I’m always talking about the positive side of fitness, nutrition, habits, and more. I prefer this viewpoint because I believe and have experienced both with myself and with most of my clients, that inspiration (excitement from within) is more effective than motivation (from outside sources) in beginning and sustaining habit changes.
That being said, it’s true, also, that there will be some days where you just don’t feel like doing what you need to do for your health, fitness, and wellness goals. Some days are challenging.
There is a balance to be found within acting from inspiration and acting out of motivation or discipline. This is why planning and following a plan is so important. The plan in itself is an accountability tool.
For example: I’m training for the Richmond Marathon that is now less than a month away. I created a plan (I am a certified run coach) back in April. I’ve been running consistently 4 days a week since then. I had progression and recovery built into it, also, so my boyfriend, who is also running it as his first marathon, and I both would not get injured.
There were many mornings, especially in the beginning, where I did not feel like getting up early to go running. With our schedules, we would have to get up at 4:00 am to run at 5:00 am. But we did it anyway. And as I got up earlier, I finally got to the point where I was consistently getting to bed earlier, too. That made everything easier.
Still yet, with a conservative training plan over the course of the past 6 months, we had a very tough 20 mile run the other Sunday. The weather was not great for running – 74 degrees (in the morning) and 95% humidity. (You never want a run to go poorly or feel awful, but especially when it’s a LONG one, haha). So we laced up our shoes and went out to get it in. It was the most difficult run we have had all season. And it was not our first time running 20 miles, either. This was our second go at it. But miles 16-20 felt terrible.
We had to laugh, though, because 95% of our runs have felt great, once we got the consistency down. I’ll take 5% not feeling great for 95% of awesomeness.
I say all that to say this: that it won’t always feel good. Yet, I know, that run made us stronger, not only physically, but also mentally and more confident in our abilities to finish what we started.
There is a balance between doing what you feel like doing and doing what you committed to do. There is a balance between good feels and hard discipline. There’s also a difference between hard discipline and compulsive discipline .. I’ll share about that next week, how to listen to your body when it’s begging you for rest.
I can help you in this area – to find where you should be pushing and where you should not be, in terms of increasing your fitness and health, or your nutrition habits. It’s different for each individual as well as each individual day. I can help teach you how to intuitively guide your body to greater health and fitness. Want to know more? Reach out to me and let’s have a conversation.
Have an amazing week! And take good care of yourself! 🙂
Aubrey Eicher
Owner, Personal Trainer
Richmond Wellness
richmond-wellness.com | 804-367-3589 phone