There are always excuses when it comes to hard work. It’s inevitable…much like death and taxes. There is always a reason why so-and-so can’t do such-and-such….and often times those excuses are completely rediculous. As a leader and trainer of Soldiers, I’ve heard all sorts of excuses as to why Private Schmuckatelli can’t (doesn’t want to) do this run or hard PT session. Of course more often than not the good Private is informed it would be in his/her best interest to shut up, get back in formation, and just do it…but what about the folks whose motivation has to come from within themselves, and not from some angry, fire-breathing Drill Sergeant who looks like he could swallow you whole?
Often the best intentions of people to get in shape are derailed by their own inner monologue. That lazy, pessimistic, doubting voice inside their own head that tells them there are plenty of reasons why they should skip the workout today…maybe go back to bed, or hell…go ahead, stay out late and have another beer. “Why not…we can always make that run up later…” Yeah, roger. Later is a relative term. If they don’t do their workout in the morning…and continue to put it off for another month before they finally get back on the track, then technically, he DID do it later, right? You get what I mean…there is always something. Well…what do you do when that little voice of self-doubt takes the gag out of it’s mouth and chimes in with it’s two cents? How do you deal with the early mornings, lack of motivation, occasional aches and pains…whatever? How do you put all that out of your mind and just do what you need to do to improve? Here are five excuses I’ve heard constantly along with some suggestions for dealing with them.
1. “I don’t have time…” Bull! I’ve got it…you’re busy, and you have kids, and you have a job…and while that may prevent you from training effectively for a marathon, it SHOULD NOT prevent you from doing physical activity, or from training the best you can. If you can’t train for one hour straight…then break that hour up throughout your day! If you can grab 5 minutes throughout your day and do a set of push-ups and some sit-ups or flutterkicks, you will get much more benefit out of it than if you just write off the training alltogether because you “have no time”. If you don’t have time to go for a long run when you get home from work because you have kids…make them a part of your workout. If I had the energy my 5 year old has I would be the Ironman World Champion right now! Get outside and run around. Kids don’t usually run at the same pace for a long period of time…they slow down and speed up. Sounds shockingly similar to a fartlek to me! Playing tag with your kids will get you breathing hard, and will give you some good quality time with your kids to boot! I’m a single father of an almost 6 year old boy, and a 2 1/2 year old girl…if I can find time to get my workout in AND clean, AND do laundry, AND help with homework, AND…(you get the picture) then there is no reason why you can’t do the same. Military folks…don’t even get me started on this excuse for military folks! You get an hour a day DEVOTED TO NOTHING OTHER THAN PHYSICAL TRAINING! Enough said on that.
2. “I have too much other stuff going on…” This ties in pretty closely to the first excuse, but is slightly different. This is more a matter of priority, as opposed to time management. If you examine all the stuff you think is SO IMPORTANT, and I mean REALLY look at it, you might realize that most of it is not really all that important. The most important thing here is to do an honest assessment of your goals and your reasons for training. Other things will only take priority over your training if you let them.
3. “My legs/back/head hurts…” Well…are you hurt, or are you injured. This is a very important difference. I honestly believe that no one should try to train through an INJURY. Doing so will usually only result in the problem becoming worse, and causing you to miss even more training. Injuries should be dealt with appropriately…and if that means taking a bit of time off, or doing light work, then fine. Hurts, aches, and minor pains on the other hand, are another thing entirely! If you are sore, then that most likely means that you just got done doing something you have not done in quite a while…and your body is pissed off at you. I know that is not the technical term for what is happening physiologically…but I think everyone knows what I mean. If you feel that soreness, and listen to that little voice in your head saying “ouchy…we need to stay in bed”…then your body will not adapt to that stress, and will be pissed off at you the next time you run as well. Being able to “play with pain” is what separates elite athletes in all sports (including Military Special Forces) from the rest of us mere mortals. Their ability to establish a goal, push their bodies beyond what their minds perceive as the limit, identify they are sore and tired, and still get up at 0500 to run is what makes them champions. Most of us will only ever compete against ourselves and the clock…but that doesn’t change the fact that a PR is still a PR. It DOES NOT matter if that PR comes in the Hawaii Ironman, the PFT track, or around the neighborhood block. The will, mental determination, and the ability to train through all those little aches, will allow you to reach that PR.
4. “I’m not a good runner…” Neither am I. That’s actually why I decided to start a site devoted primarily towards running. I am not a natural runner…I’m 6’1″, 210 lbs. I have known guys who could go for weeks without hard training, eat like crap, smoke, drink copious amounts of booze, party like a rockstar, and still run blazingly fast for long distances. Frankly, those guys kind of piss me off because I wish I could do that. I’ve had to work extremely hard to become a semi-decent runner…which is why I feel confident in sharing what has worked for me and Soldiers I’ve trained. The line at the end of “Revenge of the Nerds” sums it up pretty well “…there are a lot more of us than there are of you…” The majority of folks I’ve seen and trained were not those natural runners. We tend to avoid our weaknesses and focus solely on our strong points. We focus on them because we’re good at them…and because we’re good at them, we enjoy doing them more. This is natural, but it is not good. This point is valid if you substitute “runner” with any other word. Biker, swimmer, rower, volleyball player, typer…whatever. The lesson here is working on your weaknesses will have automatic carryover to your strengths. For Military folks, running of some sort is a requirement…so guess what? Better start embracing the fact that you’re going to have to run NOW and dedicate yourself to getting good at it!
5. “I don’t have room for equipment, and there’s no gym available…” Do you have a body? Does it weigh something? Do you have a floor, or grass, or any sort of flat surface attached to the earth by some means? Then you don’t have anything to worry about! Get down and knock out some push ups troop! For muscle balance, you can get a pull-up bar at your local sporting good store that you can hook on a doorway in your home. You can do a straight workout, or you can break it up and do a couple pull-ups every time you walk past the thing. There is no shortage of body-weight exercises you can do…push-ups, flutterkicks, 8-count bodybuilders, burpees, bodyweight squats…so on! If you have some spare change, and want a real challenge and a workout that will deliver maximum benefit in minimal time, check out kettlebells. They are definitely worth the investment!
The bottom line with all these, is that you should do an HONEST self assessment of your goals and prioritize those goals with everything else in your life. There will always be things that come up…and I get that. However, your training should not be something you approach half-ass…you should commit to doing it…THEN DO IT! Here is where a training partner comes in…a good training partner will keep you honest, and will provide that external motivation when, AND IF, you need it. Enjoy your training!!
I am a former competitive decathlete, and am currently serving in the U.S. Army. I have trained Soldiers of all ages, backgrounds and fitness levels to improve their running technique, speed, and PFT performance.
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