Training Seasons

Just like you go through different seasons in life you go through different seasons in training as well. Goals will typically dictate how you are currently training but sometimes circumstances outside of your control will shape your training too.

Take age for an example; young man would and should train differently than an old man. Other factors outside of your control could be time constraints, work and family commitments, injury, or any number of other situations life could throw at your way. Let us be real, there are worse things than adjusting your training or missing a workout. The key is not to abandon your training altogether but to make the appropriate adjustments accordingly.

In my current situation, which is, new studio, new baby on the way, buying a new house, moving my wife and two kids, things are little bit hectic (to say the least). It's not that I don't have the time to train (a favorite excuse used by people who don't like to exercise) but it's not always at the top of my priority list these days. Don't get me wrong, training is a top priority of mine but making enough money to support my family and being there for them trumps a workout. Sometimes I find it hard to dedicate the solid hour that I'd like to on training. So here's what I've been doing...

As I sit here on the computer (work) I have already once gotten up to stretch and move around a bit (exercise). I plan to take another 5 minutes or so after I finish this paragraph. I think this time I'll do a few squats. What I've found is that although I might not have an unbroken 60 minutes to spend on some hard training, I can easily take 5-10 minutes a half dozen times a day to do *something*. "I don't have enough time" is never a valid excuse for someone who wants it bad enough. You see I know that exercise makes me a more productive person, a happier person, so I will not, I can not, ever, abandon it fully. It's something that I cannot do without.

[I actually did not make it through that paragraph without getting up and stretching again.]

Anyway, that's just the season I am in right now; an exercise or two sprinkled in throughout my work day. I get a full workout in when I have the time for it, and I miss the regular training schedule I once had, but I'm not going anywhere and neither is my desire to workout.

Another thing I've been dealing with which I have been hesitant to accept is injury. I've been going to physical therapy twice a week at www.evolutionsportspt.com. What started with some minor shoulder pain was exacerbated when I got rear-ended by a teenager on his cell phone. Now my entire right arm hurts! This has put a huge damper on my training and I am not happy about it. Very discouraging. There are many exercises I cannot do without pain. So, I do what I can. And most of the time when I do finally get an hour block to workout, I do my physical therapy exercises. It's not very exciting but I feel better when I do them and worse when I don't do them, yet I feel even worse when I try to work through the pain and do pull ups or bend steel when I am not supposed to. Oh well, just another season I am in.

I imagine once the baby is born and we're settled into our new house and I am out of pain, hard training will resume. I'll probably have some different goals by then and unless there are any other unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, I am sure those goals will once again dictate my training. For now, I will continue to do what I can, when I can do it.