TWO MINUTE CLOCK

Hi friends,

As we are now in March, just over 1/6th of the way through the year... This is the period where most of our 'New Years Resolutions', have come to a close.

In weightlifting, I've always been interested in as to why I can to can't stick to something. Whether it be rehab exercises, abdominal work, stretching, accessories... I've had good and bad runs with all of that and more, like I'm sure most do.

If you're wondering why you may have 'fallen off'. Here's some conclusions I've made about my own 'fall offs' when it comes to consistency. Some claiming where I have definitely gotten wrong, and those I have gotten right!... Plus those I can still continue to get wrong 😵‍💫.

Failures:

1. Unconsciously Seeking Out Obstacles & Friction

This one I am most guilty of. In the past when I have set a goal. I couldn't 'just set the goal'.

• If I wanted to be more consistent at the gym, I HAD to be at the gym before 4am, 7 days a week.
• If I wanted better grades in school, I had to study for several hours every single day and go over every single resource available.
• If I wanted to be better with my diet. It was egg whites and plain oatmeal for breakfast.

See a pattern here? I always unconsciously chose the path of most resistance, because for some reason I felt like I needed to romanticise the process to be some incredibly challenging journey... All of course, did not last long term.

2. Unrealistic Expectations

This one is a no brainer. But say if I had a goal I wanted to attain. I would execute the plan, and then relentlessly and frequently measure myself against the goal. With doing that so frequently, it would result in doubting the process and eventually giving up because it wasn't attaining the delusional goal in reference to the small amount of time given. A game of process vs outcome orientation.

Successes:

1. Accountability Through Partnership

One thing that definitely helped me and I'm sure everyone can agree with, is the power of not doing things alone and having someone there to keep you accountable. Want to know how I trained abdominals every day for 1,394 days in a row? I didn't do it alone. Myself and my partner did the same daily workout for the entire time. Would I have been able to achieve that alone? Not a chance.

• Here's our day 365 of 'Abs Everyday' some years ago with some odd stories of where we trained abs during just that first year if you wanted to see an insight.

2. Removing Friction

I've found that minor inconveniences can be enough to stop me from doing the thing I want to be doing. Example being, I have started logging my food again for the past couple weeks. One thing that I know would hinder my chance to stick to it, was the fact that the logging app took three slides from the homepage to get there... So, I moved it to the front page because I knew it would increase my chances greatly when it came to sticking to the task.

It can be as easy as removing seemingly small amounts of friction, or changing the environment to be more conducive to sticking to it, that I have found, has made the difference at times.

3. Planning a Slow and Steady Process

Adding too much to my plate all at once is one thing that has stopped me in my tracks before. If you have 'fallen off' and don't know how to get back where you were. I have found it true that all of the 'activation energy' is essentially spent on just getting started again and showing up. If you have zero motivation and want to get back on the horse and say, for example, train 5 sessions a week... This is how I'd do it, as much as my brain would be kicking and screaming throughout the process...

Simply just turning up and ticking your name off at imaginary roll call 5 times a week is a start. Not going in and crushing 4-5 exercises every session for all 5 days, and then throwing a 6th day in because you're on a roll.

Just turning up, then adding another set, another exercise, and accumulating small wins over time.

It's a game of building momentum, not going from 0-100 and thinking you can hold that pace for the distance.

Additional Content Over Past Week:

• IG Reel - Raising the Feet too High in the Jerk​
• IG Reel - Lacking Bar/Body Awareness in the Olympic Lifts?​
• IG Reel - 4.5 Year Split Jerk Comparison​
• Podcast - Importance of Strength Training in Weightlifting​

Until Next Week!

Happy Lifting 😎 ,

Brandon

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