AMBITION 2020!
Welcome to the first weeks of a beautiful, bright, New Year ! 2020 is YOUR year to crush it....and....along with what feels like hundreds of New Years resolutions flooding the gym.
Setting goals, new intentions for the New Year - it's an awesome practice. It can also be a bit trying on the patience while at the gym. Waiting lines for cardio ? LBH - barely made it to the gym for cardio - so waiting an extra minute? Risky business !
For me, training specifically during the January, February flood of people, I've adopted a few practices over the years to help ride the storm :
1) Go in the early AM: Ok so this one actually started out of the principle: First things First. Take care of yourself physically, mentally and this will give you more energy throughout the day to invest in your family, job, etc. It also has an added benefit of all those juicy positive synapses firing in your brain (AKA - dopamine) and you walking into the day feeling like a warrior. Oh and it's 8AM. That said, over the years, there is less people that work out in the early AM. That's not to say you won't still be fighting crowds in January or February, it is a lower volume overall.
2) Plan thy week. Plan out, schedule every workout for the week on Sunday. Seem like a bit much? Over the top? Controlling? Obsessive? Good, it should be -- it's your physical health and well being! Structure brings freedom. Fail to plan. Plan to fail. Once you've outlined your week - put it in your calendar and a reminder. Tell people about your plan. Execute. Before planning out the next week? Reflect. What worked well? What didn't? What class are you telling everyone about and blowing up your IG about? (hint - go back to that class) Identify what 1 new habit or thing are you going to try out this upcoming week?
3) Get creative. For awhile, I tried to do weight lifting at a large gym. Regardless of the time, day, moon cycle, anything - there was inevitably someone on the leg press, checking his Tinder profile, taking 2 hours. I started researching and planning out supplemental workouts in place of the leg press. This really helped my frustration in wanting to get on this machine, plus kept workouts fresh and creative. It also is why it lead me to....(see #4!)
4) Go to BBP Weight Training classes: Signing up and finding BBP weight training classes, let me count thy ways !!! Classes are small - 10 - 15 people. Which means there's no jockeying or fighting for a specific piece of equipment. Also, the people in these weight lifting classes? Built in motivation. Each class, I'm paired with 2 to 3 other athletes. All walks, talks of life and we are all athletes in our own way, and wow the motivation this brings. It's damn near impossible to quit when you see someone giving 100% and you are thinking about slacking off. The classes are constantly changing, and the variety is great for keeping it fresh. It's also the constant confusion concept - essentially the workouts are never the same so this keeps your body guessing which ultimately leads to a stronger, leaner and healthier YOU.