Become A Slave To Good Habits

“Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy  to be broken.”
Warren Buffet was on to something when he schooled the world on the formation of their bad habits with this quote. We see a plethora of bad habits on a daily basis, but we’ve narrowed it down to our top five reasons why you might not be reaching your full potential within the gym.
1. Sore muscles have you skipping the gym.
When your muscles are sore, you would rather kick the feet up, relax and catch up on your favourite Netflix series than drag your aching body to the gym…
BUT, squeezing in a little movement and actually working through the tender muscles is proven to ease your post-workout DOMS. You’ll be doing yourself a huge favour getting the body moving with dynamic movements instead of just waiting for the soreness to subside and disappear. If heading to the gym isn’t quite possible, try going out for a walk to get moving and your recovery time will be a lot shorter and less painful!
2. You skip the movements you hate and only show up on WODs you will dominate.
Lifting isn’t everyone’s favourite thing, nor is running. Personally, I am NOT a fan of wall balls. But strength exercises have their perks, endurance has its purpose…even wall balls do!
Do not get tagged “The Cherry Picker” – This is the person that only comes in for the WODs they think they can and will be good at. (And they purposely avoid the movements they dislike.) This means they never get practice working on the movements they are NOT good at, which will stunt growth in your ability to make progress and all-around general fitness. If you know this is you, perhaps stay away from looking at the workout until you reach the gym. Once you are there you won’t have had to worry you will just get on with it.
Remember, we’re looking for a low trajectory toward a distant horizon. The fitness we’re aiming for isn’t going to be found tomorrow, but six months, two years from now. By working on mechanics and consistency before we start to play with the intensity we lay the foundations for great potential.
3. Placing too much focus on others.
Be careful about getting too competitive with others during your workout. You don’t know their story. You never know if it’s someone’s first class, if they are having a bad day, perhaps they are working through an injury. Whatever the case, everyone is at a different level and that’s completely fine.
And please stop worrying so much about what others think of you… So what if you finish last, make a funny face or noise when you squat or celebrate with a wahoo when you hit a new personal record? What is important is that you get the most from your workout and that you leave knowing you’ve achieved more in that hour than most do in a lifetime.
Concentrate on yourself and the results will come, you are here to improve yourself.
4. Not tracking your numbers
Now, this is an important one that we know is talked about by the coaches a lot at the moment…
Consistently tracking your numbers – weight lifted, reps performed, and workout times—gives you a platform for which to build and make progress. Make a note of everything – even how you were feeling that day. It will allow you to know what weight to use when a coach asks for 3 reps at 70% of your 1RM or what your last “Karen” time was. It will also provide you with a continuous reminder of how you are improving – all by simply keeping track of your numbers.
This will not only keep you motivated but it allows us as coaches to analyse the gym’s numbers, data and statistics to see where to go next with the programmememe. If you are not already, please get on SugarWOD. It’s FREE and so easy to get started!
5. Not socialising with the class/ not introducing yourself to someone new.
Now there is a big difference between interrupting class while the coach is teaching, keeping your head down and/or working out in a corner without saying a word to anyone, and interacting with your friends in the gym. The people you work out with inside these walls are friends in waiting, a built-in support and accountability system. This is one of the things that makes Glevum so unique. Besides, it’s much harder to cheer for someone when you don’t know anything about them, let alone their name.
Also, we all remember the first time coming into the gym and it feeling extremely daunting if you don’t recognise them please approach them and make them feel welcome!