Don't Quit - Do It!
We all know that summer bodies are made in winter yet we see so many people reduce or even stop their training and nutrition routines through the colder months. Why is this?
The answer is simple;
Because it's hard!
It's hard to get yourself out of bed in the morning when it's cold and dark.
It's hard to go for that run or walk after a long day at work when it's cold and dark outside. It's even hard to come into the studio and train before or after work because the days are getting shorter and it's easier to stay in bed or go home and watch TV.
So why should you bother? Why should you take the hard road and do things you don't particularly want to?
Because it's worth it!
It's worth it when you finally get to summer and peel all those clothes off to reveal the summer body you want. The summer body that you have earned.
It's worth it when you go to the park on the weekends with your kids and can actually run around with them for longer than 10 minutes. It's worth it to see the joy in them when you can play with them.
It's worth it when you go to the doctor and get a clean bill of health, when the doctor says you no longer need the blood pressure medication, or the cholesterol tablets.
It's easy to forget through the cooler months how much extra we eat or drink and how much less we train and move. It's easy because we are rugged up and no one can see the added body fat we have accumulated. There is no hiding come summer though.
What we also can't hide from is the damage it does to your mentality. To your discipline, to your standards.
Your brain is like any other muscle in your body in that you can train it to be strong. You can train mental toughness. Every time you take the hard road and do something you might not want to do but know that it's best for you then you build mental toughness and make your brain a stronger muscle. Every winter morning when you get out of bed and train as opposed to staying in bed then you get mentally tougher and every time you take the hard choice it makes the next time easier. It starts to get easier to get out of bed and train. You stop accepting your excuses and you start taking accountability. You stop going for the easy takeaway option on the way home and decide to make a healthy dinner instead, then you make some extra to take for lunch the next day.
By the end of winter if you have decided to take the hard road more often than the easy road then you will have the body you want for summer. If on the other hand you accepted your excuses and took the easy road then you will be very disappointed.
Plenty of people around you will take the easy road and some of them will want to pull you down with them. Be stronger than that and inspire them to be better or get better friends. Use the positive circle of influence you have around you in the studio and make winter a winner. I see the ladies who meet in the studio every Tuesday and Wednesday morning all year round to run at 6am. It's cold and its dark but they do it, week after week without excuses, they do it. Then they go to work knowing they have taken the hard road that morning and won the day.
It's your choice. You have the choice to make winter a winner and build not only the body you want but also the mental toughness to keep going and push through any hurdles life may throw at you. Don't think how hard it is to get out of bed in the morning when it's cold and dark but think how good it will be to run around the park with your kids or go swimming at the beach with them and hope you aren't embarrassing them.
Make the choice to keep to your training and nutrition routine and challenge yourself even further. Enter a running event and achieve something you haven't before. Set a massive scary goal that you want to achieve and do everything you can do get there. We will help, we love seeing what people can achieve, we believe in you, we just need you to as well!
Don't be a quitter, don't quit on yourself, don't quit on your kids. Show your kids that excuses aren't to be accepted and standards are standards, it doesn't matter how cold it is.
Work hard through winter, develop the mental toughness of a warrior and hit summer at full speed.
It's your choice...
*Disclaimer: Individual results vary based on agreed goals. Click here for details.
