I worked out last night. It was one of those times that I really didn’t want to be at the gym. I think most people think as a personal trainer I ALWAYS want to be covered in sweat while lifting heavy objects and jumping around. I wish it were true but alas, it isn’t. I had NO desire to even walk on the treadmill let alone do burpees. I seriously sat in my car for 10 minutes playing Candy Crush until I was able to talk myself into at least stopping that ridiculously addicting game and walking inside. I stalled by going to the bathroom, filling up my water bottle, chatting with the front desk person and checking email on my phone… it was pathetic.
I weighed my options
a. Stay and do the planned workout
b. Go home
c. Go to Stop and Shop
If you think I’m joking about this, I’m not. I really sat in that stupid little chair shaped like a hand at Planet Fitness and contemplated my dilemma.
(The hand chair and Planet Fitness are another blog post all together.)
By the time I decided, I had wasted at least 30 minutes. So why did I have such a hard time with this seemingly simple problem?
Because I’m human.
As humans, we don’t want to do things that are uncomfortable or don’t give us instant gratification. Working out was going to take an hour, leave me a sweaty tired mess and not give me any real instant rewards…was it worth it? Of course. So what was it that made me chose the “right” decision?
The right choice was made by realizing what the difference between going inside and completing my workout or going home (or to Stop and Shop) really is.
So what exactly is that??
It’s your goal. And I’m not talking the vague tone up or get stronger goals. I’m talking the specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely goals.
You NEED to have a vision of why you are standing in a puddle of sweat completing your 80th burpee.
You NEED to know in your heart why you are making a change in your life by putting down the cake or Doritos.
You NEED to be able to talk to yourself when you have days like I did yesterday and say “I’m going to stay and complete my workout because I have a race in 30 days OR I’m going to fit into the size 8 dress for my sister’s wedding OR I have a canoe trip in 2 months that I want to complete without getting hurt.”
You NEED something to fall back on when you want to play Candy Crush for hours and eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s while doing so.
Ultimately, I chose “a” because I have a goal. My goal is to be able to safely finish(read: don’t break any bones) the Spartan Race in under 1.5 hours on August 10th AND get more mud in my hair than last year! 🙂 For those of you who haven’t heard about, check it out here.
Although it was painstaking to come to that final decision and waste so much time, I’m glad I did. If I didn’t have that specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely goal, I would still be playing that darn game. 😉