The benefits of training alone
Since the quarantine started, a lot of us have lost our gym buddies, the people we would ordinarily ‘compete against’ or compare ourselves to in the gym. The silver lining is that this is an opportunity to find internal motivation and ways to push ourselves on your own.
Your relationship with your body is what should drive your fitness journey.
Constantly comparing yourself to what others do (even if these others are at a very similar level to you) takes you away from that relationship. Working out on your own, while it can’t be the only strategy, brings you back to your own body, how it feels, how it moves, what it needs more of and less of.
Seeing as we now have to work out on our own, we get to set our own pace, choose the music, arrange our workout set-up.
Mindset tips
Before you begin, remember why you are training. Meditate on that when the work gets hard.
Remember training is a time to get to know your body better. Aim for getting into a flow state rather than getting into a stressed state. Music is fine, but it shouldn’t be so loud that it interferes with your thoughts, your senses or your flow state.
Set-up tips
Train in natural light as much as possible. It is proven to be better than artificial light for your overall energy levels and your sleep quality.
Use an online stopwatch to time your intervals.
If you want to hear sounds in the background, put on a podcast that isn’t too mentally stimulating. (or your attention will drift away from your body to the podcast).
Tracking tips
Follow a programme for at least 12 weeks. Change takes time and if you get impatient with the programme, you will interrupt your progress.
Keep a training diary with weights and times. Note the weights you used and the times you did in each session and how it felt. Looking back on it will help you make sense of your journey.
Test yourself every couple of months. Assuming you are following a programme set by a coach, this will be built into it. Celebrate your progress and keep going.
Keep yourself accountable to a block of time. It’s easy to drag sessions out, so decide before you begin how long the session should be and cut it up in 10 or 15-minute blocks. Aim to finish the work you need to do in those blocks.
Video yourself and watch it, every session. Use the camera as a coach’s eye that looks at your movement and holds you to a standard. In your rest breaks, look at the video and how you move, this is a great way to self-correct.
Over to you! What challenges are you facing when training alone at the moment? How do you keep yourself accountable? Let us know in the comments.