obstacles were made to be overcome
”If you base your workout schedule on the weather, you’ll never build a habit of exercise.”
This is especially true for those of us in the pacific northwest. On more than one occasion I’ve thought to myself “If only I lived in California, it would be so much easier to work out”. Or “if only the gym was closer, then I could work out more regularly”. These are real problems. There is no getting around the fact that it is more difficult to motivate yourself to go running when it’s 36 degrees and raining.
When I was living on Bainbridge Island the closest crossfit gym was a good 30 minute drive away. So instead of going my usual 3-4 times a week, I could only make the trip up 2 times a week.
The problem was I had committed to a personal goal of doing 3 workouts a week “no matter what”. I had to get more creative about how I got my workouts done. In response I joined the local health club across the street so I would have access to their weights, and I found a list of workouts that I could do with very little equipment. When I couldn’t make it to the gym, I worked out across the street, or in the park, or in my living room.
Was it ideal? No. But did it work? Yes. And it allowed me to reach my goal, and thus maintain my habit.
Luckily for me after a few months new gym opened up about a mile from my house. Since I had been committed to going 3 times a week and had to put a lot of extra energy into the process, when the new gym became available I was able to easily go 4-5 times a week.
When we overcome obstacles we build resiliency in ourselves. Many times we can get so wrapped up in trying to make the goal attainable that we forget that the benefit comes from the work of achieving the goal, not the goal itself. Interesting goals are not easy to achieve, they take work.
— image courtesy amandabhslater
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