I could’ve put a picture of Rocky Marciano here as well. I’m not sure if either him or Jack Dempsey ever took a step back in the ring.
“If you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backwards.”
I’m going to take a break from the “Build the Body Women Want” series and give you guys this article. I’ll be back with the chest and back part to that series later this week.
I think a lot of us look at the low points in our lives as the moments that are going to build our character, and they definitely are, but sometimes it’s those moments when things are going better than ever will ultimately show us more about what kind of person we are.
I’ve mentioned it before but I think it’s a great piece of advice from my Dad who has said it on numerous occasions, “don’t get too low when things are bad or too high when things are going well.” I think a lot of that speaks to what kind of character a person has. They are who they are whether or not they literally can’t lose, or if the shit’s hitting the fan.
You hear it all the time, people changing when they ‘make it’. When they get to where they’ve always wanted to be they feel as though they have to act like someone who has it all, and completely forget about the outlook on life and the values that got them to this successful period in their lives.
This can apply to work, social life, family and yes, training and fitness…
When a lot of us get the body we’ve always wanted, or get in great shape, we figure we’re done, we’re here and now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Or when we begin to see some visible gains, we figure we’re allowed to cheat a bit more because, well, we’ve earned it.
I’ve seen this in myself before on multiple occasions. I gained my 30 lbs of lean muscle, actually 32 lbs, and then began to slack off a bit. I had a period where I began to eat fewer and ‘dirtier’ meals, but I eventually saw my physique beginning to change for the worse, which shocked me back on track. I had worked so hard to get to this point and I was about to throw it all away because I was lazy? Useless!
I learnt my lesson and am now much more self-aware, but also weary of the same thing happening again.
Here are a few steps that’ll help you prevent this lazy streak from happening in the future – whether it’s with work, life in general, or fitness.
Laziness Prevention
1. Structure
By structure I mean a program – or in the case of a non-exercise context, short goals.
Complete a program, take a scheduled amount of time off, then get back into that same program or progress to something new.
As the quote at the top of the page effectively illustrates, avoid becoming stagnant at all costs!
2. Always have something to work towards
Both in your workouts and in life, have a goal you’re working towards, and don’t make it a “life-long” dream. Yes, a life-long dream can be the supreme motivation, but find something smaller, and closer, a specific date you’re building up to.
Right now I’m building up to one of my best friend’s weddings. I’m a groomsman at the wedding and needed something to work towards. I have performance and physical goals I building up to. I want to get to a certain weight, a certain body fat percentage, and I want to add weight to specific exercises that I would like to improve on. So, I’m using my buddies wedding for motivation.
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What things help you avoid becoming complacent?
