Catching up with blogs yesterday turned out to be most educational.
There's Franz talking about their family trip to Mexico and the chance it also offered to contemplate on life, objectives, motives, etc. "The day to day routine sometimes has a way of keeping us from the deeper things of life." Humm.
Tracy says she was "closest she's ever come to skipping her workout, but she forced herself in the gym. [...] No option, especially when laziness, procrastination, or "I just don't feel good" is the only excuse. [...] Show up and do the reps." Hummhumm.
At this point I remembered how Rif always emphasizes the distinction between training and exercising. The main difference, as summed up in one of his earlier posts is : "In order to train and not just exercise you must have a goal. Doesn't matter what it is, you just have to have one (or more) and pursue it with as much zest as possible." Ah-ha.
There I go. Having to do a lot of paper work and such is, if I'm honest to myself, nothing else but an excuse for procrastination. In the last couple of months of preparation for the Cert I often had busy days/weeks, too, but I had no difficulties getting my sessions in. Training and work both had deadlines. It was all simply about time management.
Now I lack motivation. Why? Because I don't have an appropriate goal.
The idea of GTG is of course not bad but it is a _method_, applying it without such a goal in mind, however great a method, is still just exercise, not training.
In theory, the idea of maintenance wouldn't be bad either. Goals can be of different nature. Highly individual, as they are derived from desires.
I know people who go to group workouts with the sole session-by-session short term goal to perform better than the others and impress the instructor/coach. Is that bad? No way! Goals are there to make you strive for them. The only criterion of judgement is if it works. If it works for them, they should stick to it and enjoy the improvement that comes along anyway. You don't necessarily have to have improvement set as a goal to improve. But, in order to work, your goals do have to be SMART for you.
S - Specific & Significant
M - Measurable, motivational, methodical & meaningful
A - Action-oriented & achievable
R - Realistic & relevant
T - Time-bound & tangible
This is why the people mentioned prosper and I'm so slack: unlike theirs for them, maintenance as a goal is not SMART for me.
I need a SMART one as soon as possible. Even if it's just a small, simple and not at all 'elevated' one, doesn't matter, but it should be SMART.
Like... Something with swings. Doc is so right. Pavel's 'Joker' answer. Rif's "center of the Universe". The very basis I always revert to.
Oh, I'm sure I'll come up with some fun challenge :)
There's Franz talking about their family trip to Mexico and the chance it also offered to contemplate on life, objectives, motives, etc. "The day to day routine sometimes has a way of keeping us from the deeper things of life." Humm.
Tracy says she was "closest she's ever come to skipping her workout, but she forced herself in the gym. [...] No option, especially when laziness, procrastination, or "I just don't feel good" is the only excuse. [...] Show up and do the reps." Hummhumm.
At this point I remembered how Rif always emphasizes the distinction between training and exercising. The main difference, as summed up in one of his earlier posts is : "In order to train and not just exercise you must have a goal. Doesn't matter what it is, you just have to have one (or more) and pursue it with as much zest as possible." Ah-ha.
There I go. Having to do a lot of paper work and such is, if I'm honest to myself, nothing else but an excuse for procrastination. In the last couple of months of preparation for the Cert I often had busy days/weeks, too, but I had no difficulties getting my sessions in. Training and work both had deadlines. It was all simply about time management.
Now I lack motivation. Why? Because I don't have an appropriate goal.
The idea of GTG is of course not bad but it is a _method_, applying it without such a goal in mind, however great a method, is still just exercise, not training.
In theory, the idea of maintenance wouldn't be bad either. Goals can be of different nature. Highly individual, as they are derived from desires.
I know people who go to group workouts with the sole session-by-session short term goal to perform better than the others and impress the instructor/coach. Is that bad? No way! Goals are there to make you strive for them. The only criterion of judgement is if it works. If it works for them, they should stick to it and enjoy the improvement that comes along anyway. You don't necessarily have to have improvement set as a goal to improve. But, in order to work, your goals do have to be SMART for you.
S - Specific & Significant
M - Measurable, motivational, methodical & meaningful
A - Action-oriented & achievable
R - Realistic & relevant
T - Time-bound & tangible
This is why the people mentioned prosper and I'm so slack: unlike theirs for them, maintenance as a goal is not SMART for me.
I need a SMART one as soon as possible. Even if it's just a small, simple and not at all 'elevated' one, doesn't matter, but it should be SMART.
Like... Something with swings. Doc is so right. Pavel's 'Joker' answer. Rif's "center of the Universe". The very basis I always revert to.
Oh, I'm sure I'll come up with some fun challenge :)
6 comments:
An excellent exposition on the nature of goal oriented progress. This has been the key to my continued progress and yours as well.
If anything, with your base of amazing strength accomplishments and some more time to ponder your next set of goals, I wouldn't be surprised if you have might issues with pruning your next set of goals down.
In the meantime, we both share a common goal of getting familiar with the FMS program to prepare to get ready for the CK-FMS cert.
The SMART method is fantastic. Yoana and I barrowed that concept from some great coaches and talked about it in our Kettlebell Fat Loss Book.
Great post and very insightful.
Great minds think alike :)
one thing to remember about big events like the cert where you peak after a long buildup of training, both mental and physical: it can really fry both your adrenals and CNS.
As I like to say' the next step off a peak is ALWAYS down. You can choose to step back or fall off'.
now that the goals been reached and there is no (nor should there be) immediate goal to be obtained you are startig to feel the tiredness of all the work you've done.
back off both volume and intensity and build back up SLOWLY. Don't worry, this is normal :))
Asian warriors always had a soft art to pursue during down times ~ calligraphy, poetry, tea ceremony, flower arranging, painting, whatever.
Yin and yang. It's not just a good idea; it's the law of nature.
great point aaron. well put.balance is everything.
Franklin,
you are right, goal setting is a key. But Aaron has made a very important point. It is not enough to just keep finding yourself yet another and yet another new goal, you also have to make sure your goals contribute to, and not work against balance.
I do tend to want to keep pushing forward, to have difficulties with backoff times, to be only satisfied with "big" goals. But if they are all on the same axis (Yang, in case of kettlebells, I would say), they lead linearly into an extreme.
To avoid this, I can either stay on that one axis, fight my nature practicing self-control and patience, or I can balance it out by setting and striving for goals on other axes, too (Yin), and use my nature to bring me back to balance as a side effect, so to say. So many people combining kettlebells with yoga is probably not just coincidence.
Thank you, Franz,
I teach introductory courses in sales, management and all kinds of business communication related fields, and I keep encouraging my students not to hesitate to apply the principles and methods we cover in all kinds of areas in their private life, too... What is motivation, if not selling your ideas? You take, for example, AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. Between D and A, you insert SMART. A combination that most probably works, no matter if applied to clients or yourself :)
Mark,
I'm so glad you tell me these things, so reassuring, thank you.
I have never been competitive, as a matter of fact, the Cert was the very first time I was to peak at a pre-defined time. Totally unexperienced, my mind was kept busy just with how the heck am I going to bring my preparation about, so I had no foggy idea what to expect afterwards, let alone how to deal with it... And I certainly did worry if it's normal :))
Aaron,
thank you for pointing this out. A great analogy. The most basic principles are often so obvious they are easy to overlook.
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