If the pandemic taught us anything...

It's that everything can be locked down, except our excuses.

We are coming out the pointy end of a global pandemic, and life has never been stranger… except for the time I tried to get on the stage at a Wizard of Oz play. All of our lives were turned upside down, and ultimately I think everyone suffered mentally. Fortunately, I wasn’t impacted by Covid-19 in the way some other people were. I didn’t lose family, I didn’t lose a house and only my income took a hit, which isn’t the end of the world for a 22 year old without major financial obligations like a mortgage or car repayments.

I want to move away from the tragic side of the pandemic for a minute, and towards the average Joe’s who were just trying to fill their days with mundane activities until they could return to work. For a lot of people, the restrictions gave them a sudden burst of motivation to finally take care of their health, exercise daily and eat clean. That’s the funny part, everyone made so many promises to themselves a few months ago. It only took a few days or weeks before people stopped making their health a priority, and spent most of their time on the lounge or sulking (guilty).

Here are a few things I noticed during the last few restricted months;

• All of a sudden, EVERYONE loved the gym. Everyone was dreading its closure, even if they hadn't been in 6 months.

• People thought all the extra time meant they would finally exercise.

• People tried and tried to panic buy gym equipment they’d never used before.

What I realised;

• All anyone ever wanted was time to focus on themselves, and once they got it, they reached further into their bag of excuses to find a new one.

Something I wish I didn't notice was the amount of people who used the pandemic as a form of safety blanket. What I mean by that is, the pandemic gave people another chance to excuse their inactivity. I heard a handful of people say "I was going to start training next week, now I can't". No, you absolutely were not, but you'll sure as shit blame Coronavirus because no one will question it, and you'll sleep better after convincing yourself this time would have been different.

That seemed really harsh, and maybe that's how I intended it. What my point really is, is that as humans we love excuses and we'll never stop finding new ones. The only time you'll really start on your health goals is when you acknowledge that nothing is stopping you, except you.

Moving on...

The lockdown was awful, jobs were lost, and everyone was impacted. I can empathise with people that struggled with their mental health during the pandemic because I had some bad days too. The point of this isn’t to bash people for wanting to sleep in longer, and relax more, but it is to highlight that we, as human beings, love making excuses. I can’t count how many times I said out loud to my dog “I promise, 10 more minutes and then I’ll take you for a walk”. I’d gone from waking up at 4:30am to sleeping in until the line between getting out of my pyjamas, and putting them on before bed became blurred.

Our problem with our health and fitness isn’t the number of hours in the day, it’s our discipline and how we prioritise taking care of ourselves. Now I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but all of your excuses about your membership being too expensive, and the gym being too far are just a blanket to throw over your insecurities. If the pandemic taught us one thing, it's that the timing will never be right, and there will always be something new getting in our way. If you really want to change your life, you'll drive the extra 10 minutes, you'll wake up half an hour earlier, or whatever you need to do to make yourself a priority.

I think a lot of people had the same mindset when this first happened. The lockdown would provide the perfect time to focus on ourselves with all the time in the world. Now that the restrictions are easing, everyone is probably thinking the same thing “I’ve had months to relax, it’s time to kick my arse into gear”.

So maybe 6 months of watching the entire of the Netflix library will give people that little extra push they needed. There’s no better time to start developing discipline and structure in your life, even if it’s just waking up at a reasonable hour or not eating 12 Tim Tams instead of 2. The further you push your health down a long list of priorities, the harder it’s going to be to bring it back to the top. So reach out to a friend who you think could help you in the gym, have a chat with your partner about small changes, or message that trainer you’ve been following for a while.

We’ve all had our extremely stressful break from our stressful day to day lives, and it’s time we take responsibility for each and every excuse we conjure up. You have two options, keep convincing yourself that it's because the gym is too far away... OR finally acknowledge that you're just searching for reasons to delay changing your life.

Or

Join the MVPT family. We don't just program, we educate and pursue your individual goals.

Your coach & friend,

Maddy

p.s. this is aimed at the average Joe's who don't have families to care for, who spend their time scrolling social media, who use the first damn excuse to say "maybe tomorrow". To those of you who miss the gym because; you have a child, do shift work, struggle with your mental health or anything that adds extra pressure, you're excused. Don't prioritise the gym if it means creating stress in other areas of your life. The time will come, and so will the motivation.