It’s the off-season. Which means ice-cream, holiday lager, lie-ins, learning sports that have maybe eluded me before and generally learning to be a normal human being again. It’s a few weeks of the year where I remember what it feels like not to need a snack every 2 hours and not need a nap at about the same time as my grandma in the afternoon.
Why don’t you want to be a superhero all the time?
You know what, I’m really happy for anyone who can be Wonder Woman 100% of the time. But Superman had his Clark Kent, Batman has his Bruce Wayne. Because it’s just not practical wearing all that lycra all of the time. Everyone needs some downtime.
My coach Alan at Tri Training Harder, calls it “discipline fatigue”. When you’ve got a goal in your sights, generally speaking, if you really want it, you’re already super motivated. The hard part is staying focused, committed and disciplined. It takes a lot of brain power. While the training is hard, sometimes the mental fatigue can be even more difficult to tolerate. And while I love triathlon, I also want to have a life, explore other things, and enjoy time with my family, play with my dog, be a mermaid…
It is physically impossible to be “on it”, all the time. And actually, in order to really be applying ourselves when it counts, we have to remember that we need to experience the opposite of that for a brief period of time. It’s the downtime that makes us appreciate the importance and value of performing to our best.
What does the “off-season” look like for my clients?
For an athlete, the “off-season” is a pretty obvious period of time. It comes after the last race of the season, which is usually something we’ve been working toward for a long time. With my clients, the time for a break is often less clear and less regular. This is where it’s important to realise how objective input from a coach can help. Regular check-ins to see how you’re doing with progress toward your goal whether that’s weight loss, business goals, professional goals, family goals, personal foals is key. But also creating short and long term timelines is really key and having someone work through those with you can help to make some clear boundaries. Why is that important? Because sometimes you need to be able to say “I only need to live this strictly for another 3 weeks and then I can have a break!” While working towards a goal shouldn’t be prohibitive and difficult, it’s not always going to be easy. If it were, you’ve have achieved it already right…? Knowing when it’s time to work hard and when it’s time to ease off gives a good sense of perspective and it enables you to put the effort in when its required and relax when it’s required too.
The off-season for clients might be a holiday after a significant family event, it might be an easing back of training after a specific sporting event or it might be a period of time out of the office after working toward a specific professional goal. Whatever the goal is for my clients, there is always a period of relaxation and reflection afterward. It’s physically and mentally required.
Don’t Burn Out.
One of the things I always talk about is burn out. The reason a lot of people fail at weight loss, health improvement or other goals is because they have an “all or nothing mindset”. They don’t think about the bigger picture. They don’t think about phasing their plan and they don’t consider how taking a break can actually enhance their progress rather than impede it.
So remember:
- Know when to work hard and when to ease off
- Acknowledge that IT’S NOT NORMAL TO BE WORKING FULL TILT ALL OF THE TIME
- Get the objective support you need to give you the right perspective.
Help yourself to do better.