Of all the Life By Design steps I find Move By Design to be the hardest.
I am the only son of Eastern European parents. To say that I was ‘babied’ and that my parents were overprotective would be an understatement.
There was always plenty of food, especially cookies and cakes. Neither of my parents were active growing up so training and exercise were not a part of family culture.
It has been a slow and steady climb to get myself to where I am physically.
Yes, this is the politically correct way to say that I used to be the fat kid, and now I am happy with my body and the results I have achieved.
This last weekend was the CrossFit Regional training meet. Many of the people from our community went to ‘regionals’ to cheer on coach Calan from West London CrossFit and his incredible first appearance at the CrossFit Games (definitely not his last).
I wasn’t able to make it but I did watch the live stream online.
Those athletes, all of them, are incredible.
It is amazing the amount of hours that go into creating a body that can perform on that level.
And yes, many, many hours are required to create that level of ability and physical appearance.
I know the frustration and the conversation in your mind…
"I've been doing CrossFit for two months now, and I don't see any results."
"I've been moving By Design for six months, and my shoulder still hurts."
“I don’t think that this is working for me.”
Trust me, I understand where you are coming from. I've been there.
Time can be such a difficult and frustrating factor to deal with. And there is definitely no short cut.
There is never, nor will there ever be a short-term solution to a long term problem.
I know you want to see 'results' immediately. I know that two months and even one year seems like a long time sometimes. But the truth is some of you reading this have been unhealthy and not moving your body for years. In which case one year is nowhere near long enough.
Let me share with you 3 strategies that I used to make my training more fun and tolerable.
1.) Enjoy the process and stop chasing the result.
I started enjoying being up before everyone else was awake. I started enjoying how much energy I had after each training session. I started enjoying the people I got to see and spend time with every morning. I love the way I feel after training
I didn’t lose sight of the goals I wanted to achieve; but I did channel more of my focus on the other things I enjoyed about training.
2) Write down your numbers.
There is not one person who trains with us, puts in a reasonable effort, and does not get stronger.
But if you don't write down what you did how are you going to know what improvements you've made?
This is also a great way to encourage yourself, and push yourself to continually strive to better your best.
3) Stop comparing yourself to others.
Don't get me wrong. I love seeing others achieve. It is motivating. I'm not saying ignore everyone around you; in fact there is a lot of inspiration that can be created by those around you. Especially since we post the WOD times (results) on the board for everyone to see; you better believe that I strive to beat certain people who I deem to be of like ability.
But I'm happy with myself when I do my best, even if I'm last (and It happens). If I can honestly say, "I did the best I could today," that's enough. I know that if I can string a bunch of these "best days" together, then amazing results are waiting for me.
How about you? What are your best practices for keeping training fun?