Let’s say you just got back from vacation, you’re just getting over the flu (fully recovered), or you had friends come in for a long weekend. Not surprisingly, you probably had too much to eat or drink and your body started to get used to this whole “doing nothing” thing. It happens to everybody, and who cares? We’re all human, we’re all entitled to vacations, and we’re all entitled to have some damn fun. We only get one chance at this thing called life, so we might as well enjoy it, right?
However, once things go back to normal I highly recommend jumping right back into your routine, no matter how tired or worn out you feel. It’s easy to come up with any excuse to stay home: I’m too tired, I’ll just wait one more day, why should I, ehhhhh, etc. We all know that it’s 8 million times either to put that first day off a little longer because you’re not ready. Being as cliche’ as possible: there’s no time like the present, so just do it.
To put it simply: Get your ass off the couch, and do something! Taking unexcused “days off” is a slippery slope, and one that can derail your success extremely quickly. Unless you’re sick or hurt, you owe it to yourself to get out there. You might be tired, you might have a crappy workout, so what!! Toughen up and get through it. You’re going to do this because you’re motivated, and you realize that skipping today, whether or not you get on track the next day, will make skipping the next time that much easier…and maybe that time you can’t get right back on track.
I woke up yesterday morning feeling like crap, and I wanted so badly to take the day off for exercising. Because I’ve made myself accountable via this website, and I’ve had really great success on my current workout plan over the past five weeks, I decided that skipping is NOT an option. Once you remove the “slacking” as an option it gets much easier to get to the gym.
This is another reason I highly recommend working out with a friend who keeps you accountable: whenever you’re not feeling good he can drag you there, and whenever he doesn’t feel good you can drag him there. Just make sure you don’t pick a slacker as a partner or you’ll both make each other feel better about skipping.
Now let’s say you’re going to a tough time in your life, you have eight projects due over the next three weeks, or you just can’t get to the gym consistently. Expecting to have time for the gym five days a week during this time period is crazy. However, the WORST thing you can do is say to yourself, “well if I can’t go consistently, why bother going at all – it’s a waste.” Not true, idiot! If you can find time to go to the gym at least once a week, do a full body workout (which you can get done in 30 minutes) , and keep your diet on a regular track…you’ll be able to start things right back up where you left off instead of having to play catch-up. Sure, you might not see any gains during those three weeks, but it’ll be like you’re treading water instead of drowning. Plus, going to the gym for the first time in a week is much easier to do than going to the gym for the first time in a month.
Go. If you can get there you’ll feel 100 times better afterwards.
-Steve
