How do you deal with your plan having to change without feeling discouraged?

Hey everyone-

Okay so I started Stage 3 back up Monday after a three week break in which I ran almost 10K per week. Had a great first workout on Monday.

I am a person who likes to get on a roll and use momentum to keep me going.

Today I face my first "change" to the plan I had set for the week, and already am discouraged because of that. I need help on how to change a plan and keep on rolling without feeling bad. I planned on NROLFW M-W-F.

I prefer to workout in the afternoons, I work from home so usually this is something I can do. If I dont get my workout done in the afternoon, odds are that I wont do it at all. After a 10 hour day, tidying and dinner- I am done.

Today I had planned on working out this afternoon- first workout B. However, right now is the first chance I had to even EAT today let alone workout. I havent had 5 minutes to myself.

With that being said I am going to have to try really hard to workout tonight. And I will try to for sure because hubby is out and I have the home gym to myself. However- work is INSANE and I see myself working most of the night too.

How do you deal with your plan having to change without feeling discouraged about it?

The way I see it you have 3 choices:

1. Let your "change" ruin your dedication.
2. Make yourself do it tonight, no matter what.
3. Be a little flexible with yourself and do it Thursday and Saturday instead of Wednesday & Friday this week because of circumstances.

I'd vote for number 3..... but you have to stick to it tomorrow.

Thanks Yoga. I like all your responses.

#1 is what I used to do and no longer will participate in.

#2 is what I will try to do tonight- but its not lack of motivation today its more the work thing. work has to take priority- but i get the point

#3 is what I want to do, however, I already know that Saturday I probably won't be working out as I have a day off with hubby (first time in two weeks) so we will enjoy it out and about.

so thats my dilemma. work out tomorrow night (which fits nicely cuz hubbys at work) and then I will only do it twice this week... OR I force it in tonight.

I think I am going to workout tonight- but may not have time for HIIT.

I need to adopt the motto: something is better than nothing!!

(PS- I have an anxiety disorder so any change in the "plan" really affects my headspace)

lol.... or get up early Sat AM and do your workout and then spend the day with hubby!  That is what I do on the weekends.

Hey Yoga

I didnt get to workout yesterday because I worked til midnight!!! (we are almost close to launching three websites next week so its insane here- and I work for myself)

However, I like being accountable to you, and somehow its been working this week- so I definitely just did workout B!!!

I couldnt do HIIT and had to cut the abs a bit short to hop onto a conference call, but after that I went outside and ran 3K.

I'm happy with that!

One thing- that YTWL is really hard. I only have 5lb weights so my form was not great. Think I need to grab 3lbs or 4lbs dbs on the weekend.... makes me feel like a wussy. However- I can tell now that I will be sore from that tomorrow.

I used 60lbs on the bent over row/deadlift, 55lbs wide grip lat pulldown (we have one at home and 55lbs is like 70lbs b/c of the resistance of the pully itself!), 15lb db for the partial squat, 90 sec prone cobras and did prone jacknifes, reverse crunches and planks for abs in supersets.

Is it okay to superset the abs? Also I only rest for 90 seconds, I dont need to rest anymore than that to recover- is this okay?

:)

Hi Chels,

First, congrats on the weights - you're lifting is going really well! The YWTL is evil - and part of its villainy is that we have been trained to think "lift heavy / no pink barbie weights," and then this maniacal little diddy comes along and works muscles we didn't even know we had! It's okay to drop down, so pat yourself on your well toned back and focus on improving your form. You're doing great.

Secondly, I totally hear your pain on the issue of being derailed! I loved when you wrote that you felt accountable to Yogagirl because that means you've identified someone /something that can help keep you going when you don't want to anymore. For me, it's Megan because she's always a step ahead - heck even injured I can't catch up with her :) 

I also loved yogagirl's suggestion and your response to being flexible with yourself in how you keep your commitment. I think one thing I've learned with this program is that a lot of times I can find the time, even though I'm not always willing act on it. While the things keeping me away from the gym lately have been different challenges than your own, the truth is life throws us curve balls, and it's how we deal with them matters. For me, I haven't been as successful as I'd have liked in meeting my gym minutes, but I haven't quit and I've tried to compensate in other ways.

