Winter - a time for EXTRAORDINARY effort
In the antipodes, winter is upon us. Usually, at this time of year, most schools experience a drop-off in students. I guess it's because it's already dark when people get home from work - they hit the armchair and decide to pay heed to an ancient piece of hardwiring - not to leave the cave if it's dark outside. Perhaps it's a little of that, it's a little cold, the flu is out and about, etc. For me though - winter presents a golden opportunity. I love it!
Winter is an opportunity to make improvements across the board in my life. What if we all emerged from winter; 5 percent better at five aspects of our lives? Five percent stronger, five percent aerobically fitter, five percent more flexible, five percent better at groundwork, five percent better at stand-up. All those five percenter's add up to a significant improvement in our overall performance - in fact, they have a compounding effect on how we perform. Five percent more endurance, for example, means better groundwork, better stand-up, etc = and if we also improve those things, we get even greater increases in performance.
Personally, I also like to extend this habit beyond the training environment. I try to do 5 percent more reading, five percent more research, etc. it really ads up.
This allows me to experience growth through winter (a normally less productive time) - and if all goes to plan, I emerge in Spring, really ready to rock! I don't have to get in shape for summer - I am usually well ahead of the bell curve by the time years end comes around mainly because I took time to lay the foundation in winter!
So, hit the pool once or twice a week - do twenty or thirty laps. Do a kettlebell routine once or twice a week - just for 15 minutes! Skip, run, pushups, pullups - pick something that you currently don't do - and start doing it. Don't be crazy about it - just do an extra hour of fitness work a week. You will be amazed at the results. Improve 5 things by 5 percent each - do just that and Spring will be a time of serious growth for you when September comes around. it's all about consistency - and consistency is about sustainability - so start small, in a way that compels you to repeat every week. Make new habits - small ones - five of them!
Train well - and remember, ordinary training/learning/effort produces ordinary results. You only get EXTRAORDINARY RESULTS if you do EXTRAORDINARY THINGS.
JBW
