Let’s See

There are still plenty of days when I don’t feel like doing cardio.

Seriously.

People assume because I’m a trainer I wake up excited to jump on a stair climber or throw on a weighted vest every single day. I wish that were true. There are still days I look at the stair climber and think, “Not today.” There are days I’d rather just lift. There are days I’d rather head home.

That feeling hasn’t really changed over the years. What has changed is how I respond to it.

The other day was one of those days.

It was around five o’clock. Nice night. I threw on my weighted vest and headed out for a walk. Before I left, I’d already made a deal with myself.

Thirty minutes.

Five minutes in...

“This sucks.”

I don’t know a better way to put it. My legs felt heavy. The vest suddenly felt heavier than it actually was. I started thinking about everything else I could be doing instead.

Sound familiar?

I think we’ve all had that conversation with ourselves. The mistake is believing that however you feel five minutes into a workout is exactly how you’re going to feel twenty minutes later.

I’ve learned not to trust those first five minutes anymore.

They’ve lied to me too many times.

So I kept walking. Around ten minutes, I noticed my breathing settle down. By fifteen, I wasn’t thinking about turning around anymore. By twenty, I was actually enjoying being outside. By thirty, I was glad I went.

And thirty meant thirty. That was the deal I made with myself that day.

But that walk reminded me of something else I do all the time, especially on the stair climber.

Let’s say I get on with one simple goal.

Ten minutes.

That’s the commitment. I’m doing ten.

When I get there, I don’t literally stop climbing or hit pause. It’s more of a mental pause. I check in with myself for a second.

“How do I feel?”

If I’m completely smoked, today’s a ten-minute day. Fine. I did exactly what I said I was going to do.

But if I’m feeling pretty good?

“Alright... let’s do another five.”

So I get to fifteen.

I check in again.

“How do I feel now?”

Still good.

“Alright, give me another three.”

Now I’m at eighteen, and maybe I don’t want to commit to another five. So I make the goal smaller.

“Can I do one more minute?”

Yep.

Nineteen.

“One more?”

Sure.

Twenty.

“One more?”

Yeah, I’ve got that.

Twenty-one.

“One more?”

Yep.

Twenty-two.

And then maybe I get there and think, “Alright, that’s it for today.”

Done.

Here’s the funny part: I never planned on twenty-two minutes. I planned on ten.

Everything after ten happened because I kept checking in with myself and making another small deal based on how I actually felt in that moment.

I was explaining this to one of my clients recently, and she stopped me right in the middle of the conversation.

“Patrick... I’ve honestly never thought about it that way.”

She’s in her fifties, and she told me that in all that time, it had never really occurred to her to approach a workout that way. If she walked into the gym planning to do ten minutes, she did ten minutes. That was the goal. That was the finish line.

She’d never really considered getting to ten and then asking herself, “Okay... how do I feel now? Could I do a little more?”

That caught me off guard.

Not because I thought I’d just said something profound. Quite the opposite. I’ve been doing this for so long that I just assumed everybody thought that way.

Funny how that works.

You can spend twenty or thirty years doing something a certain way and eventually it doesn’t even feel like a strategy anymore. It’s just what you do. Then you explain it to somebody else and they look at you like, “Wait... you can do that?”

The more I thought about our conversation, the more I realized how often I use this in fitness.

Stair climber. Bike. Weighted vest walks. Lifting. Whatever.

And I use it with clients too.

The goal isn’t to trick yourself into doing more. That’s important.

Sometimes ten minutes really is enough, and that’s okay.

This isn’t some “Never quit! Push through everything!” mentality. I don’t believe in that.

It’s about honoring the commitment you made first and then making the next decision with the information you have now.

If I told myself I’m doing ten minutes, I’m doing ten minutes. I’m not three minutes in saying, “Eh, I’m not feeling it today,” and getting off.

Three minutes doesn’t get to make that decision.

My body's barely warm. My breathing hasn’t settled in. I haven’t even given myself a chance yet.

That's the part I think people miss.

Something can change once you're ten or fifteen minutes into a workout. Your breathing finds a rhythm. Your body loosens up. You stop thinking so much about how much you didn't want to do it in the first place.

And suddenly?

It's not so bad.

Maybe you've got another five in you.

Maybe another three.

Maybe just one more minute.

Maybe you don't.

Let's see.

This Month’s Takeaway

The next time you don’t feel like working out, don’t worry about finishing the whole workout before you’ve even started.

Make a deal with yourself.

Honor it.

Then check in.

“How do I feel?”

Maybe today’s enough.

Maybe you’ve got another five minutes.

Maybe another three.

Maybe just one more.

Let’s see.

Coach Loz Fitness

P.S. If there's a topic you'd like me to cover in a future issue, just hit reply. I read every email.