It's so clear from your posts how important it is to you to meet the gym goals that you set for yourself, and it's also clear how crazy your job is right now. I will throw another option out there - and keep in mind that I'm much more comfortable with relaxing a bit from routine - but you could say that for this one, or maybe two weeks, of anticipated chaos it will be okay for you to workout twice a week, instead of three times. If it's really not feasible for you to fit in all three it seems cruel to set yourself up for failure. Then, because you want to, if you can get three workouts in, you will feel successful and victorious and triumphunt  - and I like those feelings a lot :)

Didn't mean to go on so long, I think I'm identifying a little too closely with your struggle right now - lol!

Hey KMK-

Thanks for the kind words! You made me feel really great.

Thanks for sharing. I find solice in knowing that someone else has the same struggles as me....

:)

Glad I could be of motivation to you!  Congrats on getting it done!  KMK is a good motivator too!  Like she said, we all have issues from time to time.

Hey Yoga-

So I just wanted to share that I did my three workouts last week- although my Saturday one was cut short with circumstances out of my control....

WORK IS KILLING ME THIS LAST TWO WEEKS. And it wont stop. This week should be out LAST insane week. Can't wait to get back to the regular program next week (hopefully) I guess its good that we are busy considering I am self - employed.

This week I have planned out to workout Tues, Thurs, Sat. Works out great cuz hubby works til 930 on Tues and Thurs and Sat (which means I will have the home gym to myself) I even moved my 10am hair appointment to noon on Sat so I could workout first (not going to get all sweaty after my hair is done ;)

Just wanted to share my plan for the week :)

Hope all is well.

Believe me I know how you feel. I have anxiety (altho not about any changes to plans) and its no fun. Last week I had terrible, terrible cramps & the usual sick feeling. I was not able to exercise for 3 days. I have my workouts carefully planned as I have to fit in some long runs too (stupid fun run I have to do in June). 

And the RFFL workouts do the 5x5, 4x10 & 3x15 sets/reps. Early in the week is best to do the 5x5 as there are too many people in my way at the gym for me to do a fast workout, minimum rest as suggested.  So doing any 4x10 or 3x15 on the weekends is realistically the only option. So missing those days really screwed things up for me. Sorry for rambling, I'll get to the point (babble babble babble!)

For a couple of hours on Sat I actually thought about doing 3 lifting workouts 3 days in a row just to get back on track. Anyway that would've been a bit shortsighted of me, glad I didn't. So I had to skip Workout B 3x15, but it will be back around again the week of May 17th.  The point is there will always be some sort of set backs, changes to plan. The real trick/accomplishment in the long run is to be able to work around any disruptions to keep going.

Anyway glad you got the workouts in, a shortened one here &there won't hurt you. And yes spending time with hubby is important. Good luck with work.

thanks Octo.

Saturdays workout for me was barely one- I'm not even counting it. I did two NROLFW last week and a 3K run.

edited to add: im not going to be doing HIIT after workout B, Im going to 3-4K instead (I want to try and be able to run 5K late summer)

Tues, Thurs, Sat is the plan this week and I think it should work, even though work is insane hubby is working til 930 so that leaves plenty of time after dinner for me to find an hour. I'm going to do workout A (cuz Saturdays A was a bust)

Next week work should be back to normal and I can't wait. 

Starting baseball on Monday nights next week! Does baseball burn any cals? I mean- you arent really doing much unless you're running for the ball or running to a base.... or hitting i guess.

Good news: I bought an inflatable hot tub! A Spa 2 Go. Its amazing!!! 7 feet wide, almost 3 feet deep, jets, three temps (i like 104 degrees). SOOOO awesome- so thats my after workout treat now. After I cool down- I can hop in the tub for a soak of my muscles.

My eating this past week hasnt been so good. Main meals have been good but the snack bug has hit (PMS week).....

Good going on your workouts!!!  Keep up the great work and then you can relax in the tub!