One of the biggest challenges most people face with making fitness a long term sustainable habit is being OK with NOT making progress for a period of time.
The fitness industry at large pressures people into thinking they *need* to always have goals, when in reality having a minimal acceptable output rather than ambitious goals for a few months is better for your health.
The lifestyle for ambitious goals isn’t sustainable. They’re totally achievable, yes, but not forever. After a period of working towards an ambitious goal (fat loss, performance, a race, etc etc), it’s important to pull it back for a bit.
-Eat in maintenance calories and be a little more loose with your tracking.
-Bring the workout intensity and volume back
-Take a break from a single modality for a few weeks
The constant pursuit of ambitious goals leads to fatigue and burnout… something you need to avoid.
Giving your body and your mind a break will help set you up for success for your next goal and get you fired up about the challenge. Embrace the time when going through the motions with a minimal acceptable output is completely OK.
Another way I like to think about it? Seasons.
Do professional athletes go 100% all the time, 365 days a year? Absolutely not.
- They ramp up in training camp
- They build during the season
- They peak for the playoffs
- They give EVERYTHING they have for the playoffs/championship run
And when the season is over? They take a BREAK.
It’s not uncommon to see these high performance athletes do absolutely nothing athletic for a period of time. Why? Because it’s healthy.
It’s setting them up for the next season. It’s part of their recipe so they can continue to make progress. Because they know that if they keep up the 100% lifestyle, there’s a 0% chance they’ll be able to make progress. That’s how you make progress. You stay consistent with your overarching goal (be fit, win a championship, earn the company bonus, etc etc), but you give yourself seasons.
So what does that mean for you and me? Us NON-professional athletes?
Well, we don’t want you to take a break from exercise. We still need to move our bodies and continue to build the habit of consistency. But that doesn’t mean we can’t change it up, or vary the intensity.
If you’re reading this blog, you’re more than likely a member of Yellow Rose Fitness, or someone who finds our content relatable (if that’s you, come try us out sometime!). So what are some things you should do?
- In our workouts, make the conscious decision to modify and scale back the workouts more than you normally would for 1-2 weeks
- If you usually workout 5 days a week, workout 3-4 instead (or do some low intensity jogs outside of class on those extra days)
- If you usually follow Level 1, follow Level 2!
- If you usually try to “go hard,” try to simply move and sweat.
Make the conscious decision to not go 100%. You aren’t being lazy. You aren’t wussing out. You aren’t wasting your time.
You’re still getting an amazing workout, you’re still building your consistency. Most importantly? You’re setting yourself up for a new “season” for you to push yourself, make progress, and set yourself up for a new off-season.
You don’t have to go 100% all the time, and that’s OK. In fact, going 70-80% is one of the healthiest things you can do for your longevity.
-Clark Hibbs
