Howdy, folks. Happy Hump Day!
In the past couple weeks since we've last met, I've come face to face with a lifelong struggle of mine that I will share with you today. I have long struggled with a degree of ADD/scattered focus. As an adult, I've found that it becomes exacerbated during times of extreme stress for me, whether or not I admit how stressed I feel at the time (apparently, I've adapted to the feeling of chronic stress so well that when I am undergoing it, the only telltale signs are mild to moderately severe facial acne breakouts plus a touch of fatigue).
It is during these times I may bite off more than I can chew, and I end up overwhelmed by the sheer volume of crap that I had basically inundated myself with (subconscious desire to perpetuate crashing and burning, perhaps?). It wasn't until the past few years that I've been able to peel through the layers and make myself conscious about the problems so that I could provide for myself and others a quick and speedy solution.
That solution started out as a path to self-discovery about what things were serving as obstacles and why; it then evolved to discovering what I truly wanted and effecting a plan of action to acquire such a thing/things.
On that same token, let's talk a little about how this all relates to a common scene in many gyms: The goal-less workout.
Such a workout typically consists of whatever the individual decides to do that day based solely on feeling. There is no regard to structure. Of course, we'd like to think that such a laissez-faire approach is perfectly fine. In the case of staying at a generally consistent level of fitness, sure. If you're not looking for change and you're happy with where you are, you probably don't need to change what you're doing -- what you're currently doing is likely the groove you enjoy and find works in harmony with your life.
In the case that the routine loses effectiveness or you should decide to work towards a specific goal such as losing fat, gaining muscle mass or gaining strength, it makes sense that one would want to find the most efficient way to get the body tuned into the melody most optimal for that specific goal. Working out laissez-faire will no longer cut it, and one must incorporate as many signals as possible to orchestrate the body's components into synchronized manifestation of your goals through directed action (for a great read on how you may be creating too much noise for the body, click here and venture over to Anthony Mychal's blog).
For example, say I want to gain muscle mass. Running 60+ minutes per day and cutting calories is likely going to hinder my results, no matter how heavy I choose to hit the weights each day that week. If I want to lose fat, it will likely work best for me if I can get my nutrition and training on target as consistently as possible (as discussed by Dr. John Berardi under "Insight #4: Exercise Alone Doesn't Work" right here, or check here and here for two other studies looking at the same topic), focusing solely on nutrition or solely on training will only provide you with modest fat loss results (in the study Dr. John Berardi was a part of, only 1% reduction in body fat over the course of 12 weeks). However, the combination of the two will actually increase success by up to 6 times more than one method alone.
It's much like life and the goals we make for ourselves. We can't say that we want to be wealthy if we can't understand the concepts of investment and conservation. We can't continue further down that road of success at an accelerated rate if we're spending our time dabbling here and there without specific regard as to how our choices will benefit us maximally in the long-term.
Specific, directed intention and execution is needed, in order to live purposefully and not reactively.
To live purposefully is the consistent effort to create. You decide what you're going to do and how it's going to bring you forward to whatever place you want to be. It is learning from any mistakes made along the way and adjusting your methodologies to continue forward with more success the next time around.
To live reactively is giving up your personal power to create. Sure, on one hand a person might argue that it promotes quick-thinking and creative on-the-spot problem-solving; there is, however, a large element of control that is missing from the equation. Instead of taking responsibility for one's own misdeeds or miscalculations, a person becomes prone to excuses, pointing the blame to outside sources rather than one's self.
In order to keep progressing in the most efficient manner -- whether it is in life or in the gym -- the summary of directed action towards specific goals (living on purpose) trumps "fuckarounditis," (as Martin Berkhan affectionately calls the lack of focus on directed programming).
How have you incorporated purposeful and directed action towards your goals and accomplishments?
I'd love to hear from you guys.
