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The framing and sense of accomplishment in a gym can vary from person to person.
If you turn it into a sport, bodybuilding competitions, lifting events and PR’s can feel like a notable accomplishment. Rightfully so. It takes a lot to participate with competence at a powerlifting, bodybuilding or strongman event. Winning or finishing a Hyrox and CrossFit routine takes a great deal of preparation and consistency.
If you are a recreational lifter who used compound lifts, some messy amalgam of body composition, gradually improving lifts and the capacity to dabble with messy movement can feel like enough progress, accomplishment and motivation to keep things going.
At the 11 year mark of running my space (13 years coaching), the common thread I see among clients who sustain a training habit:
Be humble. Not just words. But operating at my level, there will always be someone for whom my workout is a warmup. There is always someone stronger, faster and more skilled than me. And being able to train like me can be a reasonable goal for others.
You can’t do everything well all at once. Nutrition, sleep, stress management, conditioning, mobility, strength, working towards an event (marathon, Hyrox etc) and juggling all this with family and work can be insanely hard. Being pragmatic that some things will take a backseat while a few goals take priority is a reasonable mindset.
The goalpost keeps moving. I remember the glee I felt when I got 30 dips with full range in one continuous effort. And then the weighted dips with 32 kgs moved nicely. More glee. And then I tried a one arm push up and fell flat. My goal post moved. I now have one arm push ups. But the 32 kg dips are not easy. You can always have something to work towards at the gym. It could be a skill or a quantitative target. Does not matter.
Don’t make any move sacrosanct. I am not a natural or skilled athlete. Whatever little I have to show for my training is a function of consistency, careful monitoring and execution while being self-aware of my limitations and capacity. I know I could not have maintained a consistent training habit if I decided to go down the powerlifting or bodybuilding road. It just does not motivate me or drive me enough. So I do what I must to be strong, stable, well-conditioned without my ego getting in the way of my choices by asking me: ‘How is that guy able to do that?’ Or ‘Why is it so much simpler for that person?’
Movement for the sake of being able to move. One of the more important switches in my head was to enjoy the capacity without getting worked up about progressive overload or poundage being lifted. I like how my pull ups look and how I can do them. I like how my single leg squats look and how stable I am when I can do it. My tolerance for hard positions is a point of pride. There are big wins to be had if you ignore the conventional noise of the why we go to gyms.