This one goes out to all the garage gym athletes, the weekend warriors, the casual competitors, the guys and gals who are training for the fun and love of it...
Why do you train? I think it's important to regularly ask yourself this question. It's far too easy to lose sight of why we spend hours in the gym, spend our paychecks on gym memberships or new equipment for the garage gym or hiring a personal coach, pore over fitness articles and athletes' social media accounts every spare moment, and constantly think about hitting that new squat PR or improving our 500m split. For 99.8% of you, the answer to this question does not include "I'm preparing to represent my country at compete against the most elite athletes in the world at the Olympics" or "this sport is my livelihood and my career." Most of us, after a moment of introspection, will answer something along the lines of "because it makes me feel good," "because training is fun," "because it helps me look better naked and I enjoy the friendly competition with my gym buddies," "because it's satisfying to work towards improving myself physically," or maybe even "because I am preparing for a local competition that I want to do for the fun and thrill of it." Most of us do this stuff because we want to, because we like to, because it's fun for us, not because we are trying to break a world record and become a legend, not because our lives depend on it.
Now, if you are one of the .02% that is preparing for the Olympics or who makes a living off of your elite-level performance in your sport, feel free to stop reading and keep taking your training very seriously (though I'd argue that there's still merit to prioritizing enjoyment). But for the rest of us: your training should be fun. I bring this up because I've let myself fall into the trap of taking my training far too seriously, and I've seen it happen to countless other athletes as well. Missing important family and friend events to spend a few extra hours in the gym, kicking chalk buckets when you miss a PR, spiraling into a state of depression after you tweak a muscle in your back and you can't squat for a week, becoming a social recluse because you're too busy sleeping to recover for your next training session, letting a bad gym performance ruin your day, cursing, yelling, and crying at the weights—without even realizing it, this becomes par for the course for some of us, and the activity that we took up because it makes us feel good and puts a smile on our face is suddenly ruining our day, affecting our relationships, and stressing us out. You know that ass-hat who flips the table and storms out of the room in a fit of rage when he loses a game of Uno? That's what you're doing when you take your training too seriously (unless you're an elite, world-class Uno competitor). You're taking something that's supposed to be fun, satisfying, and enriching, and turning it into something that you can no longer enjoy, that others can't enjoy as much when you're around, and that loses it's original value and purpose. More important, I believe, than hitting that 5lb squat PR, is having fun with your training. Most of us got into this fitness stuff and stuck with it because we love athletic pursuits, we have fun with it, we enjoy the challenge and the reward—not to be #1 in the world.
Now, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't be competitive, that you shouldn't strive to improve, that you can't get angry when you miss a lift, or that your training should all be a joke. Quite the opposite—being competitive, putting effort and discipline into improving yourself, and yelling a few choice words when you miss a lift can all be part of the fun. Competition can be fun. Improving yourself is absolutely enjoyable. Getting excited or even a little bit pissed, assuming you let it go and laugh it off after, is fun! But when your training starts to get in the way of relationships, starts to ruin your day, starts to turn you into a person that no one wants to be around, you're missing the point.
The greatest piece of irony is that prioritizing fun in your training tends to yield better results (do I have your attention now, super intense garage athlete?). We tend to perform better when our head is in the right place, when we are not stressed, when we are confident, when we are excited about what we are doing and have a clear mind, not when training becomes drudgery and has lost all of its luster. So remember why you do what you do. Remember what's really on the line. Are you on the verge of setting a world record? Are you about to qualify for the Olympics? Are you going to win the CrossFit Games? Is there a multi-million dollar contract on the line? Is the safety of your family and friends dependent on how well you exercise today? Probably not.
So lighten up, take the good with the bad, work hard, enjoy the journey, and keep getting better. Have fun.
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Strong of heart, strong of mind, strong of swole.
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