In Thoughts on Training #3 I wrote about the biggest obstacle many self-coached athletes experience—inconsistent training, or frequently missed workouts. There is a fix for this, but it’s hard to identify and even harder to incorporate. Why are you missing two or more workouts in most weeks? It could be lifestyle. Or motivation. Or responsibilities. Something is standing between you and the seldom-missed workouts.
After reading that post, and assuming you are guilty of inconsistent training, you need to give considerable thought as to why this is happening and focus on fixing this performance limiter. I offered some suggestions on how to do this in my post on consistency.
Here are some other contributors to inconsistent training—and what you can do about them.
Persistence
Persistence implies being dedicated to your goal. It should be upper most in your mind whenever you think about training. Why am I doing all of this? Is this what I really want? Am I doing the right things? Is this too hard for me to achieve? If you are unsure about the answers to these questions, then your training will be inconsistent. Failure is just around the corner. But if you have a goal that really motivates you—it’s a stretch to achieve and yet it’s realistic and reachable—you will stay focused and will be much more likely to train determinedly and consistently. You will find the time to get in the workouts. You will persist.
Patience
Then comes patience, which is hard because we all too often want to see immediate results. The patient athlete knows that success doesn’t happen overnight. If you expect to wake up tomorrow remarkably fitter than the day before, but lo and behold you’re not, then your disappointment may lead to missed workouts. Fitness takes time to realize—as in several weeks. It happens in drips, not gallons. You’ve got to be dedicated to your training plan for the long haul. You’re not going to see significant changes for several weeks. Be patient. It will happen if you remain consistent and stick with the plan.
Time Obstacles
Persistence and patience are important, but for most athletes, the starting place for consistent training is removing extra burdens from daily life. You need to cut back on those things that consume your time but are not valuable to you.
For years I’ve told the serious athletes I’ve coached that if they have high goals, they can only have three things in their lives until the goal is achieved: family, career, and training. That’s it. Trying to fit in more beyond these means you’ll have less time in your day for what’s truly important to you in training. And there are only so many hours in a day. Giving those hours away for things that are less important than family, career, and training means that something else must give. It’s certainly not going to be family or career, I hope. It’s almost always training that gives, which includes sleeping. If you get up in the morning tired after a short sleep and face lots of challenges ahead in your day, it’s no wonder you are missing workouts. You’re not Superman or Superwoman.
That overload of “extra” responsibilities and time-consuming matters we somehow accumulate in our daily lives not only take a bite out of your time, but also out of your motivation. It’s hard to be motivated when you’re tired from inadequate sleep and carrying a heavy load. You’ve got to figure out a way to cut back, to get rid of the excess baggage in your day.
Keep in mind today when being asked yet again to give away some of your time that if the request isn’t about family, career, or training, then the answer is something like “no.” It’s up to you to figure out a nice way to say that, but if the people you’re saying no to appreciate how important training is to you, they should understand.
Next, I’ll share thoughts on motivation.
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