What’s the rush?
Why do we put a set “end” date on fitness goals?
Should we quit when we reach those goals or set new ones?
We put these ideas together that we NEED to get to this goal as fast as possible or by a certain date. I want to put It out there, hitting your “goal” on a certain date does not matter. In 5 years you won’t even remember that you hit your goal weight on June 1st.
What might be more impressive is the duration you were able to sustain a healthy, mobile, fit body. How long have you held a healthy weight, body composition, or fitness level?
I weighed “x” at the beginning of the summer
Or
I have been fit and healthy for 10 straight years
Where I’m going with this is the fact that we need to slow down and think about the long term progress we can make.
I listened to a physical therapist talk the other day and they discussed how most injuries and setbacks arise: doing too much, too soon after doing too little, too long.
There’s two ways to combat this
1.) Don’t let yourself do too little for too long
2.) If you do, come back, and don’t do too much too fast.
Simple right?
The thing I see more often than not is hopping back in the gym 3-4 days a week after not training for months or even years.
Why do we do this? Why have I allowed this from my clients?
Because we have It set in our minds that we need to be “there” as fast as possible.
It hasn’t really clicked until now, but I think we need to change our thought process. It’s time to take things slow and meet ourselves at our true starting point.
Do you think someone is ready to hop into a 3-4 day per week workout plan after not training for 6 months?
Why don’t we start back up 1 day per week?
You won’t be over-worked and you will most likely be eager to get back in the gym a week later.
Think about that mentality for a second. Cutting back on something that seems hard (usually because we do too much too fast) to changing our mentality to being eager to get to do It again.
Starting slow is not just for the mentality of wanting to exercise, although that can play a big role. It will allow our body to acclimate to a new stimulus. You are going to be stressing your body in just another way, and if you don’t have everything else in place outside of the gym It can be a recipe for an early downfall.
So instead of just waiting for your next session a week later, use that time to tie down some other aspects of your health:
Sleep
Water intake
Overall stress levels
Daily activity/steps
Nutrition
These things are going to help more than I can explain along the way, so while you have the time, LOCK THEM IN.
We all need to slow down a bit, especially when It comes to working out. If you’ve had a layoff from the gym, give yourself a month of just going once per week. See how you feel, see how your mentality towards those workouts change. On your off days, work on the things that are going to move the needle forward every day.
In good health,
Jeff
