Not all workouts are a stellar explosion of awesomeness

Yep, you read that right, not all workouts are the most amazing, upbeat, "boy do I feel better now!" experiences.   Sometimes, they're a struggle just to get started, or get through.  Sometimes you're tired, hungry, and mentally not in the game.

Tonight I had one of those experiences.  I probably let my blood sugar get a little low (I get grouchy), so starting the workout as late as I did was off on a bad foot.   Then I hit a move that more than frustrated me, it physically was damaging me.  Not so much as I was injuring myself, but it was a jumprope sequence that I simply could not get, and ended up whipping my legs, back, and even head, with the rope many many times.  Every time increased the frustration, and the rope sailed across the room 4 or 5 times.   I'm also the type of person who hates to be defeated by something, so I was determined that I would get it at all costs.

That last bit was the mistake, and it's a mindset that can lead to injury, or pushing the frustration level beyond your limits to the point where you quit.   I almost did that.  Fortunately my mind got ahead of my emotions, and told me to step back, modify the move to something I could do, and press on.  In the end I had a good workout, not my best mentally or physically, but good enough to put a positive check mark in the to-do list for the day.

So what did I learn from that?  I learned that we all have limitations, we all get frustrated with things from time to time, but there is a possibility of catching that and puttting it in its place.  You can control your state of mind, as Tony Robbins says, and change your mood almost instantly.   That is easier said than done, but when you catch yourself in a bad state, and recognize it, you can turn it around and have a positive outcome.

This applies to more that just fitness, it's life in general.  Bad days come and go.  Issues pop up we have to deal with at the worst possible time, but we still deal with them, keep our eyes on the goal, and move forward.

So the next time you're feeling that overwhelming frustration with everything, like you're going to quit, take a step back, change what you're focusing on, and make a modification to the action so you can keep the forward progress going.