Words one rarely hears from your average trainer, right? Usually it’s go!go!go! and push!push!push!

And sometimes, that yields diminishing returns. Sh*t, I myself pushed so hard recently, I reach a short term goal successfully at the expense of another goal. One was a professional goal out of necessity, the other a personal one. When you chase 2 goals, sometimes, you’re lucky if you get one. I was lucky I reached the pro goal at least, the necessary one. Both in fitness, btw.

So, I’ve decided to scale everything back. Follow my own program, not one I got from another brilliant and successful coach in my own training community. Not to say you shouldn’t get a program from someone else (I do that daily for others), but as in all programs designed in a book for numbers (as in numbers of readers/buyers) you CANNOT personalize. Sometimes, I like to experiment with other’s work, sometimes I design my own for myself as I do for others. And I find the latter works much, much better for me (not because I am better, but because I have applied the knowledge others instilled in me and chose the best possible aspects of it to my needs and physiology at the present moment, which is the point of education).

Another person’s design may not suit your reality. Life happens, and you may have the discipline to follow through the steps as prescribed, but sometimes, you simply ought not to, because you wind up further away. Yes, I agree sometimes that a bad workout is better than no workout, as another great trainer FB friend of mine and RKC posted in her blog, but (and I pointed that out to a client recently), sometimes you need more rest, more food in you or any variable that your program factors in and life factored out that day. Say you dropped a couple of pounds from lack of sleep and lack of food, whatever the reason (baby schedule off in my case), should you push for an all-out workout that morning, when you’re neurologically weak and it’s your heavy day? Answer #1 can be Yes, you might learn something. I learned once like that that if I dropped a pound or two, didn’t sleep enough, I shouldn’t progress in the session as planned (I log all variables and all screw-ups as well as successes which helps me isolate the missing element). Don’t wanna teach myself and my body a bad habit and break the groove. So answer #2 is No, for me at least and really, sometimes you too.

If you miss the train, there’ll be another one. If you fall off the train, well, you know what happens…

So, I am resetting, going back to the basics, going light. Call me a wuss if you want. I dare YOU to take it easy and go light and be man/woman enough to own it! Reset your neural pathways and go strong in a little bit again!