Get Your Ass to the Gym

Several years ago I wrote an article on the “Key to Success” and the most important thing to being successful in whatever you do, especially when talking about your gym life, is consistency. When looking at gym attendance we see that only the rare few are consistent gym goers who show up rain or shine. We at N6 are blessed to have most members reflect this badassery but we all get into slumps sometimes. Let’s face it, life can get you down, shit happens and the weather sucks sometimes. So how do we overcome that life throws at us and still manage to show up? It’s this idea of consistency that will help you prioritize and understand what real training looks like.

You see, being consistent doesn’t mean that you show up jumping off the walls and cushing workouts on a daily basis. It’s pretty great when we have days like that but training with that mentality is a sure recepie to burnout and inconsistency. One of the worst things you can do is get all excited about training, come to the gym everyday, kick ass and then stop for a week or more. You know you’ve won the battle when you show up and meet your attendance goals. That can be two times a week, or seven days a week. What matters is that you show up to what you’ve planned on accomplishing that week.

Sometimes we have real reasons not to show up like family and work commitments. However, we’ve all had days, more than we’d like to admit where we see the workout and just don’t feel like showing up. That’s straight up bullshit! Or is it?  When personal stress in our daily lives builds up, we can feel pretty beat up and our Central Nervous System just doesn’t need more crazy stress, so we stay home. This is a legitimate reason to stay home, but there’s good news. This is where your coach comes in, and a good coach combined with good communication is a winning combination.

With my personal training athletes, I always work on a red, yellow, and green light system. Regardless of what I have planned that day, we start with a conversation and get an idea of how hard they need to push. Notice I didn’t say how hard they can push. So when you come into the gym, give the coach and idea of what you’re feeling that day and be honest, because it’s super easy to shy away and say I’m fine.

Red light - I feel like shit and don’t want to be here but I showed up.

Yellow light - I’m tired, didn’t get much sleep last night and feel beat up.

Green light - I know were squatting for 5 reps but can I PR today?

If you let go of the ego, and show up no matter how you feel, communicate with your coach, you’ll still have a great workout regardless of the circumstance. You may not lift what you think you’re capable of that day, but you’ll get shit done. Repeating this process over months, will accumulate an incredible amount of fitness. So be smart and be consistent.

Coach SIl