The Art of Avoidance
My journey to a weight room, or some kind of program dedicated to strength building, is one that’s been decades in the making and the more I overthink weight training, I’ve come to realize that I have an incredible capacity for Avoidance and it’s as frustrating as hell!
It starts with me knowing something pretty clearly about myself, I’m a ‘doer’. I set my mind on a goal and get it done. I tend not to find roadblocks to my goals. Instead I seem to quite naturally break them down into their smaller steps and then start my journey towards the bigger goal, one step at a time. I’m not concerned with not achieving a goal because I’m good with where I end up because I’m happy to know I tried. I simply enjoy the journey and I more often than not surprise myself on where I end up…from learning to play guitar and single ski trick water ski to speaking on world stages in cities like Hong Kong, Milan and London on the subjects of my two published books. Interestingly though, none of these were things I gave a lot of thought to ‘achieving’. I just went for it and then several years later I’ve looked back and have thought, ‘Wow, I did that! …LOL!!’
But this weight training thing has been the toughest journey of all, especially when my brain 100% believes that the practice of weight training is really important to my overall well-being, especially as I age. After all, I really want to be able to enjoy all the sports I love to do, running, hiking, sculling, water skiing, swimming, snow skiing and snow boarding, and all the other regular activities of daily living. And as I age, I really think adding weight training is going to play a big role in being able to enjoy the active lifestyle I’ve grown accustomed to.
And yet, I’ve been masterful at the art of weight training avoidance. Hmmm, let me count the ways:
Studying to become a personal trainer and yet not doing any weight training.
Setting up a full home gym right next to my car. I see it everyday and think about what ‘I should’ be doing.
Finding distractions - surely there’s a cupboard that needs cleaning out or another business email to send.
Playing guitar.
Going for another hike or a longer run. After all, I have only so much time in the day to work out because I still have a job. I have no problem getting more than 20,000 steps a day but there doesn’t seem to be time for a few bicep curls. Really Emily??
I should bake or cook something for my husband and or family.
I need to create a ‘workout program’ before I get started.
Paint a room a new colour. (I really did that one!)
Go for another walk. Seriously, you have to get up pretty early to try and out walk me on any day. I live next to a forest and day or night (I take extra flashlights), no matter the weather conditions (rain, snow, ice, windstorms, heat, cold), I’m out there.
Injury - this has been the most recent one for me. About a week ago I twisted the front of my foot running in a rainstorm on a dark early morning, flashlight in hand, on an uneven sidewalk covered in fallen maple leaves. So heavily covered in leaves, there was no way for me to know the ground my foot landed on was uneven. And while my foot has been healing (can you imagine what it’s like for someone who logs well over 20,000 steps a day to be stuck in a seated position with my foot up in the air…ugh…my husband has been a saint ;)), it has been the perfect time to work out in our home gym…and yet excuses continue to role out of me…
I could seriously keep going here but I think you get the point. I have a super strong avoidance mechanism to ‘working out’. I think what I’m going to do, like the other things I’ve had some success achieving in my life, is just go for it. I won’t start with a weight training program. I won’t think I’m going to suddenly start working out 6 days a week. I’ll simply start by doing something, one session at a time. No pressure and no hurry. I have no expectations about where this journey is going to take me. I only know that it has to start with one work out.