One of the biggest keys to a successful fitness experience is giving yourself daily achievable goals that do NOT take you out of your comfort zone.
True, this is the exact opposite approach that many coaches and goo-roos teach, so hang with me for a moment as I explain.
Suppose you haven’t worked out in months, if not years. You set your NYR (New Year’s Resolution) to work out for an hour each day, and dadfreakinggummit, despite starting with the best of intentions, you fell off the wagon within three weeks of beginning.
This is the norm for what happens across the globe.
Meanwhile, in Furecatville, I have students who haven’t missed a single workout this year, yet they have a daily goal that is almost laughable.
One student, for example, has a daily goal of ONE Hindu Pushup. You read that correctly. His goal is to do ONE REP each day.
How many does he end up doing?
He does more than 100 most days, over the course of 20 minutes. He’ll do one set, then rest, followed by another set and more rest, and so on.
Again, his goal is ONE REP.
And this seemingly ridiculous goal gets him started each day without any excuses about not having time or “not feeling” up to it.
In doing this one pushup, he not only achieves his daily goal, he also gains momentum. He feels good because he got started, and as you are aware, getting started is at least half the battle.
On the other hand, if he gave himself a goal of 100 or 200 Hindu pushups, he could come up with plenty of reasons to break the good habit and NOT train.
I’m not recovered.
I need a break.
I don’t have time today.
I have a lot of other things to do today.
I need to watch my favorite tee-vee show.
My wife needs me to eat with her.
Etcetera, etcetera.
So what about the tee-vee and the other excuses you have. Get the job done. NOW.
It’s only ONE PUSHUP.
I don’t care what you have going on, you have time for that.
Another student followed my advice and is doing similarly with Hindu Squats. His goal is one rep per day. And he hasn’t missed a day in months.
Most days he cranks out 150 reps. Somedays he does 300, ever 500. But he never misses a day because he doesn’t give himself a goal that pushes him out of his comfort zone.
He begins with an easy, achievable goal that is within his comfort zone. He gets started and the comfort zone expands. One rep often turns into hundreds. And as a result he’s running circles around his former self. He not only lost the excess on his belly, but he’s got some powerful, explosive legs to boot.
The above is a reflection of my no-nonsense way to get your training in, even when you can invent dozens of excuses to avoid it.
As I often say: “Start small and you can have it all. Think too big and you’ll stumble on every twig.”
Here endeth the lesson.
Matt Furey
By the way, this approach works the same with all the exercises in Combat Conditioning, Combat Stretching and all my other programs.
