Am I back? Maybe I never left
Its been a while since I wrote a blog. Like, ages...
Part of me ran out of time, part of me wasn’t sure if they were effective, and then I just got out of the habit...
Then some shit went down. A global pandemic knocked us all onto our collective asses. As a gym owner and strength coach in a stage 4 lockdown, I found myself in a very unfamiliar situation. Sure, I trained at home, its not like I don’t have access to equipment. In fact, the lockdown was probably one of the best things to happen to my training in quite some time.
See, in 30 years of being an athlete, I’ve never NOT trained. I refuse to take days off, quite often to my own detriment, but if I am nothing else, I am stubborn. However now, instead of running a gym, constantly watching people train, or being interrupted mid-session for some programming questions, I was able to fully focus on getting my own stuff done. I’m not gonna lie, it felt good. My weights started going up again, I started packing some muscle back on, but most of all, it removed all the peripheral distractions that I hadn’t realised were preventing me from training like a focussed and driven athlete. It felt like the old days of just me and my best mate Neil, just rocking up to our gym and not leaving till we were absolutely cooked. My lockdown training wasn’t just a series of daily sessions, it was a rediscovery of my old training self. Not the coach, or the gym owner, not that I don't love being that guy, but it was all built on the back of being an athlete. The athlete that wants to then share his love of training and his passion for helping people. During the time away from the gym, I remembered why I loved these physical pursuits in the first place. I remembered how good it was to train like a fucking savage, day in, day out, and I made it a habit again.
Thats the thing about habits, isn’t it? Slooooowwwwly we drift out of them, we don't even realise. A small exception here, a little excuse there. But, by the time we are honest enough with ourselves to take responsibility for our own decline, it often takes a huge effort to get ourselves back into the routine we should have never let slip in the first instance.
So we are back, and despite all odds we have been back for a while now. Not everyone has been so lucky. Or maybe I’m just stubborn.
I got back into the gym post lockdown in the right mindframe, knowing I will never let my intensity slip again. I expect it from my athletes, and I will lead by example. That is a commitment I take very seriously.
...and the blogs are back.
I’m back in the habit.