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I have heard the same thing so many times in the years that I have been a coach. An athlete finishes their A-Race, takes a bit of a recovery break, and then eventually emails me saying “Now that my race is over, I can’t seem to get motivated to workout anymore!” – or – “I seem to have lost the motivation to exercise, now that the race season is over.”

Then, after they flounder around for a while, unsuccessfully trying to get magically motivated, they sign up for another race with the sole purpose of rekindling their motivation to exercise. And sure, that works… but I think they are missing the point.

I am going to say it: Motivation is overrated and overvalued. For my money, motivation can suck it.

Races are fun and I love helping someone achieve their race goals – but races aren’t the reason you are getting to the gym, track, pool, or trail on a consistent basis. Having a plan is!

Races aren’t the reason you are getting to the gym, track, pool, or trail
on a consistent basis. Having a plan is!

You see, when you have a race on the calendar, you usually also have a training plan for that race. That training plan involves a concrete workout for most days of the week. This forces you to make room in your schedule to get said workout done. And that right there is the magic. At that point, motivation can go hang – because you have a plan!

The workouts are on your schedule and therefore you get them done. And you know what, you can do this even when you don’t have a race to train for! WHAT?!?!? I know right?

So, I am not saying that you need to stop racing (if you enjoy it) but you do need to give credit where credit is due. The plan is the real hero here, not the race, not some magical motivation imp sprinkling “you love to exercise” dust on you as you sleep, not even your goal of achieving and new personal best finishing time.

It’s not the race – it’s the plan.

1. The opportunity to watch a bald eagle relaxing on a tree near our house while making up stories about how excited the other birds in the neighbourhood to have her visit.
2. Knowing that my sister trusts and respects me the way that I trust and respect her.
3. Possessing a demeanour that allows me to be approachable but worth listening to (I helped a kid at the gym today and I don’t think he wrote me off as “some bossy old guy”).

Walking home from the grocery store, in the rain, carrying everything on my back, I decided to add a little extra movement to my day.

No need to change clothes or set any time aside. Just some extra movement tossed in to challenge my balance, leg strength, proprioception and coordination.

Don’t tell me you don’t have time to exercise 😉

Do you get stiff and achy ankles and feet during the day? Me too. In this “Workout of the Week” I demonstrate a quick routine that you can do to keep your piggies, tootsies and ankles nice and loose and limber.

If you like this, check out my hand and wrist loosener.

I can’t believe it. Not only is it autumn already – but October is nearly halfway over!

Which means, for us in the Northern Hemisphere anyway, it is time to start pulling our cold weather movement practices (and gear) out of storage (metaphorical and physical) and get them back into the forefront. For me, that means doing things like setting up the bike trainer, switching my running shoes to ones with more grip, and perhaps buying some Swimmer’s Shampoo to protect what little hair I have left on my head from the indoor pool and its overly chlorinated-ness.

What does autumn mean for you, in terms of fitness and movement? What changes are you going to make to ensure that you don’t turn into a sedentary lump for the cold weather months? Let me know by hitting REPLY on this email and I will write an article on this topic and include your suggestions.

And with that, my friend, on with the digest!

If any of the following topics happen to tickle your fancy, click the underlined text to read or listen.

My Podcasts:

Scientific American – Is It Possible to Get Fit Fast?
Everybody wants to get built right now or to run that 10k next month, but can you really get fit fast? And is that really the point?

Scientific American – The Importance of Forearm Strength and How to Build It
Do you have weak forearms? Is your lack of forearm strength holding you back? In this podcast, I answer a listener’s question and get to the bottom of this weakness.

Get-Fit Guy – Can You Use Yoga to Improve Your Athletic Performance?
Is there a way to use yoga to improve your performance and resilience at a particular sport? I met picked the brain of yoga practitioner, Abi Carver of Yoga15.com, to find out how she works with athletes to do just that. 

Get-Fit Guy – How to Stay Hydrated During Exercise
How important is staying hydrated during exercise? If you’re lugging around a fanny pack water bladder or sports beverages, you are overcomplicating it. (For some added hydration knowledge check out the Nutrition Diva’s article called When are Sports Drinks Necessary?)

Videos:

Hanging Leg Raises: Get-Fit Guy’s”Workout of the Week” #39
It may be one of the most overlooked core strengthening exercises but it is also one of the most effective. As well as working your lower abs, it activates your entire core while also challenging your shoulders, back, quads, and grip strength. Shout out to my mate, Graham Turner at https://www.instagram.com/gt_fit_at_50/ for reminding me of this awesome exercise.

Social Media:

The most popular post in the last two weeks was a photo of me and Abi Carver promoting the podcast episode I mentioned early about how to use yoga to increase your athletic performance. As you can see, we were both pretty excited about it!

Other Stuff:

My friend and business partner, Monica Reinagel, just kicked off her very eye-opening 30-Day Nutrition Upgrade again. If you feel like your diet could use an upgrade (and whose couldn’t?), I strongly encourage you to go check it out!

This Workout of the Week is brought to you by the MetPro Fitness Test.

Read more about fitness tests and more about burpees.

In this “Workout of the Week”, I explain what a Calf Raise is and how you can prepare yourself to do a single leg version safely and effectively.

Find out more at my article called How to Get Strong and Defined Calf Muscles.

You have probably heard me talk about multi-joint exercises in more than a few Get-Fit Guy podcasts. Well in this video, I demonstrate a few of my faves.

Find out why this is important in this podcast called 12+ Reasons to Lift Heavy Things

In today’s Workout of the Week, I (Brock Armstrong) will show you how to use occlusion during a bicep curl. For more info on BFR or Occlusion Training check out – https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/exercise/build-strength-and-muscle-fast-with-occlusion-training

In this video, I show you how to break the exercise known as The Burpee down into manageable chunks. For more info check out the article called 8 Steps to Doing a Burpee.

Continue reading “Get-Fit Guy’s “Workout of the Week” #22 – The Burpee”