How to Make Your Strength Workouts More Effective

Nikkiey: What's up, WarriorBabe? Hey, everybody. Nikkiey here, and welcome to our Sunday WarriorBabe Revolution Rally Call. It is Sunday, August 30th. It is 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and I'm stoked to be here to fire you up with a fire topic. I've talked to y'all about this before, but I'm going to bring it back because it's good to roll into this new week having this top of mind.

We'll get started in just a few minutes. Go leave a comment for the other WarriorBabes in the group. Let them know this call is getting started. If they want to hop in and hear it live, it's going to give a nice little fire kick under your ass and their ass. So go let them know this call is live right now. Literally just comment and say "Rally Call is live." We'll get started in just a few minutes.

If you guys are new to WarriorBabe, welcome. I'm stoked that you are here. Our community is growing on a weekly basis. You guys are a part of a community of thousands of women who are getting toned and becoming a stronger, more confident version of themselves. Y'all are showing up for yourselves, and that's what makes you stronger and more confident. When you get the results, you keep going, and you keep showing up. This community is fire. Y'all are so inspiring, so motivating, so supportive. We're all in this together. WarriorBabe is where strong is the new sexy.

So before we dive into this Rally Call today, again, go let the other WarriorBabes know that this call has started. Go let them know in the Facebook community. Say "Rally Call is live." This is a topic I've talked about before, but I'm going to bring it back because it'll bring that fire under your ass, and it's also good to have top of mind, like I said, to start this new week off. Maybe you're feeling a little bit of a rut in this particular area. Well, I'm about to light the fire under your ass so you can get out of your own way, and this Rally Call will get you started and moving again.

If you guys are new to WarriorBabe, first of all, we do these calls every single Sunday. Make sure you're here. Make sure you're dialed in. Make sure you show up. And then we do the Q&As every single Wednesday, same exact time, 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, where you have the ability to ask any questions, and that's on Wednesday inside the Facebook community.

If you guys are new, please make sure that you are going through the WarriorBabe Revolution blast-off emails. They are so freaking important as you are starting to transition into this lifestyle. When somebody starts something new, like a new program, usually they go all in, and then usually 14 days, two weeks in, three weeks in, they start losing the motivation they had when they first started. What this 14-day blast-off series is going to do is help you transition into this lifestyle and help you know exactly why you're here and what you want to accomplish. And when you have those two things in alignment, layered on top of each other, that is the golden sauce to keep you motivated, to keep you showing up, for you to know why you're doing this. When you know why and what goal you're striving for, your motivation is always there on a daily basis.

And if it's to show up for you, that's a hell of a goal: to show up for you and become a different person, a different body. It will actually motivate you on a daily basis. So those first 14 days are going to help you set up the mindset you have to have to transition into this kind of lifestyle. Make sure that you are going through those emails that are being sent to you daily. Each day for the 14 days, you have one task to complete, and that will get you transitioning into this lifestyle and establishing your goals. That's really all I wanted to make sure I got across to you guys. It's really freaking important.

And if you guys are new, make sure you're taking the time to go through the app. There are so many golden nuggets in there. You're going to set up your plan. You're going to set up your programming. You're going to know exactly what you need to do. And then you can hit the ground running with the workouts.

And that's what today's topic is about. If you've been in a rut, or you've found yourself stuck in this "oh, I just need to go to the gym and get it done" mode, this is really going to change your mindset and help you work out effectively. I've talked about it before, but I'm going to bring it back because I think it's super important. I'm going to share with you three tips to help you work out effectively and make sure you're staying in it, so you're not looking at it as a chore, but as, "Yay, I'm excited that I get to go work out."

I know for a lot of women, and maybe you've felt this way too, working out has felt like a routine. You go to the gym and you find yourself going through the motions. We've all been there. We've all experienced that. It gets to the point where it's just, "I have to go to the gym," this machine and then that machine, this exercise and then that one. Or maybe you're just in a little lull. Usually that's a good sign that you need a kick in the ass, and that's what this Rally Call is going to do.

Most women, especially those who feel like they're on the more educated side, like trainers and more frequent gym-goers, fall into this trap. They get into this rut, then things stop, then you stop going to the gym, then two weeks go by and you're like, "How the fuck did I... am I not going to the gym anymore?" So I want you guys to be able to get out of that rut you may be experiencing. I don't want you to look at the gym like it's a chore. You want to look at it like you're really excited to be able to go there. It's your time to yourself, your time to focus on your goals.

