Whether you are a long term athlete or someone just starting into the lifestyle, a commitment to your workouts is an obvious good first step. Finding an activity that challenges (dares?) us to come back for more, all the while giving us the benefits we are looking for (looking and feeling good), is the start of an enthusiastic response to living. That dopamine hit that makes our perception of Life a positive and awesome experience.
Tempering these feel-good experiences is some solid critical thinking. Or at least some thought given to training decisions. Remember, we are the adults now in charge of our lives. Responsibility for training well lies with us and our considered judgements.
Then again, maybe not in all cases…
Gym Lore
When we are doing something that does not work, we stop doing it. Right?
I use my body and performance as science experiments all of the time. A new product that promises enormous results (don’t they all?) hits the market. After some research-based vetting against what I know about my body (and wallet), I might give it a try.
Results may vary and I own all of them. I am not particularly concerned about the endorsements of celebrities. Nor do I find personal recommendations to be always helpful. Just because a product or routine helped or hindered another athlete’s performance, does not mean it will produce the same effects for me.
No matter what our friends at the gym or local club might insist, the world of athletic performance is not a one-size-fits-all world. As humans, we come with our own unique physical and psychological makeup. So too our solutions are unique.
Pet Peeves and Protein Supplements
Our current pop culture uses the gambling phrase, “doubling down” to indicate a renewed use of a same failed strategy in response to that failure. Call me old school but events of failure demand creative solutions. A key element to this creative response is to stop what we have been doing wrong first.
In our current culture where often unqualified yet highly enthusiastic “influencers” are looked to for direction, many in the athletic community have fallen into step with this trend. Endorsements become based not on performance of the products under actual training or competitive conditions but on the celebrity status of the sales person.
Thanks but I think I prefer a more reliable source of information.
Commitment to Workouts for Right Reasons
There is more than one way to be an athlete. A willingness to accept change and a healthy dose of courage go a long way towards being successful.
An exercise lifestyle calls for our involvement in everything in our life. We look at what we do, how we do it, and what we think about it.
If it helps, think of yourself as a scientist conducting experiments… on yourself.
We identify problems that call for solutions. This could be as simple as creating the motivation to roll out of bed for early morning exercise, or as complex as how to shave time off a favorite event/distance. We hypothesize the heck out of solutions to the problem and start testing.
Trying new things in exercise is by nature, rather methodical. Give changes some time before passing judgement on keeping it in your routine or not. Experimental techniques and products will produce one of three outcomes. They helped. They did not. Or nothing changed.
I find the last outcome is more common for me.
Accept failures of these theoretical solutions as good signs of progress (we know what it is NOT). It helps to be able to laugh at yourself along the way.
Take pleasure in your successes. Your commitment to your chosen lifestyle, as well as the discipline you develop from these workouts, goes to change and mature you in ways that couch potatoes will be hard pressed to understand.
Be enigmatic! We are always a work in progress.
“One person with commitment accomplishes more than a thousand with an opinion.”
― Orrin Woodward
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