Sweat Clean

Dabbling in Paleo, eating clean and ditching dairy have practically become the norm. But our workouts? Still full of fluff. WH explores what it means to train more intentionally

- Marissa Gainsburg

Applying the same thoughtfulness to sweating that you apply to snacking makes sense, so why aren’t you doing it? A few reasons. “When we’re training on our own, we tend to fall into a routine, repeating workouts we’re familiar with,” says strength coach Mike Boyle. This invites a sort of autopilot mode in which you’re less proactive about checking in with your body and giving it what it really needs. Then there’s the fact that exercise in itself is a healthy thing to do. So we may give ourselves (due) credit for just showing up and banging out a sweat sesh of any sort, when we could be crushing a more effective circuit by just being a little more selective. “You should always applaud yourself for getting it done,” says Boyle. “But if you don’t analyse your workouts and alter them according to your needs, then you may automatically end up taking the path of least resistance.”