Keep Pushing

Do you know what I really hate about the fitness world? The Beast Mode bullsh*t that keeps getting spread around. There are so many memes and videos about how we should be like lions and attack the day, giving our maximum effort.

First of all, I watch the David Attenburgh documentaries and I can tell you that lions lie around for up to 20 hours of the day. So, the only real time I’m in beast mode is when I’m lying on the couch hungover. But what really annoys me is that “beast mode” has several misleading connotations about exercise. These undertones allude to aggression, anger, and altercations. If you ever watch any motivational videos on YouTube, the theme tends to be all about sweat, blood, tears, and facing our fears. But that’s not what keeping fit is about. Exercise, in its true essence, is about enjoying ourselves. Unfortunately, this attitude is sucking the fun out of fitness. Is it any surprise that no one smiles in the gym?

I accept people post this content in an attempt to inspire us to work out, but in reality, it puts a lot of people off the gym and exercising. Listening to too many motivational videos can actually have an adverse effect, and ultimately, psyching ourselves out. I’ve been there. On Sundays I’d prep my food, pack my gym gear listening to such videos preparing myself to hit the gym on Monday mornings. In reality, the only thing I “hit” in the morning was the snooze button.

Sometimes in life and in fitness, less is more. It’s extremely difficult to give our maximum efforts in the gym day in day out. It’s manageable if you’re a professional athlete and you have time to recover with a physio. But most of us are due in at work at 9am the next day with no massages only messages from disgruntled customers.

My point is consistency beats intensity. It doesn’t matter if your training partner can do more reps or you the person next to you on the treadmill (who you were secretly racing) beat you. Fitness isn’t about showing off; it’s about showing up. It’s about consistently bettering yourself and, most importantly, recognising these achievements improvements. That’s how you grow in confidence and, in turn, improving your motivation.

It’s not about morphing into some other being. You don’t have to kill yourself every workout. But it is important that you consistently push to better yourself.

So, keep pushing.