There is no perfect path, consistency is what gets you to your goal.
Everything is going smooth in the day and something comes up at work and you can’t get to the gym. Or training is going well then you get sick or catch a nagging injury that just won’t go away.
The set backs of life throw us for a loop, and leave us frustrated and disenchanted as we peer at our personal goals off in the distance and feel like they don’t get closer.
If there is one thing I’ve learned running this business and training is that the path is not perfect, there will be set backs. There are days I don’t feel ‘on’ at the gym and can’t hit my numbers and also days I don’t feel creative when needing to put together content. But when I look over the body of work in my rear view mirror I can see that even this ‘dip’ in performance is still better than I was doing five or three or even one year ago.
It’s not about what I am capable of today but rather that I do something today because the accumulation of everything builds up a mountain of experience I can lean on and pull from. The 10 pages I read or 10 squats I do in the gym are not what’s going to magically make me an expert or strong overnight, but it’s the consistent practice over a long time.
So if you are new or old, lean into this. Lean into the knowledge that making the effort consistently is the special sauce! If you are just starting out or thinking about starting, you can start at home doing bodyweight movements or with inexpensive dumbbell weights you pick up from a garage sale. (My 30 day quick start e-book coming out soon)
If you have been training and caught an injury, lean into your rehab take the time to work on something else. Robin tore a ligament in his knee and took the time to work on upper body that paid dividends. Have a shoulder issue? Work on your legs, have to scale back on weights? Work on cardio!
If you have hit a plateau, keep putting in the work and work on other similar attributes that can help towards your goal. If losing weight was the objective. change up what you do out of the gym a bit. If squatting heavier was the objective, try focusing on lunges as well for accessory. I guarantee this time next year your pile of experience will have grown, and you will be able to stand on your personal mountain and see your goal in the distance a little better a little clearer and a little closer.
Good luck all and keep up the good fight.
If you are looking for a program to follow we have our full program available online and have a dumbbell version as well.