Sunday, November 22, 2009

Rest Day Musings - Excuses and reasons

Excuses.

We all have them.

You know, those things you tell yourself as to why you can't workout today. Like "My kids/spouse/neighbours woke me up last night." or "I have dirty dishes in my sink.", or "Everyone will look at me and think I'm weird!" Most of the things we tell ourselves are really excuses to cover up the fact that we are stalling on doing the workout because
A) We are lazy.
B) We don't like the workout for the day.
C) We are afraid we can't do the workout of the day.
D) We are lazy and don't want to exert ourselves on the workout of the day.
(Did I mention we are lazy as one of the things our excuses cover up?)

But there are instances where we are telling ourselves things as to why we can't do the workout of the day, and they are not covering up laziness, or fear of the workout. They are legitimate reasons. They can include anything from injury, to emotional fatigue, to life throwing you a big curve ball, to not having mastered proper movement form to keep from killing yourself.

It's ok to have legitimate reasons to skip a workout, modify a workout, or do a different workout all together. Just don't let your reasons turn into excuses to keep you out of the game.

But how can you keep this from happening?

First, you have to really know yourself and be totally honest with yourself. You have to know what your fears are, your weaknesses are, and what your strengths are. If you consistently pass on workouts that have movements you are weak on or don't like, and substitute for a workout that has movements you are strong in, you will never strengthen your weaknesses.

Second, Hold yourself accountable! Keep yourself accountable to someone who knows you well. And who values your friendship or life enough to give you a swift kick in the fanny if you need it. Some one who knows you this well and values you can help you sort out the excuses from the reasons.

Third, eliminate all the excuses, or ignore them. So what if everyone looks at you and thinks you're weird? I'm sure someone else looks at them and things they are weird as well. Dirty dishes in the sink? They will still be there when you walk back in the door.

Fourth, take care of your reasons. Get sleep, eat right, listen to your body and don't workout if it's really telling you it needs rest. Haven't mastered the proper form of a movement? Get a good coach for a week or two of intensive one on one training. Whether you workout in a box or workout at home. Injured? Modify the movement or the workout.

Just for fun, here's a video Eva T did a while back of excuses heard frequently at CrossFit SantaCruz Central. See how many you can remember saying to yourself.

And please know I am totally preaching to myself on this subject. I've done pretty good this past week, but who knows about next week!

Be Blessed

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