Ways to sabotage your progress
By: Sean Wells
You are coming into the gym and training consistently(4-6x) a week. The results are coming and then BOOM –
You have to go on a business trip, or your kid gets sick and you miss a week, or any of the other obstacles pop up after you have been “on a good roll”(the holidays anyone?). None of these is going to sabotage your progress with training. A week of missing coming into the gym isn’t going to make you less fit anymore than eating one ice cream sundae is going to make you gain 10#s.
What will sabotage your training and physical fitness is letting that one week that was valid or even two weeks that was valid turn into three or four weeks of not training or not training like you should.
What happens after you miss a couple of weeks is that then you start worrying about the work you are going to get in – you start thinking that either the workout is going to be too hard to come back too or it isn’t hard enough.
Both are wrong thinking. Let me explain why:
In the first example you look at the website and you see “Fran ( 21 -15- 9 Burpees and Thrusters) and you start imagining how hard that is going to hurt. You start playing it up in your mind asking yourself can I do 45 thrusters or 45 pull ups let alone together. What you need to realize is you just need to come back and start training. Don’t let your mind sabotage your training.
If you are paralyzed by the workout, change something about it so that you have nothing to compare it to.
Complete “Fran” with kettlebells in place of the barbell thrusters. Or just ring rows instead of kipping pull ups. Any change makes it different than you have experienced and in turn less likely to cause anxiety.
For the second example:
You are fired up to come back to the gym, you have been gone for two weeks in Chicago for work, you look and see the workout is a Not for time workout that is going to be “easy” for you, even after two weeks off. First off, obviously you haven’t done some of these NFT’s(Not For Time workouts) that just target specific weaknesses. Secondly, make the NFT harder, if it is a Wednesday and we are dragging sleds, make the sled heavier, or time your rest between rounds or put ankle weights on. Don’t sabotage your training by thinking too much.
Ask a coach how to make it more difficult –
I bet you get some great ideas such as, wear a vest, use ankle weights, carry kettlebells, add weight, complete extra trips, time your rest, etc.
The training you are doing at OC is programmed for both personal training clients and group training clients weeks, if not months, in advance.
We measure your progress in months not weeks. This is to allow you to progress and this allows you to miss a week and it not be the end of the world. I use to work with a Personal Training client that would insist on weighing everyday sometimes twice a day. This is exhausting for the client as well as to me. Finally, I suggested that the client “bring me the scale”.
They did.
After six weeks of being consistent we got on the Inbody and remeasured not just body weight but also measurements of their body segment by segment so that we had good information to work from moving forward. We set a new goal for 3-4 months ahead and continued onward with training.
Don’t let small detours, throw you off course.
Train, be consistent as possible and ask for help when you need it. A goal setting session can help or a post in the OC members Facebook group, or an email to a coach – just keep fighting to make progress and in the end you will be successful!
Want to learn more about personal training? Book a Free Consult today.
Want to refer a friend? Please have them email us info@ocgymbend.com
