Do A Little If You Can't Do A lot

Do A Little If You Can't Do A lot

I have said it before and I will say it again, the majority of us, and the people we coach, are not elite or professional athletes (even so whilst when we are in the gym, it doesn’t matter who you are we should aim to hold everyone to the highest of movement standards relevant to their current spot in their development). What that means is that there will be periods of our lives where the time we have to dedicate to exercise, healthy habits or any other hobbies for that fact simply reduces. The reason that this has come into sharp focus for me at the moment is because It’s a really busy time. I’m doing additional qualifications, changing jobs, trying to set up my coaching business, buying a new house, coaching and of course, trying to stay fit and healthy. This is also at a time where my Fiancée is also feeling  stretched finishing her PHD so everywhere you look there is time pressure and prioritisation that needs to be done.

It would be really easy to miss a lot of sessions and I have to admit I haven’t been training quite as much as I would like to. There is of course a choice though. Do nothing or do a little? It’s at these times where doing a little goes a long way. There is that post going around saying that on the days where you only have 20% to give, if you give 20% then that is your 100% for that day. I couldn’t agree more and doing a little looks a lot different to some people. It might be doing 10 minutes of mobility work, a 20 minute run or brisk walk, 100 push ups, etc. The benefit of just moving is amazing for a lot of reasons, mental health when you are busy is undeniably one of the most important ones and  in a world where you have built a strong exercise habit, keeping it there, even dialled down slightly, is important so you don’t lose.

Maybe it's not the time that you dial down, maybe you just feel mentally exhausted and you just need to move so instead of squatting 75% of your 1 rep max maybe you switch it up to a 7/10 RPE based on how you are feeling on that day. In CrossFit we talk about that concept of relative intensity and that relative intensity could look different for everyone and could look different depending on the day. There are definitely days where, if the programming has been particularly hard in the first few days of the week that I give people the option to  choose if they want to use that specific workout to dial in a skill or to use it as a bit of active recovery. It is one of the hardest things I think I contend with as a part-time coach who maybe only see's people once a week or once every couple of weeks is that you have to judge really quickly where people are on their development curve as well as then how they are feeling on that day.

The beauty of CrossFit, and lets be honest, most types of exercise, is that we can modify what you are doing to meet your specific need on that specific day so when times get busy and exercise takes a bit of a back seat, if you can, just do a little, it doesn't have to be a lot. A little will make a massive difference and keep you moving forward or maintaining.

Stuck for ideas on what to do if you only have a short amount of time, maybe if its just 10 minutes between meetings, why not reach out to a coach and bounce some ideas off of them. 

Andy