Reps is short for repetitions and are the action of one complete strength or aerobic training exercise, such as one push-up.
A set is how many reps you do in a row, e.g. ten push-up repetitions might make up a set. Using reps and sets as a workout guide helps monitor progress made to achieving your fitness goals.
A large proportion of people are members of a gym. They will either get up early to burn calories and build muscles before they arrive at the office or perhaps fit in a lunchtime cardio session. While the rest prefer an evening workout before heading home to their family or friends.
Whatever time it is scheduled, it will be precious and carefully inserted into no doubt what is a hectic work schedule.
So I find it bizarre the way in which many people perform their workout routines in the gym.
Have you noticed how many people will add an unnecessary 11th rep to their set?
After completing their set of ten dumbbell curls, chest presses or squats, they will unlock their phones and check the activity on their social platforms or start messaging back and forth.
Tick tock, 3, 4, maybe even 5 minutes later, they start on their next set.
If you pay for a personal trainer, there is no chance they would give you time to check your phone to see what everyone is getting on with in their lives. Or if you did, more fool you as the 45min workout you paid for becomes 30 minutes and 15 minutes of padding, waste and fluff that won't help you achieve the desired outcomes.
This added 11th rep is unnecessary and is the reason a focused 45-minute workout balloons to something easily taking an hour or more. Yet, no doubt, these very same people will complain about being so busy and always rushing from one thing to the next.
Do you see how this 11th gym rep is symptomatic with real life and the things we introduce into our hectic personal lives and the time we spend in the workplace?
Yet we will all be guilty of complaining. There are too many priorities or back-to-back meetings, or you don't have the time to step back. To think strategically or to plan the reorganisation of your team, business or projects that deep down you know is required - tasks that are far more crucial than the shallow work that takes up much of the days.
If you are feeling brave, ask yourself the question:
How are you complicit in creating the conditions you say you don't want?
Perhaps this 11th rep you unnecessarily have introduced, whether working out at the gym or during your hectic work schedule, contributes to the distraction and noise rather than providing clarity and focus.
Share
If you enjoyed reading this article, please share it with someone in your network who might appreciate it, like a friend, family member, or coworker.
Subscribe
If you liked this article, please subscribe below for more insights. No spam, ever! Just great, insightful content to help you answer your questions and question your answers.
Kommentare