So these are the three steps that are going to really help you when it comes to working out effectively. The first thing is really setting intentions. I can't say this any louder or any more clearly. It's really important that you don't just go, "I need to go to the gym because I have to do it, because it's on my plan today and I need to show up, and if I don't, then I fucked up." That's the wrong type of mindset to go into your workout with.

Your workout begins before you even walk into the gym, with the intentions that you set for it. Before you go into the gym, think about what you are trying to accomplish. Is it a specific day that excites you? Is there a specific muscle that you want to build? Are you trying to conquer yourself and feel the rush of mental control of being inside the gym, feeling the muscles, controlling every single movement? Do you just want to feel strong? Do you just want to feel the endorphins? Are you in the mood to feel healthy and alive? This is really, really important.

Instead of being negative, like "I just need to go to the gym, I just need to get it done and be over with," you need to reprogram that mentality before you even go into the gym. You need to be excited. Why are you excited? What do you want to accomplish? What is the goal you're working toward? Do you want to look better for your partner? These are all things that will mentally get you more excited and more positive, by setting positive intentions rather than looking at it as a negative. What are you at the gym to do today? Knowing what you are doing and why you're showing up there is going to instantly rev up your energy, your capabilities and your thoughts, which is going to result in a better workout. Seriously.

If you're walking into the gym going, "Fuck, man, I just need to get this over and done with," guess what? Your workout's going to fucking suck. I've been there. That's happened to me. But if you're like, "I am so freaking excited to go into the gym today. I cannot wait to work out. I cannot wait to have that time to myself. I cannot wait to unload all of my stress and just focus on me and the gym and my muscles and my goals," that's more positive. If you focus on negative, you're going to get more negative. If you focus on positive, you're going to get more positive. That's just the way it works. It's the law of attraction. If you're putting out negative energy, you're going to get fucking negative energy back. If you put out positive energy, you're going to get positive energy back. Don't overlook it.

Like I said, if you had a shitty day, clear that attitude before you even go into the gym. If you aren't motivated, have a dance party in your car. If you're with a friend who talks all the time, tell her that you're there to work out and the chit-chatting can happen when it's appropriate. It's not social hour inside the gym. It's just not the place for it. So stand up for yourself. You are in control of your emotions. You are in control of your mindset. If you feel like you're having a shitty day, clear that attitude before you go into the gym.

And if your phone's attached to your hand, put the fucking thing down and just work out. Stop looking at your phone. Or put it on do not disturb. Seriously. Or turn it on airplane mode. Set the intention and work out. That is what you are there to do. That's the first step: setting intentions.

The second step is understanding supersets and straight sets. Supersets are back-to-back exercises with no rest in between, often involving the same muscle group. With the first exercise, you're going to hit a specific angle. With the second exercise, you may hit a different angle. Or say you're doing biceps and triceps. With supersets, you do one exercise and then move directly into another exercise, and you're really focusing on fatiguing the muscles. This really puts attention on toning and shaping specific muscles. That's what you guys do very often inside the program.

Now remember, the way to build muscle is by pushing your muscles beyond what they can currently manage. That's what I really want you to pull out of this step. Building muscle, which is what gets you toned, happens by pushing your muscles beyond what they can currently manage. And because the key is to have a nice shape and to grow the muscles proportionally, using this technique to get deeply into specific areas of each muscle group makes for a really great environment to get toned.

So supersets and straight sets are a part of your program. But more importantly, you need to understand that getting that resistance on your muscles with these types of exercises is what puts your body into the environment to build muscle, and that is what gets you toned. You need to create resistance on your body that it's not used to and beyond what it can currently manage. And the way you do that is with supersets and straight sets in weight training, which is what we do inside WarriorBabe.

I hear so many people who do Pilates or yoga and think that's a form of exercise. And while it is, it's not a form of exercise that's going to build muscle and get you toned. What you have to do in order to build muscle and get toned is resistance training, weight training. And these specifics of supersets and straight sets are really going to make the muscle grow through the process of tearing down and repairing the muscle fibers, plus, obviously, your nutrition in the 24 hours outside the gym.

