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Why Your Brain Talks You Out Of The Gym Every Time There are days when my energy is low. I didn’t sleep well the night before and I'm deep in work, the timeline is tight and everything is pulling at me at once. In those moments the last thing I want to do is work out. I'm tired. I'm stressed. I'm scattered. Not feeling it at all. And my brain does what every human brain does in that moment - it looks for the easy way out. The easy way out is always the same - skip the workout. I tell myself I'll make up for it tomorrow or next week… Or when things calm down. But tomorrow and next week are never any different. I've been training consistently for 30 years and I still feel this at least once a week and I've learned to recognize what's actually happening in that moment so that I don’t self sabotage. The Two Voices We all have these moments and when it happens there are two voices in your head. The first voice is loud, justified and incredibly convincing. It tells you that you're too tired. That you deserve a break. That you've been working so hard and one missed workout won't matter. That you'll go tomorrow for sure. This is your default voice - the one wired for the path of least resistance. It has kept humans safe and comfortable for thousands of years but it is working against you big time! The second voice is quieter. Easier to ignore. It doesn't shout. It just says - go anyway. That voice is your future self. The version of you that is leaner, stronger, more energized and more capable. And the future version of you didn't get there by listening to the loud default voice. The future self got there by learning to hear the quiet one. Here's what most people don't realize. Every time you listen to the default voice you make it louder. Every time you listen to the quiet one you make it stronger. The workout you skip today isn't just a missed session. It's a vote for the version of you that stays stuck. Your Default Operating System We all have a default mode - a way of thinking and behaving that kicks in automatically when things get hard. If your health is not where you want it to be, your default operating system is a big part of the reason. It generates a thousand reasons why not to continue when things get challenging. Too tired. Too busy. Too stressed. Not the right time. After the holidays. When things calm down. Sound familiar? The default voice doesn't just keep you from working out. It keeps you exactly where you are - year after year - wondering why nothing ever changes. Most people don't fail because they are lazy. They fail because they never trained the most important muscle they have - their mind. Thoughts create feelings. Feelings create actions. Actions create results. Change the thought and you change everything. The Agreement I Made With Myself On the days I don't want to train I make a simple agreement with myself: if I go, I am permitted to put in less effort. That's it. I tell myself it is okay to go have a crappy workout. In doing that the pressure of having to perform at my best disappears completely. So I go with zero expectation and the mindset that anything is better than nothing. And almost every single time, after the warm-up, I'm in the groove. What felt like a terrible idea 20 minutes earlier ends up being exactly what I needed. The hardest part is always putting on my shoes and walking out the door. That's it. The shoes on is the whole battle. Hilarious isn't it? Newton had a law for this. A body at rest stays at rest. The inertia that keeps you on the couch, at your desk or stuck in your head is real. But a body in motion stays in motion too. The moment you take that first step the rest takes care of itself. The Days You Want To Skip Are The Most Important Here's a reframe that changed everything for me. The days and weeks that feel the most scattered and stressful are actually the most important times to show up. Not despite the stress - because of it. Exercise is one of the most powerful stress regulators your body has access to. The workout you want to cancel the most is almost always the one you need the most. So the next time your brain starts telling you to take a session off, recognize what's happening. That's the loud voice. The default voice. The one keeping you small. Your future self is the quiet voice on the other shoulder saying go anyway. Every time you listen to that quiet voice you are casting a vote for the person you are becoming. Show up tired. Show up stressed. Show up scattered. Just show up. A bad workout is always better than no workout. Always!!! You Don't Have To Figure This Out Alone One of the biggest reasons people keep listening to the loud default voice is because there is no one holding them accountable. When the only person expecting you to show up is yourself, the loud voice almost always wins. That's not a character flaw. That's just human nature. Having a coach and a team expecting you to walk through that door changes everything. It shifts the workout from a promise you made to yourself - which is easy to break - to a commitment you made to someone else. If you're ready to stop letting the loud voice win, let's talk. Book your free consultation by clicking the button below.

Injured? Here's Why You Should Keep Training Injuries happen to all of us at some point. Maybe it happens during a workout. Maybe it's moving a heavy piece of furniture at home. Maybe it's just waking up one morning and something doesn't feel right. Whatever the cause, the moment something hurts most people do the same thing - they stop. Rest. Recover. Wait until they feel better. I understand why it feels like the safe and logical thing to do. But after 25 years of coaching I can tell you that stopping completely is almost never the right answer. The Doctor's Advice - And Why It's Incomplete When something hurts, most doctors will tell you to rest and stop working out. I get why they say it - they don't want you making things worse and they are being cautious. But here is what most doctors don't factor in: there is a difference between resting an injured area and stopping all movement entirely. Your doctor is not trained in how to work around injuries during exercise. That is a completely different skill set - one that coaches who have studied kinesiology, anatomy and biomechanics spend years developing. Knowing how the body responds to training under stress or injury is exactly what we do. And the answer is almost never to stop moving completely. The Choice Most People Don't Realize They're Making When you get injured you actually have two options. Most people only see one. Option A is to protect the injured area and keep the rest of your body strong. Option B is to protect the injured area and let the rest of your body get weaker at the same time. When you look at it that way the answer is obvious. And yet most people still choose Option B without even realizing it.  I learned this firsthand years ago when I dislocated my shoulder. For about six months I couldn't do any serious upper body training at all. So I kept showing up with the exact same consistency and focused entirely on legs. My legs became super strong during that period. Meanwhile someone who stops going completely doesn't just lose upper body strength - they lose strength everywhere. The injury heals either way. But only one person comes back stronger. Be Solution Oriented - Not Problem Oriented Two people with the exact same injury can have two completely different outcomes based on mindset alone. The solution oriented person works around the injury and keeps moving in a modified way. The person with a limiting mindset stops everything, fixates on the problem and waits. The only bad workout is the one that didn't happen. That is not just a motivational line - it is the difference between people who get results and people who don't. Think Like an Athlete Have you ever heard of a professional athlete cancelling all of their training because of an injury? Never. When a professional athlete gets injured their training becomes modified - not cancelled. They focus on three things: rest, rehabilitation and maintenance. By continuing to train the right way they recover faster and come back stronger. You don't have to be a professional athlete to think this way. This is just how the body works - for everyone. 3 Parts to Fixing Injuries 1) Rest Strategic rest - not complete rest. Avoid the activities that aggravate the injury but keep everything else moving. If you tore a hamstring from sprinting, stop sprinting - but don't stop training entirely. 2) Rehabilitation Specific exercises that promote blood flow and healing to the injured area. A torn hamstring still needs gentle activation to heal faster - not complete shutdown. This is where having a qualified coach makes all the difference. 3) Maintenance While the injured area is healing, the rest of your body still needs attention. There is no reason to lose the strength and fitness you have worked hard to build just because one area is compromised. Common Injuries and What You Can Still Do Shoulder or arm injury? Focus on legs, core and rehabilitation work for the injured area. Back injury? Deep core work, supported upper body exercises and mobility - there is more available than most people think. Knee or leg injury? Upper body work, hip hinging movements and rehabilitation exercises that don't load the joint directly. Twisted ankle? Upper body, core and stretching. More options than you'd expect. The only time to completely stop training is if you are fully incapacitated. For almost every other injury there is a path forward. You Don't Have to Figure This Out Alone Knowing how to modify training around an injury takes experience and knowledge. If you are injured right now and not sure what you can or can't do - that is exactly the kind of problem we solve every day. You don't have to wait until you feel 100% to reach out. In fact the sooner you do the better your outcome will be.

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