Step 7: I Never Give Myself an Excuse Not to Train

I have been writing about the steps I have taken to go from overweight and in pain to a fit powerlifter. Today I am going to write about Step 7. I never give myself an excuse not to train. It seems that in the world today, we like to let ourselves off the hook and make excuses. Most people want to be fit, and have a lean muscular body, and want to look good in a swimsuit. But most people also like to make excuses. And the world we live in gives us so many excuses. I used to be one who was full of excuses. But like I said in previous posts, it took me some time searching to find what I love to do to keep fit….something that gave me the desire to ditch the excuses.

When I first started weight lifting, I did it 3 days a week…..then I moved to 4 days a week…then 5 days a week….now I train 6 days a week and I get very antsy taking that 1 rest day and have considered training 7 days a week. I met some resistance in my own household every time I added a day…I would hear “where does it end”. Well, because I loved what I was doing, it didn’t end, and it will never end.

When I watched my first powerlifting meet and decided that I wanted to compete, my determination and dedication went full force. I have not missed a training day in over a year. Many people take days like their birthdays off and don’t workout. Many people take the holidays off. Many people give up gym time when they are traveling or on vacation. Doing that puts people in a yo-yo cycle of gaining weight, loosing weight, gaining strength, loosing strength, gaining self esteem, loosing self esteem. It is very hard on our psyche to go into these vicious cycles. The picture above shows me repping deadlifts while on vacation and visiting a new gym.

So here is how I do things. I don’t make excuses to miss training days. I train on my birthday, I train every holiday. The only day my gym is closed is Christmas Day, so of course I can’t go that day, but I will arrange my schedule so that day is my rest day for the week. I go on Thanksgiving. I go on Easter, on New Years. I take pride in making my fitness a priority. Honestly, it’s a bit of an ego boost when I am posting that I am on my way to the gym early on Thanksgiving day while most people are preparing themselves for the feast ahead. It’s also nice to be driving myself to the gym the day after Thanksgiving when most people are in a food coma, because I don’t overindulge and am ready to go full force.

When I am traveling, I research ahead of time and find local gyms and buy day passes. In Castle Rock, Colorado, I go to Anytime Fitness. When I traveled to Silver City, I used No Excuses Gym 24-7. That was a great 24 hour gym, and the owners were very accommodating. We even left with some great pre-workout samples because we forgot ours! I will indeed be using that gym again! In the picture above you see me in my motorcycle gear and my gym shorts as I am getting ready to drive around the block to No Excuses Gym. I was on a my yearly motorcycle trip. I don’t advocate wearing shorts on a motorcycle…but hey, it was around the block…..shhhhhh! In the picture below you see the front door of No Excuses Gym. It’s very fitting for this post, isn’t it?  I find it rather exciting to visit new gyms.

So what about taking gym time off when you are injured. Well, if I took time off the gym every time I was hurting, I would never work out…… I have Ehlers Danlos, remember? Pain is indeed a part of my daily life, but if I don’t work out, my pain increases 10 fold. Yes, I tweak my back and I hurt. I hurt my shoulder, my wrist, my leg muscle….you name it, I’ve tweaked it. So what do I do? I work around the painful part. If something hurts, I lower the weight, or I do another exercise to work around the injury. I herniated a disc a year and a half ago (from sitting in a car 6 hours, not from lifting) that was severe enough to keep me from walking. To my doctor’s amazement I was able to walk…with a lot of pain of course. I didn’t stop lifting. I lowered my weight and continued. I even continued to deadlift and used it to rehabilitate.  Here is an article on why deadlifts are great for your back. I rehabilitated my back so well that I was able to do my first competition just four months later. I stretch in the gym. I press the end of bar bells into my lower back to release muscle spasms. My gym partner painfully digs his thumb into my back muscles to get rid of knots. Some days I do more pressing on painful muscles than lifting, but I still lift. In return, my injuries heal much much faster, and honestly, I have injuries way less frequently because of the strength I have built, especially in my back. Muscle keeps my body together…I’d be falling apart without it.

So what about being sick? Oh, don’t we all like to say “I’m too sick to go to the gym today”. Well, I made up my mind a couple years ago that I don’t want to get sick, so I don’t. I may feel a little something coming on, but I don’t let it. I up my vitamin C and D, take herbs, tell myself that there will be no sickness today, and I take myself to the gym. Working out usually helps me fight off any little bug that may be trying to infect me. I haven’t been really sick in a couple of years. I think it is mostly because of my clean diet and the fact that I work out. I may feel a little something coming on, but I don’t let it and it goes away. Positive mindset really matters…even my kids are getting really good at staying healthy and fighting illness using positive mindset. I plan on doing a whole post on this subject in the future. Picture below is just here to make you laugh…I was still in gym clothes shopping at Walmart having fun with the kids.

So in summary, the only way to reach your goals is to ditch the excuses….period. You can’t make excuses and expect to also reach your goals. Getting to where I am today has taken time, hard work and dedication. There are no magic pills, there are no 5 minute a day workouts that will give you that body you always dreamed of. There is no shot of any concoction that you drink once a day that will melt away fat and tone your muscle while allowing you to still eat all the junk food you desire and sit on the couch. You gotta put in the work, you gotta be dedicated and you gotta be patient. You won’t see results after a week, maybe not even after a few months…but they will come. Make your fitness a priority and you will reach your goals.