by Michael Plank
Every once in a while, I like to remind myself why I train at all.
And I don’t mean in a big, dramatic, “What’s your WHY?” kind of a way. I mean in a small, practical, every day, “what’s the point?” kind of a way.
We just celebrated the 10th anniversary of our gym yesterday. And For at least 9 of those years, I’ve asked every person who started with us what their goal was. I’ve heard literally hundreds.
“I want to feel more confident.”
“I want to be able to play with my kids.”
“I want to live longer.”
“I want to have more energy.”
“I want to have less pain.”
“I want to be able to have fun on our hiking trip this summer.”
“I want to get back to skiing.”
Here’s mine: I want to be fit enough, and feel good enough on a daily basis, to be able to do any physical thing that I want to do.
I don’t want to win the CrossFit games. I don’t want to put up competitive lifts. I don’t want the fastest mile time of my life.
I just want it to be the case that if something sounds fun, I don’t have to think about whether my knee (or my back or my conditioning) will let me do it. That freedom likely won’t last forever. But I’d like it to last for as many years and decades as possible.
Here are things that serve that goal for me:
- Moving my body every day – walking, stretching, lifting, gymnastic-ing, jiu-jitsu-ing, crossfit-ing, archery, hunting, rough-housing with the kids, etc.
- Eating lots of meat, fruit, vegetables, and fiber
- Drinking lots of water
- Getting adequate sleep (both quality and quantity)
- Time with family and friends
- Church, prayer, meditation
- Therapy
Here are things that don’t serve that goal for me:
- Injuries
- Debilitating soreness
- Working out so hard that I can’t think straight
Now, I’m not saying that injuries don’t happen. You saw my list of physical movement things, right? I am physically active, and that means sometimes I make mistakes or go too far and I get hurt. I’m not saying that I never get so sore that I have trouble lifting my arms or not walking weird. I do. I’m not saying that I never work out so hard that the time it takes me to get back to normal is measured in hours instead of minutes. I’m fine with all those things.
But I get suckered into training too hard sometimes. And when I do, it’s nice for me to have a check – something to measure against to see if what I’m doing is a good idea. And then I can adjust from there.
And I say all this because the best person in the world to tell you if what you’re doing is a good fit isn’t me. It’s you.
If what you’re doing is serving your ultimate goal, have at it. And if it’s not, adjust and move on.
And if we can help, just let us know.