My Hardest Workout of the Lockdown
It’s taken me until week 12 to finally get here, but the afternoon of Tuesday 9th June 2020 marked a workout to remember, especially as I entered the latter stages as my legs were virtually screaming at me in discomfort.
Here I completed a brutal leg day which caused myself to push my limits with an upheaval of effort, determination and grit to survive the 60 minute, sweat-busting routine. This is where I basically tortured the lower half of my body, like a controlled maniac amidst a warm and sunny afternoon in the South East of England.
With this being said, this wasn’t a ploy to simply destroying my body for the sake of it, but deep-down there is a method to the madness.
Being truthful to you, previous to Tuesday’s beasting, my workouts had been fairly mediocre (by my standards) for a number of weeks and a decent work-rate had been achieved (ticking the boxes as I would say), but nothing to shout about or worth of any mention. Almost as if I’d been on auto-pilot (I’m sure most of you have been there with your training or work) and feeling an average amount of satisfaction after completing each workout.
I’d be kidding myself if I said I was giving it my top effort, but I guess with the current global pandemic, alongside planning a (postponed) wedding, working full time and in the process of moving house, I guess that gives myself more of an excuse for why my sessions might been under-par as my thoughts and attentions have gone elsewhere.
Where I’ve changed my outlook on my training the last week or so has been applying a different perspective to everything that I’m consumed with at this present time. To quote Vex King from his book Good Vibes, Good Life this summed up my current thoughts with COVID-19 and looking at the bigger picture if I’ve ever felt frustrated or bored:
Before you complain about getting fat, remember that some people don’t even have any food.
Before you complain about your job, remember that some people don’t even have any money.
Before you complain about cleaning the house, remember that some people don’t have any shelter.
Before you complain about washing the dishes, remember some people don’t even have any water.
What this got me to realise is that there are many of us who are in much more fortunate positions than others and in the grand scheme of things, I’ve got nothing to complain about and I should be very grateful for what I do have. This also helped me refocus and realign my own training goals and understand what a privilege it is to be able to walk, move and breathe.
With this in mind, it reaffirmed to myself that I didn’t want to do a half-arsed workout, but give my all with every repetition, every set and make the most of every exercise I was performing with maximal muscle engagement.
I’m sure for those that can’t train, would give everything they could to do so.
After the workout was complete and the throbbing of my legs had eased off (sadist) and I stopped walking like John Wayne, I had a real sense of accomplishment and gratification knowing that I gave my upmost to that particular moment in time. There’s no reason why this can’t transition into other areas of our lives, and why I have a long-lasting passion for resistance training as it gives me purpose and a feeling of contentment.
I’ve also been lucky enough to witness this change in not only myself, but also my clients where they have developed into stronger, healthier and more confident individuals. This is what health and fitness is about, especially when looking at the bigger picture and we can all do this with the right attitude and application.
This certainly got me thinking about other areas of our lives and questioning :
Why not give your best effort?
Why not push a little harder?
Why not dig a littler deeper?
Why not make the most of it?
Hopefully some of you will resonate with this and will spur you on with your training goals or aspirations. Detailed below is the workout completed and it’s not for the faint-hearted. Enjoy.
STAY STRONG. BE RESILIENT. REMAIN POSITIVE
@kickstartultimatetraining
