“There are far more failures in the world due to a collapse of will than there will ever be from objectively conclusive external events.”
– Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way
Most of the time people fail in our program from the lack of will. This manifests in several different ways. One is letting the will of not showing up overcome the desire to show up. We are wired to do things that are easy and enjoyable. Subconsciously, exercise is neither easy nor enjoyable for most. Many times working out hurts at least in some form or fashion and there is a struggle. The body naturally wants to avoid it because it’s hard. In order for us to be successful we have to overcome that notion and be consistent in our training. It’s very easy to let the fact that we have work to do, or that the kids were being naughty today, or that I have to get home and cook dinner, or that I didn’t get enough sleep last night, or eat enough food, or any other thing you’d like to insert in there over run our brain and talk us out of training. The will to succeed must be greater then the will to take the easy route.
The same thing goes for nutrition. It’s far easier to get something out of a box, or get something from a window, but those things are not going to help you be successful. We justify it by saying well it’s just for today, tomorrow will be better. You know what? Then tomorrow comes and the same record plays again. After a week we’ve had 5-7 meals like this and have slid backwards on our results. Then we justify the downward spiral by saying, ‘well this week is shot, I might as well have a good weekend,’ and a few meals turns into 3 weeks of binging.
I’m guilty of this too. I get it.
In both of these cases you MUST do things to set yourself up to win.
For training, schedule it in your day. Treat it like it’s the most important meeting you have all week. If someone were to pay you $5,000,000 dollars at the end of the year, and all you had to do was block out your schedule 3 x a week for 1 hour for the entire year would you be able to do it? Of course you would. It can be done, just make the choice to do it.
With nutrition, prep is key. Spend 2 hours a week, Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday, it doesn’t matter, and prep some meals so you have good healthy things to eat. That way when you’re in a time crunch, which you know you will be, you won’t opt for the food that will set you backwards.
4-30-18
Strength:
Deadlift while resting complete sets of auxiliary work
MetCon:
Push ups x 1 minute
Sit ups x 1 minute
Burpees x 1 minute
Squats x 1 minute
1 minute rest
3 rounds for reps