I can’t help but chuckle inside a little bit when I hear someone talk about their athletic goals or their awesome new training cycle that’s going to give them results X, Y & Z, but in the same breath boast about how little sleep they get, how stressed they are from work or school, or how poorly they eat. It’s like a college student talking about how he’s so excited to do well on his finals as he’s out at the bar having a few too many beers the night before his big tests. We all see the absurdity of this situation when it’s someone else, but it’s not so easy to catch ourselves in the act of sabotaging our own progress.

There are two big things to dissect here.

First is the fact that we so often delude ourselves into thinking that we can “get away with it.” Humans, beautiful and strange creatures that we are, do a great job of convincing ourselves that the rules don’t apply to us.
Yes, of course diet and sleep are important… but they’re not really that important for me, right? I’m above that.
The fact of the matter, though, is that you’re not getting away with it. Sure, you can make some progress in your training while eating like garbage and sleeping only a few hours per night; but do you honestly think you’re getting your money’s worth out of your training with this approach? How much are you leaving on the table? Are you really willing to do all that hard work in training and then flush 70% of it down the toilet with your crap recovery habits? You’re not fooling anyone but yourself.

Second is the strange but all-too-common habit of gloating about how poorly we treat ourselves. It has become a point of pride to be sleep deprived, stressed, and beaten down. I believe this comes back to a mis-applied concept of being “tough” and “rugged.”
If I treat my body like garbage and still show up to the gym, that makes me a real badass.
While I will certainly applaud anyone’s willingness to show up even when they feel tired and unmotivated, I’ll be honest: unless you’re out there saving lives, defending freedom, or changing the world for the better until the wee hours of the morning, I’m really not that impressed by how tired you are.
Stayed up late watching Daily Show re-runs? Stressed out because you put off all of your important deadlines until the last minute?
Wow dude, you must be pretty tough.

I understand that not all of us can sleep for 8 consecutive hours every single night or have healthy home-cooked food for every meal of the week. We’ve all been there: life gets weird and hectic sometimes, and that’s fine. You can rest easy in the fact that humans are quite resilient and adaptable. But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that the rules don’t apply to us, and that our efforts are somehow more valuable or impressive because we don’t put any effort into taking care of ourselves outside of the gym.
Sorry man, but you’re not really getting away with anything.

- Preston Sprimont

12/14/16

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  30 min AMRAP

  
  




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  40 burpee buy-in

  
  

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  10 cal row

  
  


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  10 DB thrusters (60/40)

  
  


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  :30 plank