Under Pressure

Right, we're in 2021 now

Not much has changed has it?

Today is commonly known as "Blue Monday" and it's the day that the post Xmas depression sets in. Possibly the day that the credit card bills come in

But I'm not here to talk about that

I'm talking about the pressure to:

Work and earn an income

Spend quality time with your family

Home school your kids

Train and keep your mental and physical health tip top

And if you don't have kids, you can swap the home schooling with the isolation, the lack of contact with other human animals.

Our exercise and training can be the defining aspect of all of this.

It can be the eustress that brings all else into focus

It can be the distress that tips you over that edge

There's no denying that being in good shape leaves you better able to handle stress

There's no denying that a good workout shifts the hormone balance and helps you feel better

But there's no call to train yourself into the ground.

Rather than thinking that you MUST train on certain days, and then struggling when life gets in the way and that day isn't practical, I want you to lengthen out your time line.

This means we will count the number of training sessions carried out over a 2 week period, maybe even a month.

If we usually train 3x/week, then that's 6x/fortnight or 12x/month

All we need to do is get in those 12 sessions over the month.

It might be:

Once this week, Saturday morning was the only free slot

4 next week, no morning meetings this week

Twice the week after, only one morning but also a weekend

And 5 in the final week, feeling good, got up early some days, meeting cancelled allowed another session...

That's 12

It's non routine routine

It allows freedom to work around life

And if you don't get the 12 in this month, you may make it up next month.

No pressure.

Over a long enough timeline, all will even out.

Now, keeping track. You'll want a calendar.

And a colour for each style of training (red for strength, green for leg day, blue for aerobic, set this up however you like)

All you do is mark a calendar with the appropriate colour when you complete a session

If you do a strength session and a cardio or mobility session, mark them both on the calendar.

This will keep you on track

You now have an at a glance record of what's done so you know what you still need to do.

Simple.

No pressure

But real results

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.wg-fit.com