We all have those days where we don’t feel like doing SHIT.
Sunday was one of those days for me. I drank the night before and ended up taking two naps during the day, which zaps my energy. It could’ve been so easy for me to just say screw it and start over on Monday. I’ve had lots of weeks like that lately.
BUT NO. I had one more workout left to get in for the week, and I was going to do it even if it was a sucky workout. I told myself that if I could drag myself to the gym then I had permission to do the laziest machine-only workout.
Once I did my warm-up I decided I’d do some light squats if the squat rack was free. If not, off to machine-land like I’d originally intended. Well, what do you know…it was open, beckoning me to step in. I ended up hitting a PR for reps, which was unexpected given my low energy level. I followed that up with Romanian deadlifts, pistols, and then wonderfully mindless machine work.
I felt pretty good about myself and was reminded of a lesson I learned long ago. Half the battle is just getting your ass in the gym.
When we struggle to workout one of two defense mechanisms arises: we give in to the laziness and say, “Meh, another day,” or we think a low-key workout isn’t good enough and thus choose to do nothing instead of something.
Black and white thinking, man. It won’t get you far.
What I did yesterday is a good way to combat both those mentalities. If you are dragging your feet, give yourself permission to half-ass your workout. That way it doesn’t seem so daunting. There’s a good chance that you might have a whatever workout, but that’s better than nothing. And there’s also a chance that you could go in there and do way better than you expected. Either scenario trumps sitting on the couch all day.
So decide to slack off at the gym, put on your sneakers, get in your car, and go. You’ll keep the momentum going and most importantly you’ll be keeping your word to yourself.
