Alright, let’s start today with a quick reality check. If you are currently spending more than six to twelve hours a week at the gym… you’re either training for the Olympics, or you are actively hiding from your teenagers.
And look, if it’s the second one, I get it. No judgment here. But let’s find you a slightly more healthy escape plan, hey?
If a little is good, surely more is better? Right?
Well, not always. Actually possibly not in most circumstances. After all, the dose makes the poison.
Exercise is not the exception to this rule. There is a correct dose for it, and most people are overdosing.
For the regulars here you know that I recently turned 50, and something I noticed through my forties was that there were times where I had to do what I could in the gym just to maintain where I was at because, well life becomes more than just you when you have a family and other commitments.
Looking back to your 20’s you had no real responsibilities, you could spend hours doing almost anything you wanted if the desire was there. Problem for a lot of us the desire may not be there! Well the desire is, but it is usually around socialising, sleeping in, and generally just enjoying ourselves.
And then in our 30’s life kicks in pretty well. Families, new houses etc, clubs, job promotions. There just seems so much that happens in that period. And sometimes we forget we need to look after ourselves. So then, back to the 40s.
Now all through this we are fed a steady stream of health and fitness ‘information’ by someone telling us we have the same 24 hrs in a day, get your arse to the gym! Get there everyday! Give it your all! Sign up to my next challenge!! Spaces are limited!!!
So you think ‘Ah it seems I have to live in the gym to get anywhere.’ You either choose to do the be all and end all challenge, last a couple of weeks and pack it in, or you don’t even start at all because that is better then ‘failing’ at it.
Just because you don’t hit the gym twice a day for the next few months and end up a pile of sweating heaving mass on the ground does not mean you are failing.
In fact, if you are managing a career, forming an awesome family, getting some down time and managing to get to the gym three or five hours a week then you are absolutely thriving at this thing called life.
Actually if you are late 30’s and 40’s then getting to the gym between three and five hours a week is the sweet spot! Provided you are being efficient with it.
The old days of training like Arnie are long behind me. Look I don’t mean I was ever in any way shape or form anything like the great Schwarzenegger, but I did follow his routine for a while back in the 00’s. It was tough! Double session days, huge amounts of volume, and oooooh the food I had to eat to recover! Not to mention trying to get heaps of sleep to help as well.
As I have matured, yeah let’s go with that instead of aged, I have learnt the beauty of increasing intensity over volume and so being able to get into the gym, get a good workout in in around an hour, and then be on your way is such a good way to be when you have all the other life commitments to deal with.
All of the stresses and pressures of life can already have our stress hormones like cortisol pretty elevated. So if you throw in going to the gym twice a day and severely limiting calories then you can end up with shitty sleep, and just not recovering well enough leading to being more tired, run down and unable to hit your goals. Which just ends up wash, rinse, repeat.
Throw in an ‘end date’, ie you will do this for a six, eight, or 12 week period, then you get to have a break! And it is all set up to be a short term quick fix that just does not lend itself to being a great sustainable program to be incorporated into your already busy life.
I am going to use a car analogy again here. Those that have had much to do with me over the years know that I will use analogies, and cars are a good one because most of us have one, and most of us do routine maintenance and treat them reasonably well.
What I mean by that is most of us get them serviced, keep an eye on the oil, water, and tyre pressure. And we keep it fueled well.
We also don’t tend to designate a six, eight or twelve week period where we take our car out and a couple of times a day just redline it and drive it like we stole it! We tend to drive our car steadily, making sure not to get the revs up into the red too much, preserving it and having it last longer.
So my comparison with us as people is why would we treat our cars so very well? Regular service, decent fuel, not pushing it to its limits for short intense bursts but then turn around and treat ourselves the exact opposite.
Short ridiculous all out bursts of effort, starving for fuel, not checking in on ourselves, followed by a period of sitting around feeding ourselves crappy fuel and then returning to somewhat of a similar previous state and think ‘oh, I better get in on that short stupid intense, crazy calorie restricted program for the next little while again’
Wouldn’t it be better to train at the gym, with a cool bunch of supportive people three to five times a week, get some good fuel in, drink plenty of water, get decent sleep, and check in with yourself a bit to make sure you are still on the right track?
I know for me the answer is simple.
Train for life.
Not for a prize, not for glamour, not for status, not for the accolades.
Find the thing that you can keep doing year after year that will help you stay well, that will grow with you.
I don’t normally blow my own trumpet, it feels ick to do so.
But I need to tell you that I have had people training with me here since I started.
My first client ever, is still a member.
When we started CrossFit here in town I still have someone from then, in 2012.
We have members that are over 10 years strong, we had two recently celebrated seven and eight years, and another today six years.
All of these people are busy, really busy. Kids, careers, social obligations, running businesses, community responsibilities, clubs, study, etc and they get in, they help each other out and they stay fit and healthy.
If you are sick of doing the all out, and then nothing, and still feeling like crap, drop me a message, we can sit down and have a chat. If you feel you are just a bit stuck, same thing, let’s come up with a plan to get you back on track.
After almost 20 years I have kind of learnt a thing or two about helping people stay healthy for life, so if you want that kind of help, I am here for you.