When I lift weights, 99% of the time I start in a hooded sweatshirt. Even in the summer. That’s right, I’m that guy. That schmuck you walk in and see who’s sweating his ass off, for “no reason” at all.

There is a reason for it, surprisingly enough.

A long time ago, I was told that to get your best lift, you should try to lift when you are most awake. For most people, this is sometime in the afternoon, probably around 2 or 3 PM. The reason for this, is each day at the same time, when you are most awake, your heart is beating faster. When your heart beats faster, it pumps more blood, and you can lift more weight.

If you lift every day at the same time, your heart rate will naturally begin to increase at that time each day.

Keeping all of this in mind, I wear a sweatshirt when I start lifting weigh to intentionally make me really hot so I can get my heart rate up. When I feel like its high enough, I take my sweatshirt off and continue on with my workout like normal.

Click here to go to a web site to see your target heart rate.

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