Balancing work and hard training leading up for competition.
(That’s me on the right at my first tournament in 2003!)
It’s Monday and that means it’s a post about leading up to the competitions. I figured I would share what a typical Monday looks like for me and then talk about planning your days to get the most out of them.
Since starting the podcast, Monday, has become my lightest day of training and probably my busiest actual day of the week. I’ll give an idea of what it looks like.
7-8:30AM: Wake up. I know this is going to sound silly but I’ve actually found that a side benefit of drinking lots of water is that I wake up to use the restroom earlier than the time my alarm clock is set. The benefit of this is that I don’t wake up to a nasty alarm clock sound and feel much better when I open my eyes. During this time period I eat breakfast, goof around on the computer for a bit, maybe watch BJJ videos or something. If the weather is pleasant, which is has been, I’ll sit out on the deck and drink my morning cup of coffee and relax. This is my “holy hour”, a little chunk of time to just be alive without having to worry about anything and do whatever I want. If you currently don’t have a holy hour, you should find a little bit of time in your day to schedule one. Doing this does wonders for me personally.
8:30-9:40AM: Answer emails and social media messages I have, glance over my to-do list, review over the techniques I’m showing that day, and then work on any projects I might have going. I will usually head to the gym around 9:40am and get there at 10am.
10:00-10:45AM: Lifting or Metcon
10:45-12:30PM: Stretching followed by my morning class. Mondays are always takedown days. After class I will chat with everyone, get a couple extra rolls in or help students with questions they might have.
12:30-3:00PM: Protein shake with a snack followed by working on my podcast website. Then around 1:30 I start interviews for the show.
3:00-4:00PM: Lunch with a coffee/tea break then I pick up one of my students and bring him to the gym.
4:00-6:45PM: Blog and website stuff, customer service work for the gym.
6:45-9:30PM: A light warm up then BJJ class from 7-8 with wrestling starting at 8. Wrestling is always fun and I love the analogy of calling it “fighting without punches” because it is such a rough sport. If you’re gym offers wrestling you should definitely take advantage of that opportunity!
9:30-12:00ishAM: Head home to relax, eat a light dinner and finish any small work I might have. Then I try to always read for an hour before I head to bed. More often than not it’s something history or non fiction. I just finished a book called Mastery and another called The Last Lion.
Now I am not sharing the schedule because I am gloating about being busy or because I am trying to show you how much I train. Rather the reason is because everything I did today was scheduled. I’ve found that for me personally when I am well rested and relaxed I am in a much better state of mind about planning out what I should do with my time. However, if I am run down by a long day or consumed by work I need to get done. Having to make the conscious decision to train becomes more difficult and I tend to slack a little.
Routine and accountability to the rescue
Sitting down on a Sunday night and making out a schedule helps me get the things I need to get done. . . DONE! Now most people aren’t as fortunate as me to teach and train for a living, but mapping out a schedule still applies. I remember working 60 hours a week in IT and being exhausted after work. After leaving work following a 10+ hour day, training didn’t seem quite as attractive as normal. I’m sure you’ve felt this way before, right?
This is where the schedule comes into play! You must take the choice away from your weary self and place it into the hands of your well rested self. With a written schedule you don’t have to weigh the options of either exerting yourself in training or just taking it easy for the night after work. Instead you can look down and see what you planned for yourself and follow the guide. Now there is something to be said about listening to your body, and if you are feeling absolutely terrible then maybe you should take a night off. But, have you ever skipped a work out only to get home and regret the choice, or have you ever went to the gym a little groggy only to leave pumped up about your training? I know I’ve personally done both.
The reason I put this “schedule talk” into this competition post is because getting ready for a competition can sometimes be tough, and it’s easy to get side tracked by life and skip a workout. The problem with this is, each day you skip a workout a day of preparation is lost, and when you’re getting yourself ready for a competition you have a fix amount of time to get ready. A wasted day of training is simply something you cannot afford. By giving yourself a schedule to follow you make sure that you’re getting your training, work, and other responsibilities and obligations taken care of, as well as finding time for yourself. Plus, there is a bit of accountability. It’s a little more difficult to skip out on things when you look down and see the goals you set for yourself staring back at you.
You may not experience the same problems I have and this may not be necessary for you. But if you are having issues training on some days, or find yourself slacking sometimes because of laziness. Then try giving yourself a schedule so that you make sure you get done, what it is, you want done. Make the schedule realistic and focused around the goals you have. If the goal is competition then it better consist of lots of hard training and drilling!
As always, thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or comments feel free to send them to chewjitsu@gmail.com