train with intent

The word “intent” or the idea of purpose and intention in training was highlighted to me in a blog post by Ross Enamait, written a couple years back. Ross is an accomplished boxing trainer who may be more well known in the physical fitness space for his creative ways to get in shape using relatively inexpensive materials. Check out more of his blog if you are looking for ways to do that yourself.

In this blog post he highlights knowing why you are doing what you are doing, the intellectual “intent” behind it, and then having “intent” when you do the thing. He is talking about swinging a sledgehammer, something I have no experience doing, but can relate to in other areas. I can use a squat exercise to improve my maximum strength, to increase my mobility, in a program geared toward increasing muscular size (hypertrophy) or losing body fat, to improve athleticism or to rehab from an injury. There are nuances to the performance of this exercise and understanding the nuances will make all the difference in understanding how to achieve those goals.

We’ve all seen, or been, those people in the gym haphazardly going from one shiny machine to the next, doing what feels right to us in the moment. While showing up and being consistent to get in the gym is valuable (next post), we aren’t going to make much progress by just being there without a purpose.

So, make a plan, no matter how simple it is, stick to the plan, and put intent into your workouts.

If you need help creating a plan, learning more about how to train intentionally, or want to train with me in person, feel free to contact me at intentiontraininglex@gmail.com.