The second installment of a two-part series on why people fail to stick to their training plans
We have already done the introductory stuff in part 1, so we’ll get right down to brass tacks in Part 2
#4: It’s too hard to stick to you plan
We’ve all heard the clichéd example about excuses, obstacles, and barriers as reasons to why we may not be able to accomplish a given task. Excuses are generally self-imposed. Luckily, excuses are easily overcome by making a very simple decision to not let the excuse be an excuse. Generally only this decision and not much corrective action is needed. You just simply decide to get out of bed, not go to the bar, or otherwise get off your ass and go train.
Obstacles to training often fall in the realm of social and/or family commitments, or are logistical in nature. Maybe your preferred gym is 40 minutes from where you live, or keeps odd hours. Often as people start to build families, training on evenings and weekends is not impossible, but is difficult because we know that that time should really be spent at home with our kids. Obstacles are more difficult to overcome than excuses. Usually some careful planning and compromise is needed to navigate around them, but it can usually be done.
Barriers are things that cannot be changed. Obviously, if you work a traditional 8-5, then you can’t train between 8-5. Injuries and illness are barriers. I heard a GREAT line on the new Netflix series House of Cards the other night. Kevin Spacey’s character said: “Long ago I gave into the annoying necessity of sleep.” For those of us who like to put a lot on our plates or are just flat out workaholics, we can identify with this. There is only so much you can cram into a day, and you have to sleep. Sacrificing it for too long is not good for your health, your career, or your relationships.
Solution 1: Eliminate Excuses, Obstacles, and Barriers.
This all comes down to priorities. How important is your training to you? Is it your number one priority? Is it number 5? 10? No one can answer that question for you, and it is not my job or anyone else’s to assign your priorities to you so there is no right or wrong answer. Eliminate the excuses by deciding to stop making them. Simple. To remove obstacles and barriers, take a look at your social, family, and professional life. Where can you make changes to make more room for your training? Do you really need to be involved in every social group or volunteer organization that you are involved with? How much time do you spend every week doing things for other people? Learn to say “no” a little more often. Can you get more organized and efficient at work? Try and just check email once per day and spend your time doing productive activities. Doing so could free up time so that you could head home an hour earlier, arrive an hour later, or take a longer lunch break. All things that might make training eaiser. If you feel like your daily schedule is an obstacle or a barrier to your training do the following simple exercise. Make a list of 20 things you do in your personal life or professional life that could be done more efficiently, delegated to someone else, or flat out eliminated. Don’t stop until you get to 20. If you start thinking about all the “favors” you do for other people, it may be hard to keep the list down to 20. If you then take action on that list, you will be amazed about how much time you can free up.
Solution 2: Make your training more efficient.
Sometimes this means sacrificing the speed at which you progress, but that’s okay if it means the difference between training and not training. If you train with a 3 day Texas Method model, switching it up to a 4 day model will add a day of training, but greatly reduces the length of each session. This is better for those who maybe train late in the evenings or on a lunch hour where time is at a premium. For others, it might be more helpful to reduce the frequency in which they train and try to cram everything into say 2 days per week.
I train twice per week now and still make pretty decent progress. I also only really focus on one exercise at each session. That only puts me under the bar about 2 hours per week. It’s not a lot, but it’s something I know I can stick with. I don’t ever have to miss workouts, and the length of my training sessions doesn’t bleed over into other areas of my life. And most importantly – I make progress with it.
Here is my current set up:
Week 1 Week 2
Tuesday Tuesday
Max Effort Squat + Back off sets Max Effort Deadlift + Back off sets
Friday Friday
Max Effort Bench + Back off sets Max Effort Press + Back off sets
I add in assistance lifts and condition with the Prowler when I can, but this is the bare minimum that I have to do each week.
If your current routine is too hard to stick to, try reducing the length of the sessions and/or the frequency in which you train.
#4: Influence of Other People
Time Wasters
If you do the exercise above (list of 20 time wasting activities) you may find that many of those activities are associated with certain people. If the same person keeps popping up over and over again on your list, it may be time to re-think you relationship with them. Some people are just very adept at wasting your time. Find ways to avoid them. As a general rule, I think it is a good idea for everyone to become a little harder to reach. The cell phone/smart phone has created a society in which people expect instantaneous responses to calls, emails, and texts. Stop participating in the non-sense. Try to avoid compulsively checking your phone for emails and texts or for social media updates. This kind of thing eats up tremendous amounts of time and breaks focus while working on projects.
Generally Negative People
These people will slow you down in all areas of your life, not just training. Some people just have a knack for it. Always complaining, always a victim, always in a dramatic conflict. Avoid them like the plague. Their general negativity eats away at your positive mental energy, your focus, and even your physical energy. These types of people will almost always try and suck you into their world (misery loves company) and get you involved. Don’t let it happen. Nine out of ten times you can’t solve their problems for them anyways. Unless it is your spouse or your kids it’s better to just disengage. If it is your spouse or your kids, put your family first and get the problem fixed.
#6: Doing it alone
I’m an independent guy by nature, and even a bit of an isolationist. But even I know that my training has always been better when I have a training partner or at least a good group of guys to train along-side of. Many of my personal training clients have been with me 6+ years now. Every year when I survey them, I always ask the question: “Why do you continue to remain a client at KSC?” Every year the number one answer is accountability. In other words, if they didn’t have a standing appointment with me week after week, they wouldn’t do it. It has nothing to do with laziness. My clients tend to be very successful people in their personal and professional lives and this doesn’t happen to lazy people. They just know that exercise/strength training would probably get pushed out of their schedule if they didn’t keep an expensive standing appointment with me on a weekly basis. Not everyone has access to a good coach or can afford it full time. But a solid training partner can serve the same purpose. I have one. We aren’t even on the same type of routine, but we keep a standing appointment with each other on Tuesdays and Friday at 11am. Often times, I am right in the middle of an important project but I know I have to stop and go train. If I didn’t have an appointment with my training partner, I’d work right on through the afternoon and probably never get around to the workout.
I realize that the 2nd half of this article series sounded a lot like a chapter from a corny self-help book, but it really all does come back around to affecting how we execute (or don’t execute) our training programs. If you find yourself on the merry go round of training programs or constantly stopping and starting things, ask yourself the following questions?
Can I eliminate unnecessary commitments and obligations from my personal or professional life?
Can I reduce the length and/or frequency of my training sessions in a way that fits better into my life?
How can I disengage from people that chronically waste my time or leave me with negative energy?
Can I be more productive in my day by cutting myself off from the interruptions of texts, emails, and social media?
Can I find a reliable training partner to help me be more accountable to my own scheduled training times?
