Fitness is awesome! Seriously. There are literally thousands of ways that we can improve our health and wellness, increase our ability to survive and thrive, and enhance our skills in order to perform particular tasks. It truly is all around us, and so many things impact our level of fitness at any given moment. It’s not just about lifting weights or going for a run. Nutrition, rest and recovery, and our mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being are also critical pieces of the pie that can make us not only happier, but more effective and powerful beings.
While at any given moment, each one of us might be on a separate fitness path, I have found that asking my athletes one question can make a profound difference in their training: “Why are you here?” A lot of people don’t immediately know what to say, but spending some time reflecting on the answer can help in a lot of ways.
Some athletes want to get stronger, others are looking to gain flexibility, and some just want to be able to eat and drink whatever they want. To some, spending time in the gym allows them to improve their health markers, potentially reduce the amount of prescription medicines they need to take. If an athlete is just in the gym to have fun, that’s completely fine. Usually, however, I’ve found there’s more to it than that. Even if they don’t aspire to compete in a local CrossFit event, people usually at least have the goal to get that first pull-up or muscle-up, or they strive to hit that 100- or 200-pound clean and jerk! By identifying a few specific goals, a training plan can be adjusted to accomplish them much faster!
For me, personally, NOT having a specific goal is a cop-out. It relieves me from needing to commit additional time to get better at any one thing. If my goal was just to “look better naked” that would be fine. But honestly, it’s been too long since I’ve TRAINED with a purpose in mind. The more I’m asked if I’ll compete in CrossFit again, the more I struggle with deciding what I want do for my next challenge. Individual or team comp? Power lifting or Olympic Weightlifting meet? Masters swim meet? A running race like a 5k or 10k? Who knows?! The point is nothing has me fired up enough to throw down. I’m hoping I find something soon, though.
It’s completely normal and very common for motivation to change from year to year, month to month, or even minute to minute. I just want to challenge you to be more deliberate in your training, and not just go through the motions. Moving with purpose, as I said in a post last week, is critical, but moving with A PURPOSE can be a game changer. That said, what is your action item? It’s time to pick something to focus on for the next few days, weeks, months.
Figure out what fitness means to you, and why you’re choosing to spend time in the gym each week. Are you registered for the Open? Is that your focus? If yes, what is your plan to attack each week as effectively as possible? Are you training for an event this spring? What can you do today, this week, and next, to better prepare yourself to succeed? Want to get that six-pack for summer? How much additional core work will you do each week? Feel free to share your goal(s) with me in the comments. As many of you know, once you write something down, it typically helps us remain more accountable!
Smashby's Training Blog 