GABRIEL JONES PERFORMANCE
1 NOV 2023
Recently, I invited my instagram followers to ‘ask me anything’ (always a risk). Here you can fire your random health and fitness queries at me and I do my best to give you a resolution.
Amongst the replies, there was a common theme of 'actually doing the training' / 'getting up and out' being one of the most significant barriers. This goes for so many people who want to get fitter but aren’t really sure where to start, and it is the hardest place to be (after all, increasing your speed whilst already on the move is much easier than getting going from a dead start).
Two things I would recommend for people in this camp:
1. Have a plan: Most de-motivation to train comes from 'well, first of all I wouldnt even know where to start, and surely I can’t begin until I do'.
Let’s face it, there's always a critical thinking part of any well-executed plan which has to come first before any action can take place, and that, frustratingly, seems to always dawn on us at the precise moment we really feel like we want to get up and be proactive.
We can't just turn up, wing it and expect things to go well. So having a plan is critical - decide what it is you want to achieve, research what that entails, sit down and plan the best path forward, then when that moment strikes where you want to get up off the sofa - you are READY. You already know exactly what you will do when you set foot in the gym, there is no heavy lifting in the brain required. Only on the barbell.
2. Start Small: So what about the getting off the sofa part? Well, as established - the sweet spot for most activities in life is when we 'just do it' - but that is a hell of a lot easier when you know what you're doing and have a plan. So once you have created a plan of action, what should you do?
Start small. People generally make being consistent really hard work by trying to copy online workouts, have excessively long lists of exercises to get through, or work at unnecessarily high intensities too soon. Why not just start with doing a 2 or 3 things really well, really often? Then, only when you can do that, bump it up to 3/4 exercises, then 5/6. Starting small is a must and the sooner you go with that, the quicker consistency comes, and the quicker you progress.
As simple (and annoying) as it sounds, the most important thing for most people in this situation to do is make a plan, keep it small and simple, and JUST BEGIN. Otherwise, you will come to find you spend more time thinking about workouts that never happen, and pondering, or wandering around the gym, deciding on what to do, than actually just walking out the door, turning up, doing the work and then getting the hell out of there.
Find out what your ratio is for:
Training vs. Thinking / worrying / deciding about training
The greater your ability to shift away from think / worry / decide, and lean more towards actually just getting the work done (through good planning and forward thinking), this is a sign of being closer to where you need to be.
Good luck!
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