These concepts are really important to understand, because so many women think they can do jiu-jitsu or this or that, more cardio-based things, and you don't need cardio to build muscle. You need strength training to build muscle. So supersets and straight sets are a really important concept to grasp. They're there to put your body in the right environment, to push it beyond what it can currently manage and put resistance on the muscle.

Going into my third tip: weight. Hear me loud and clear. Heavy weight is not necessary when it comes to shaping and changing your body composition. Heavy weight out of your control is what I mean. If you're the freaking monkey inside the gym, I'm telling you right now you're doing it wrong. Or if you're not fully extending. I see a lot of women do bicep curls where their arm is at a 90-degree angle and they're just curling up from there. They don't drop the weight all the way down to where their hands are by their thighs. They're at 90 degrees and curling up. It's way too heavy. If you cannot manage to lower that weight and then curl back up, it is way too heavy. Heavy weight out of your control, where you're losing form and not even putting focus on the muscle, is not necessary.

The key is lifting heavy enough weight that you're right outside your comfort zone but can still reach the reps and sets laid out in your plan. If you can't, you're going to hit other muscles, and your body is going to grow muscle more disproportionately. You've got to focus on proper form, and you've got to lift heavy enough weight that you're outside your comfort zone but still maintaining form. What's really important to understand is that it's not about lifting heavy. It's about putting resistance on your muscle beyond what it can currently manage.

Shaping, toning and building muscle happen through proper use and full contractions of all areas of your muscle. That can only be achieved through good form, and good form cannot be achieved when the weights are too heavy. Hear me loud and clear. Some of the weights I'm lifting now in my exercises are the same weights from when I started my journey five years ago, especially in some of the isolation exercises. It doesn't matter about heavy fucking weight. What matters is a weight that's challenging, with enough resistance that you're fatiguing at the end of your sets.

Now, if you're questioning a weight to start with, where you don't know where to start and you don't want to go too heavy because then you'll have to drop the weight, choose a lighter weight first.

Most importantly, you want your focus to be on contracting only the muscle you're working. For instance, the biceps. If you're swinging forward when you do curls, your shoulders are coming into play, and the weight is too heavy. Lower the weight. Focus on the full contraction and extension of your bicep muscle and you will feel the burn. You will feel sore. Feel that muscle fill up with blood. This will increase the sensation in that body part, and that will help you form the mind-muscle connection, which I always talk about.

The mind-muscle connection is well established in anyone who really works out well and has beautiful tone and a shapely physique. If you can create the mind-muscle connection, you'll feel your muscles filling up with blood. And the more you squeeze, it doesn't necessarily have to do with the weight. You're working with a challenging weight, but all that matters is that you're creating resistance and creating blood flow to that specific area. Heavy weight does not matter. Like I said, I am still lifting some of the same weights I used when I first started my journey. No joke.

So those are the three steps to working out more effectively. Number one is really important: setting those intentions. Rid yourself of any shitty day you've had. Clear your attitude before you go into the gym and turn it into a more positive attitude, so you're super excited that you're about to crush your workout and you're one step closer to your goals.

Step two is understanding supersets and straight sets. You need more resistance on your body, not necessarily jiu-jitsu or those cardio-based workouts, Pilates, boot camps. You need strength training. You need the methods of supersets and straight sets, like the WarriorBabe workouts give you, in order to build muscle and get toned.

And the third step is weight. Heavy weight is not necessary. What is necessary is that you establish really good form, are able to feel your muscles filling up with blood, and create that mind-muscle connection.

Those are the three steps to helping you work out effectively. Really freaking important, and I wanted to keep that top of mind as you move into a new week. Plus there are new workouts that Kate just released on Friday. You now have these new workouts. You now have this Rally Call I just shared with you. You now have the ability to set your intentions, focus on the muscles, focus on your strength training, and know that you are one step closer to your goals every single time you show up for these workouts.

All right, babe? Crush it. It's a new week. Show up for yourselves. And if this is one of your first Rally Calls, be tuning in every single Sunday at this time, 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I'm here to fire you up with one topic going into the next week, keep you motivated and keep you rolling forward and showing up for yourself. So set your alarms. Be here. Tune in. Immerse yourself in everything WarriorBabe. And I'll see you guys on Wednesday in the Facebook community for our live Q&A.

All right, babes. Crush it. New week. Bye, everyone.