5 years ago we set out to break down the barriers within the fitness industry. Then it was the low level of care commercial gyms had towards their clients, and personal trainers who treated their clients like transactions.
Today during a pandemic, we are striving to break down the barriers your are facing at home so you can continue making progress.
A survey was sent out this week to engage with our clients and to understand what is challenging them at home.
The 4 key themes that came out were:
- Lacking Accountability
- Missing Human Interaction
- Loss of Motivation
- Training Intensity
I believe the first course of action we need to take is acknowledging that everyones circumstances have changed dramatically, which also means our mindset and actions need to change too.
These 4 themes are defining attributes to have, and are all things I have been faced with and challenged by. I have only been able to hone these skills over the last 4-5 years. To me, the 2 underlying attributes to make them happen is discipline and resilience.
Without discipline consistency for any action or behaviour won’t occur.
Without resilience giving up, quitting or not trying in the first place will occur.
Now there are some things I am going to say that may make you feel uncomfortable, that is completely natural. The lack of comfort is because some of my points and examples I use may be something you are currently experiencing and your subconscious may not be happy agreeing with this. Rather than stop listening, hear me out and then think about what I have to say, rather than only listening to what you are comfortable listening to and calling me an idiot because you disagree.
Everything I am going to discuss I have experienced myself and observed in others.
Accountabiity
I fully understand and appreciate that trying to motivate and hold yourself accountable at home is going to be challenging, no longer having a set gym session or work start time to keep you accountable, can throw your routine out of whack. The question only you can ask yourself is are you going to allow these changes to keep you out of whack for as long as you are in isolation?
The solution I have for you is to set your alarm for the same time that you are used to, and treat a Live Stream session as your booking. When you alarm goes off, tell yourself “I have to get up” even when your mind is filling your head with excuses why not to “you can do it later”, “you don’t have to wake up this early”. Later won’t happen, the sleep that follows is of low value, the more you give into these excuses the easier they will become to accept.
Each time you do not give into them, that is your will power, that is you flexing it. Each time you flex it, the stronger it will get until eventually it will flex without you even needing to think about it.
Tomorrow morning set your alarm for the time you were getting up pre coronavirus, treat the Live Stream Session as if it is a booked in session.
If you still refuse to set an alarm, and can’t get yourself out of bed, something that worked for me during High School was my mum barging through my door and dragging my arse out of bed – I hope that it doesn’t need to get to this stage with you because that would mean having one of your parents staying over every night you want to train the next day.
Human Interaction
The current social distancing and isolation restrictions are out of your and my control, but what is in our control is how we choose to train. If human interaction is important to you, being able to have a conversation with someone each morning and during training utilise the Zoom Dial In Sessions. Haven’t used Zoom before? It’s just like the first time you used FaceTime, Instagram or Facebook, yes it is new, yes the first time might be a bit awkward, but it going to give you what you want – human interaction.
Sign Up for Zoom now and get tomorrow mornings dial in details ready 5 minutes prior to the session started.
Motivation
Motivation can come and go, I experience this throughout a year. If this is the case, acknowledge it is the case and look to provide a new stimulus to the equation. If training in a small apartment is a problem, get in touch with a close friend or a house mate, and organise 2 or 3 mornings each week to meet in a park and complete the session together. This will help motivate one another, hold one another accountable, and you will also be able to push one another to get more out of each session.
Training Intensity
Training at a certain intensity is what is going to determine what type of results you are going to achieve. In the current circumstances, being realistic with what results are possible is necessary. Are you going to build muscle and strength, most likely not unless you have got a at home gym that looks like the Rock’s. Can you keep challenging yourself each day and make progress with what training and equipment you have access to, absolutely.
If you cannot get the most of of yourself at home after trying following a Live Stream, during a Zoom call, or in a park with a friend, the final option would be organising 1 on 1 personal training.
There are the 4 barriers that you could be faced with at home at the moment, which you now have 4 solutions to. What is going to determine what you get out of this indefinite amount of time is the decisions you make today, because the longer these barriers are in place for, the harder they will be do break down.
Drew
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