Hello, September, best-month-of-the-year! I'm happy you're here, but August, you went way too fast! Summer tends to fly by in general,but August was more of a whirlwind than usual. Why oh why is it that those long, languorous summer days that seem to stretch out forever all but disappear the older you get?! It's a cruel irony that's not lost on me: the more things we have to do, the less time we seem to have to them.
The feeling that there's never enough time in which to do everything is something I'm sure we've all felt acutely at one time or another. In fact, it's probably the #1 excuse that people give for why they can't or don't exercise. However, as a workout challenge recently solidified for me, sticking to an exercise regimen or adopting a healthy habit doesn't have to be stressful, and it doesn't have to take up a lot of space--in terms of time or mental energy. In fact, the less thinking that it requires, the more likely you are to stick to it and continue to make other healthy choices as a result. What you do need are two sides of the same coin: consistency and trust.
This past month, I participated in a workout/consistency challenge hosted by the fabulous Jill Coleman of JillFit Physiques. Jill challenged her followers to complete 20, 20-minute workouts in the month of August, the goal of which was two-fold: 1) to bring awareness to how consistency and leveling up help us overcome the mental tricks we play to justify not following through on our goals; and 2) to experiment with high intensity training and reinforce the idea that short, intense bouts of effort coupled with individualized rest periods are as effective if not more-so than longer lifting sessions. For me, this experience presented two unique challenges. It forced me into my discomfort zone by virtue of the fact that I had to contend with two things that do not always come naturally to me: 1) Consistency; and 2) Trusting myself.
I think it's human nature to struggle to be consistent with acts that do not come naturally, like committing to 20 super-intense workouts for an entire month or trying to break a bad habit. What we do habitually is what comes naturally, and what this challenge taught me was that the opposite of consistency is not inconsistency; it's habit. Consistency --partnered with accountability--is also both the antidote to habitual action and the prescription that forms better habits.
In addition to showing me the value of consistency, the challenge forced me to question many dogmas that I'd been holding onto about effective training principles--both for myself and for my clients. As I mentioned above, the challenge required that I not only show up and do the workouts, but that I trust myself to know when to push and when to hold back. The guiding principle of this rest-based training method is to go hard until you can't anymore and have to rest, and rest until you can push again. This personalizes every workout, but also demands mindfulness: as long as you're listening to your body, you will achieve a great result in just a short amount of time.
For most of the month, I did little more than my 20 intense workouts, but I didn't need to do much more: every session was 20 minutes or less; weights were optional; and I alternated between full intensity and rest. I barely touched a barbell, and heavy squats and deadlifts were conspicuously absent. I say conspicuously because prior to starting this challenge, I was following a program to improve my squat and deadlift numbers. I was doing more Olympic lifting which is very technical and typically calls for a lot of sets of few reps with plenty of rest in between sets. I was also doing regular metcon sessions. I'd frequently do 3-4 of these workouts a week in addition to my lifting. This was a lot of volume and while I was getting stronger, I was bored. My motivation was waning, but I was insistent that certain lifts had to be included in my program. I was convinced that if I didn't have enough volume in my workouts, I would be wasting my time...
As it turns out, the program that is best is the program that you'll do, and you're not going to do a program that bores you. If you force yourself to do it--I'm speaking from experience!--you will eventually start to resent it. Your results won't be good, and you will waste your time. This challenge helped me realize that I wouldn't see the results I was after if I didn't trust myself to tweak my approach and get honest about the fact that a traditional strength program is not for me--at least not right now. For me, right now, it's all about rest-based interval training; yoga; and long, leisurely walks. Just because I am a "fitness professional" doesn't mean that I have to be on a plan, chasing PRs and spending hours in the gym. This challenge reinforced the fact that personal preference and individuality have to be taken into consideration when developing an effective exercise program. Structure is important, but there must be room for flexibility and improvisation. When you give yourself this leeway, it engenders a space within which real and lasting behavioral change can happen.
So I challenge YOU: move in ways that feel good to you. Throw the "training program rule book" out the window. Rediscover the joy of movement, however that looks for you. I promise it will be enlightening and shift your perspective, perhaps enabling you to finally hit those numbers you've been chasing. Tell me all about it in the comments below!
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