Accept Two Things
- It will be more work than you anticipate.
- You will make a mistake and regress at some point.
We all nod our head in agreement at the start of a task when we hear it’ll be hard work. Where we trip us is in underestimating the strain that that work will be. It’ll come earlier and be more of a strain than you think it “should” be. Your buffer against this is anticipating it and ultimately embracing it.
Fitness is funny in that in order to build strength, you’ve got to feel weak while lifting the weight, you’ve got to feel out of breath while running or doing burpees, and you’ve got to feel stiff as you stretch out to try increase your flexibility. A lot of people are under the illusion that if it feels uncomfortable, as these things do, that it must be wrong or not for them.
I’ve made the mistake in so many Open workouts when the repeat workout was announced in only anticipating discomfort towards the last few minutes. Somehow ignoring that 2016’s deadlift/wall ball/rowing/handstand push up workout was tough from the deadlifts, I somehow thought in 2017 it would only be as I got to the handstands 2 minutes quicker that it wouldn’t take a lot of effort to EARN those extra 2 minutes and beat my score.
After The Open I finally realised that it’s going to take a lot of effort right from the get go to excel. Hopefully you can learn from my mistake here!
Second up is that you’ll make mistakes and go backwards at some point. You’ll make 3 classes a week for your first fortnight and then something will derail you and you’ll only make 2. You’ll lose a few kilos then put it back on. You’ll improve the distance or speed you can run at but one of those workouts you’ll get slower.
Again this doesn’t mean you’re not cut out for it. It’s just part of the process. Accepting and anticipating it ahead of time gives us the edge in overcoming it. On week four of our training we’ll book our schedule in advance. We’ll get back on track with our nutrition and accept that the scales isn’t going to permanently move in the direction we want it too. We’ll commit to our exercise routine knowing that fluctuations in performance and part of the process.
I’d love to promise you it’ll all be smooth sailing towards your goals. Hell, everyone does that and says it’ll be easy. It’ll take work, and it won’t be perfect, but stick with it and it’ll worth it.