeted muscles.
4 of 4
Steve Boyle
Focus Up
As an addendum to your chest workout, do a superset of incline yes followed by incline presses, both of which target the upper chest. For medial deltoids, you could superset side laterals with wide-grip upright rows. Pick a specific area and prioritize it with a final rapid dose of high-rep, high-intensity work.
