Let's face it, Exercise can be mind numbingly boring. It's exhausting, takes time out of our day when we could be doing other more important things and the DOMS we have to endure after the workout... seriously why do we do that to ourselves?
We seem to have these peaks and troughs of motivation. Especially at this time of year when everyone is getting so hyped up about health with "dry January", doing a detox, hitting the gym six days a week. A couple of my clients told me that the gyms they go to were so busy that every single piece of equipment at the gym had someone waiting to use it...
But then something happens and mid February to March people get bored and stop their health craze. Is it lack of results? Unrealistic goals? Life getting in the way? Or Boredom? Its probably all of the above.
Many of us are outcome and number focused when it comes to setting goals. And yes this certainly does work for some people. But why is it that so often we don't achieve these outcomes?
Well I think I have the answer to this. From my own failings at trying to achieve goals and also through the experience of coaching clients I believe it is the nuts and bolts of achieving these goals that we overlook.
By nuts and bolts I mean the basic behaviors we need to achieve them. I'll give you an example, I know a young keen 29 year old city guy who wants to get into great shape. He has a grand goal of wanting to get into cover model shape as quickly as he can before this summer. His plan assumes that he will "crush it" every time he goes to the gym. His diet will be flawless and that he will not go out and socialise for 6 months... you see where I am going with this...
Our city boy friend would have become so bored with the "grind" of exercising 6x a week that he would have stopped by late February.
A far more effective approach for our friend would be to focus on actually getting to the gym 3x a week, not missing a session and maintaining that for the six months.
As a coach myself I get bored of the gym. I am in a gym all day coaching clients and sometimes the last thing I want to do is "smash it" at the gym. I dread it in fact. (Can you imagine a trainer that actually dreads the gym...true story). I could make up some of the smartest excuses as to why I need a 20 minute power nap, should study some more or need a rest day as my sleep was not 100% last night.
I know more than anyone what the "grind" and boredom of exercise feels like. So how did I overcome it?
As mentioned earlier, I focused on the nuts and bolts of the goal. I set a goal to train 144 times in a year. That is 3 sessions a week with 4 weeks off for holidays, illness etc. All I have to do is turn up. That is 80% of the battle, show up and the rest will take care of itself. I will have some excellent sessions when my energy and motivation is high and I will also have some poor sessions where I drag my feet. (Last week was like that as I struggled with Jet Lag). As long as I show up I am winning. And I know that as I record that number and it gets higher and higher, my self esteem and motivation will start to increase.
As time goes by, the boredom of exercise begins to wear off. Emotion is detached from it and much like brushing my teeth in the morning it is just something I do.
In 12 months time I will be fitter, stronger and probably leaner than I am now. That will be a result of just from turning up and making sure I hit that 144 sessions for the year.
I can also use this with things like nutrition. 2 fists of veg with 3 meals a day= 6 fists of veg a day= 42 fists of veg a week= 180 fists of veg a month= 2,016 fists of veg in 48 weeks...(4 weeks a year of maybe not being so good, I am human after all).
Focus on the nuts and bolts behaviors that you need to perform a given number of times to achieve your goal and you will be amazed how the boredom, particularly for exercise, becomes less and less.
Remember that "Everything is hard, before it is easy"
Can you think of any behaviors that make up the nuts and bolts of you achieving your goal this year? Set that number and start today.
Yours in health
Patrick Fallis