The theme for this week is “Chugging Along.” Not very splashy or exciting, but I believe most of us are doing exactly that: chugging along. What I mean is that we go through extended periods of time where we just keep executing our plan. If the plan was to walk, we are walking; if it was doing varied workouts through the week, we go through our workout routines. No-one is really watching. No-one is throwing us a parade. No-one is writing about us in the newspaper.
We are chugging along with our wellness or fitness plans, sans fanfare. But that is perfectly fine. I would coach people to stock up on encouragement from their fitness buddies, and develop the attitude of diligent, self-governed action. You work on your fitness plan on your own, as it were. Once in awhile, you might pass some cheerleaders, but the more you can do your thing – chugging along, not needing regular recognition for your effort – the better off you will be. Or, at least, the more self-sufficient. While I believe encouragement is critical for all of us, my observation is that constant encouragement creates dependency. Appropriate, well-timed encouragement along with proper skill instruction and as-needed corrective feedback creates self-sufficiency and confidence. And that, more or less, amounts to good coaching.
Back to chugging along. This is the non-glamorous, real-world side of building and maintaining your wellness and fitness. Here are some examples of chugging along that have inspired me in the past week or so:
- a friend training for a running event and he’s not feeling the love
- my Mom, who is still walking, in spite of Parkinson’s Disease
- another friend who did an amazing number of pushups to support a good cause
- a high school student who joined cross-country to improve his running ability
- even I have found myself chugging along, alternating between a couple of different workouts through the week
- two ladies who meet regularly to improve their swimming strokes
- a guy and his young family, who all participated in a 5k run last weekend
