WARREN’s WISDOM
Are you tired of work and life getting in the way of weightlifting? Making progress in the gym can become a substantial (but worthwhile) time investment. We understand that life happens. In this article, we'll be looking at some practical ways to help you balance lifting and life.
1. Set boundaries.
I know, I know. Your boss is a monster. Line managers keep scheduling meetings at the supposed end of your work day. Deadlines and targets need to be met.
Or worse still, you're the monster: the one that is always trying to please others. Always saying yes; always overwhelmed.
Before becoming a weightlifting coach, I was a software project manager for a decade. Training was a big part of my life. I went to my boss and had this conversation, one human to another:
“Hey, I've got this sport that means a lot to me. Alongside my career and family, it's a top priority in my life. My coach is only available on Wednesday and Friday evenings from 6pm.
The trouble is, to arrive on time for training, I'd have to leave work a little early on those days. The commute to the gym is two trains and a bus.
Assuming no hard deadlines, would you be comfortable with me leaving work early on those days? I could arrive early, or over-deliver on other days. I guarantee I would never leave early if it negatively affected the business.”
He was cool with it, because he was a reasonable person. As long as I met my deliverables there was no issue.
Very few things in life are set in stone. Almost everything is up for negotiation, so long as the outcome is a win-win for all parties.
I know it can be scary to ask. I was scared. The cost of not asking was higher, though. Even though I was nervous, I knocked on the boss’ office door.
The only negative outcome you could experience is the boss says no, and things carry on as they were.
And then you get a new job.
2. No really, set boundaries.
If you are a business owner, or very driven in your job, it's possible work and personal time get blurry. I'm not one to tell you how you ought to live your life. Actually, I am going to tell you how to live your life. Cut that out and guard your personal time. Overworking leads to burnout, and burnout leads to badness. Mental health, physical health, relationships... you and your loved ones deserve better.
If you were a parent and you needed to pick your kids up from school, you would make time for it. Make time for other things that are important as well. Looking after your physical wellbeing is non-negotiable. All high performers block out time for mental and physical wellbeing. Those who pay lip service to wellbeing without prioritising it suffer dearly. It's a slow bleed, so you won't feel it at first, but suffer you will.
Do you want to be a high performer or just impersonate one? Set boundaries.
3. Deploy a bit of cognitive flexibility.
Sometimes you truly won't be able to make it to the gym. It happens, yes, but it must become the exception. How can you sidestep a change to your planned training?
Unplanned training! Can you set up a makeshift training setup in your garage or living room to do some of the work? Can you negotiate a storage arrangement for your training equipment with a friend? When my coach was younger, he was on the national weightlifting team. There was a period he didn’t have access to a gym. He asked the janitor of the building he lived in if he could have a cupboard to put his weights in. Tucked away in the janitor’s broom cupboard, my coach would snatch and clean pull. Then he would do his accessories. There wasn’t enough ceiling height to put the bar overhead. It was sub-optimal, but coach kept his groove.
If the training is continually sidelined by work, can you reshuffle your calendar? If evenings are a bust, can you shift your training to mornings before work? Maybe you could do what I did. When I worked an office job, I would sneak off to a nearby commercial gym at 11am and wouldn’t come back until after lunch. I was a terrible employee then. I am unemployable now. But I made the same amount of money and my lifts got better!
Can you access a gym outside of your coach’s availability, and work out a remote coaching arrangement? You send videos of key attempts for review, then apply the feedback you receive. This is every online training business everywhere, by the way.
Are you over-committed in any other areas? I made sure to do all my drinking immediately after training, personally.
Can you skip the training and move on without it impacting your life? It is frustrating, but dwelling on the issue doesn’t solve anything. Better to focus on solutions rather than problems.
4. Recognise this: weightlifting's true timeline isn’t affected by the odd missed workout.
This is part of a larger discussion. Weightlifting is a bit like learning the violin or investing in index funds. You don't get spectacular results inside of a year. A year is short term planning. Three to five years is medium term. If you've already had the courage to take up this sport, recognise you're playing a ten year game. Bare minimum.
Once you truly internalise this, a missed training session becomes a drop in the ocean. Your unrealistic expectations of when you'll be lifting a particular weight, your impatience, your ego... it can all fall away, if you allow it to.
This is a guest post by Warren Djemal. Warren is a writer and gym owner who has been lifting and coaching since 2008.
