I know, I know, I talk a lot about taking the small steps, getting 1% better each day, and thinking about long term, manageable success. But I am wondering, are you listening? Have you integrated some small steps? Are you tracking what you did to be 1% better today? Are you doing daily tasks that feel manageable in the long term AND set you up for success in your health and wellness?
At CrossFit ELC we use workout programming called CompTrain. This programming not only gives us workouts to complete, it also gives us coaching on how to complete the workout appropriately. Something we see a lot in the notes is “slow is steady, and steady is fast”. This always sticks out to me and reminds me of a common mistake in the health and fitness world.
We like to run out of the gate fast. We like to start dietary fasting, CrossFit and a juice cleanse all on the same day and we get this image in our mind of how successful we will be once it’s complete. The most common trend I see with this “out of the gate fast” mentality is burnout, injury and setbacks.
Starting small, scaling/modifying workouts, easing your way in and thinking “can I sustain this long term” is how you move fast. Honoring your threshold and acknowledging that training at 100% everyday is not sustainable is how you move fast. Sometimes training at 60% makes you better at your 100%.
Life is a lot more fun when it feels manageable and the pace between the max effort sprint and the faceplant of exhaustion is where the magic happens. We can’t sprint forever. So I encourage you to find your steady and know that steady is fast.