I’m in week 13 of the T25 workout plan. I am in the “Gamma” cycle which basically means you are going to get your butt kicked every single day. I thought the other rounds were like that until I experienced the first week of Gamma. I’ve worked out with Eric and today we were joking about how nice some of the Alpha workouts would be now. As I’ve said before, I got rid of New Year’s resolutions this year. If you do the math, you can clearly see I didn’t wait until January 1 to start getting back in shape. I decided to put myself through the test and start it during the holiday season. I know; such a great idea.
But now I’m 13 weeks in and I am loving the results. I’m losing weight, feeling better, fitting into clothes I haven’t worn in a while and it is fantastic. There are plenty of days that I don’t feel like working out, and that’s why I went into it with someone else to keep me accountable. We have put in over 12 weeks of training and it has been pretty awesome. Not during the workouts though. I would never call that awesome in the moment. Cruel and unusual punishment would probably be what I would call it in the moment.
I recently listened to a sermon and the pastor said, “Trying is different from training.” That sentence has stuck with me. I’ve tried to get into shape for a while. I’ve wanted to lose weight for a long time. You could even say that I was trying. But I wasn’t getting anywhere. But when I started the T25 plan, I started training. 5 days a week I was putting in work. A few weeks ago I decided to start counting my calories and staying under a certain daily limit. When I started training, I started seeing results.
For me, if I say I am trying it usually means I would like something to happen but I’m not willing to put in the work to make it happen. Nothing is going to happen that way. I won’t move any closer to my goals by just trying. But when I focus and start taking steps I can see progress. When I make a habit out of it and make it a routine I will start to see results. Training is so different from trying and so are the results I see from them.
I’m so glad I decided to finally start training to get back in shape. I have tried for way too long. And I haven’t reached my goal so I’ll keep on training. Even once I get there, I’ll have developed habits that will help me stay there. And I’m applying this to other areas of my life. As I focus in 2016, I will focus on training not trying.
until next time…
Photo courtesy of Steven Caddy