I needed to do this before we can even get roaming with the foot in 2021 because it’s just the right thing to do. So the truth is…ever since I resumed my training after that bout with COVID (and losing 6 kilos with the blink of an eye), my training in terms of motivation has been meh. I don’t think it has been this bad since July of 2018. What they have in common is that it all derives from issues with how my body structurally works. I don’t think I’ve discussed this before but in July 2018, I partially tore something in my form. I attribute the cause to the 10-degree scoliosis of the spine I discovered I’d been born with. It was a point where holding onto a squat had kind of become an issue. Talk about feeling meh! I went to the gym and man, my will was clipped. It was particularly hard because come time to train, I like to think of myself as a freaking “dog”. Like “I am going to get to it with almost no plan B in mind”. For someone who frames athletics and competition in their own mind the way I do, you get KO’ed and you stand back up but when you’re not your 100%, you don’t have the same mentality going into training.
So that’s how it has been going for me for the past quarter or so. My will to train got so low that I decided to train 4 days on 3 days off a week and a few things happened. I noticed I’ve gotten a lot healthier. My form is way better, especially on the free movements. I did have to tweak a few things up here and there to fit the way my body is structured but that is hardly an issue anymore. Four days a week has also helped me overall, in general, to be a bit more flexible with my lifestyle. So we are still bulking but I did slow down things a bit. It’s been more or less my usual bulking mini-cut phases. However, if I get the right phone call from my girlfriend, I’ve started to be more like, “It’s all right, I’ll go eat with you”. As long as I keep my usual eating clean five days a week, we are good to go. This has been very motivating, to say the least. I’ve been consistently getting stronger too. It almost feels like my first batch of strength gains as a newbie lifter.
Talking about commitment, I did not miss a single scheduled workout the whole time even when motivation was not at its best. That’s the difference, I guess, between commitment and motivation. You can be as motivated as you want but if you don’t have the commitment, you are bound to run into trouble at some point. Eventually, I found that I didn’t need motivation to be committed. It’s like those times when you know you are running out of fumes but you keep showing up. So I kept showing up and worked hard and am close to 60% of my previous strength. I can’t wait to finish off the current mesocycle and keep gaining and getting stronger until the year 2100. I might as well say that because I don’t know when I’m going to be cutting again…not until it looks right and I get a few things done in the weight room that would make me feel accomplished at a “personal” level.