What do you do, when you DON’T have your team holding you accountable anymore?

When I was in college, I dreaded workouts and conditioning.

THEY WERE HARD.

They pushed us physically, mentally and emotionally. I guess that's kind of the point, because those type of workouts prepared us for success in the games. I knew that if I wanted to be the best athlete, I needed to excel and push myself to my limit every day.

But it still didn't change the fact that I hated it.

I hated pretty much everything about strength and conditioning, and I wasn’t out of shape.

The only thing I liked about pushing myself that hard was the payout in the games. The success I had on the court.

Let’s fast forward 4 years, I am now out of college. I still have a 6-pack and I’m in great physical shape. But my workout journey was an extremely hard one.

After college sports ended, I struggled with my workouts because if my workout didn’t absolutely kill me, I felt like I wasn’t going hard enough.

I felt like a failure.

How do I workout at less than 100% and not feel like a failure? I felt like my workouts needed to consist of HIIT, spin and crossfit. I needed to be completely drained after, to feel like I got a good workout in.

But in return, I hated going to the gym because I knew I was about to push myself to my limit. The only difference was…. now workouts weren’t mandatory, I didn’t have to go, I didn’t have my team counting on me. So I didn’t.

As a result, I stopped working out as often. and it started to show.

One day, I had an epiphany. I realized I was conditioned through a college athletics mindset... to workout at 110% at all times or feel like crap about myself, because I didn’t push hard enough. I realized I felt this way because of college, because that’s how you succeeded in college athletics.

But here is the thing, I am no longer a high level athlete. I am a person who isn't trying to be a national champion anymore. I now just want to be fit, strong and feel good.

There are so many ways to be in good shape, and it is different for everyone. The way that worked for me was eating healthy and working out consistently.

The biggest hurdle for me, was that I realized I needed to change my mentality about working out... in order to actually CONSISTENTLY workout.

This mentality switch was one of my hardest transitions.

But slowly, I started thinking about working out from a longer term perspective, a less intense perspective and it became enjoyable again. I realized my workout intensity level was not sustainable in the long term. It was now all about me and my goals, not the teams goals. Which in a way was really liberating, I got to be an individual for the first time.

What worked for me was doing the workouts I love and not doing the things I didn’t. I started resistance training (something I used to love) and stopped putting myself through these hellish circuits and running workouts (which I dreaded).

For the first time since college sports ended, I am working out consistently, YAY!… Which is wayyyy more important and healthy, than killing myself in every workout. And not only am I working out everyday, I am excited to workout. I still have 20% body fat… aka I still have a kick ass body and I’m much healthier mentally.

P.s. I also learned that about 60-70% of being in good shape… is determined by what you eat. Something I neglected to consider when I was in college.

Take away: Do workouts you like, and stop doing the things you hate. It will transform your relationship with the gym and your body.