Can You Train Today?
I’ve been a little inconsistent with blog posts lately, and I apologize for that. It’s been a pretty busy time to say the least, but there’s some light at the end of the tunnel. To give an idea, in the past 6 weeks I’ve been in Chicago, New York, and currently Los Angeles to teach workshops. While it’s been awesome to hit up some cool spots and share some information I’ve used to help clients, it can also be a major disruption to normal life, and in the end the training that keeps us all healthy.
The views can be pretty cool, though.
On top of this, I’ve been still training clients in Edmonton on a regular basis (managed 120 sessions in the month of October, and on pace for over 100 this month as well), and am finishing up a new product hopefully to be released next week, so time is a very finite resource these days.
With that being said, training has had to be a priority, as it always has been. When travelling, I’ll hit up the hotel gym and get a quick workout in when possible, but hotel gyms can be incredibly variable. In many instances, hotel “fitness facilities” can consist of one broken down piece of cardio equipment, a tv that doesn’t have a sports channel, and if you’re lucky a few dumbbells. In some cases they could be a complete facility with a squat rack or kettlebells, but that’s in the rarity. Working with what you’re given can be a challenge, so sometimes just bodyweight stuff and light cardio is all that can be done.
If I’m speaking at a gym, getting a workout in beforehand isn’t always an answer, especially if they’re running classes before the workshops start, and also if there’s a substantial time difference that crushes your ability to wake up early. After a workshop, I’m usually brain-dead and can only think to stare blankly at HGTV in the hotel room while trying to not over analyze how I did that day.
This past weekend being in Los Angeles, my wife and I decided to spend a couple extra days at the beach to escape the winter weather currently barrelling down on Edmonton. This meant we had a couple opportunities to work out at Gold’s Gym in Venice, where the concept of working out in a gym essentially began, and what created the modern gym culture seen in much of the world. Lou Ferrigno was there, and he is huge.
When in Edmonton, I have 2 great opportunities to work out, both at my place of work and also in the Basement of Champions, also known as my home gym.
While it’s great to have a solid facility available to you to work out, as mentioned earlier that’s not always possible. But what is possible is deciding you are going to train anyway, and doing the best with what’s available.
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of saying “well I’m too busy to get in any kind of training today,” or “I’m so tired I just don’t have the energy to train.” These can be potentially derailing concepts when it comes to training, and both are valid if framed in the right context. For instance, if you’re tired and have worked out in 6 of the past 7 days versus being tired because you haven’t worked out since January, that’s absolutely something to consider. If you are in the middle of a massive project that is sucking up all of your time and your schedule is booked with zero breaks, getting in more time for a workout will be tricky, but it could also mean you’re not scheduling things properly.
Yet in spite of all the reasons why you could potentially have to not workout, you still have to ask yourself whether you can still train today or not.
It would be very easy to get home from a 12 hour day of training clients, especially after having travelled that weekend and probably the weekend before, and say I’m just going to sit on the couch and stare at the screen, but that won’t benefit me in any way. A light workout will help to not only move my body around and prevent detraining from occurring, but also to help clear my mind and schedule some alone time to do nothing but move. Some days that just means riding my bike while watching football or evening news, although the news has been pretty depressing lately, and other days it’s using a moderate weight for 10-15 sets of squats or deadlifts.
One way I ensure I get the workouts in is simply to set the time for it, and tell myself it’s going to happen. When I get home from work at 6:30, I eat dinner, sit for 20 minutes or so, and then go into the basement at 7:30 for anywhere from 30-60 minutes. When on the road, after checking in and maybe getting a bite to eat, I hit the gym.
Planning ahead of time makes a massive difference in knowing whether you will be doing a heavy workout or some light cardio. Check out the hotel gym facility online to see what equipment they have pictured makes a big difference in being able to have some outline of what you’re going to do versus just showing up and seeing Bob from Ohio slow walking on the lone treadmill while talking about Obama, leaving you to do some bodyweight work on the crusty yoga mat leaning against the wall. Finding a gym in the area that could be walking distance is an awesome option, and finding a free one is even better.
The determination mindset is in many ways all that separates those who work towards achieving fitness related goals and those who do not. We’re usually born with similar anatomies, resources, hours in the day, and demands, but those who decide to get the workout in regardless of what may be standing in their way will tend to have better success and more consistency in their application than those who consistently skip workouts, regardless of what gets in the way.
There is always something to prevent you from working out, but it usually isn’t sufficient enough to warrant actually skipping the workout. I train busy mothers of infants who still work full days, take care of their kids, and find 30-45 minutes to do something. I train CEOs who scratch out 45 minutes a day to do something to keep their bodies healthy and reduce the likelihood of getting sick and missing work. I train amateur and pro athletes who travel constantly and find ways to get in training with very Spartan environments because there is no other choice. I workout regularly, and I’m just a dude from Edmonton who goes to cool places on occasional weekends and squats in his basement.
There’s always a way. You usually have to have a frank discussion with yourself and it comes down to simply asking yourself: Can You Train Today? Can you find a way to get it done, and then do it? If so, you are the only one stopping yourself from getting it done. So do it.