Give it your best

Are you moving closer to your goals?
Are you making excuses or making the effort?
Are you settling for a "just getting by" mentality?
Are you distracted by life yet constantly wish that you could stay more committed to your goals?
Are you willing to accept the time that is needed to reach your goals?
Do you find yourself procrastinating and then looking for quick results when you feel the pressure to make a change?
Are you putting in the work?

We all have our own reasons for training for an event, exercising more, eating better or making a change in life. 

You get what you give. 
In four days, Karel and I will be leading our 3rd annual Trimarni Clermont training camp. Although we expect our athletes to be tired and exhausted (especially with an Olympic distance triathlon race on the last day of camp), we also expect our athletes to give a great effort throughout camp.
Our campers understand exactly what they are in for at camp and because of this, they each come with a great "give it your best" attitude.

If you have never been to a training camp, I highly recommend to find the right camp for you and your fitness needs and goals and to participate in group training environment that is unlike anything you can experience alone or in your home environment.

One of the best training effects from a training camp is learning what it feels like to give a great effort without any (or minimal) life distractions. 

Since training is not your life (unless you are a professional), you know you will have challenges in life that will keep you from training consistently. 

Some athlete choose to minimize these distractions by making relationship or career changes or making other investments (hiring a coach, sport RD, sport psychologist, massage therapist, etc.). But depending on your goals and intentions for change, you don't have to change your life just to be great. You don't even have to be a world class athlete to be great! 

The big takeaway is if you are constantly letting life interfere with your ability to give something your best effort, you will always fall short on reaching your full potential or reaching your goals.  

Perhaps you interpret this statement as you needing to train more, be more strict with your diet or to make more sacrifices in life, but an extreme approach is not necessary if you want to receive positive results from your efforts.

I invite you to bring three words to your life:

Proactive
Purpose
Present

I repeatedly say these words to our athletes as they can really make the difference between an OK workout and a GREAT workout.

So how can you use these words when you are about to give an effort? 

Proactive - focus on how you can set yourself up for great behaviors or actions. Perhaps planning your meals ahead of time, creating a great workout environment so it's easy for you to get in a workout even when you are busy or setting a schedule for yourself so that you feel rested and energized. If you constantly find yourself feeling guilty of something you did or didn't do, there is likely a barrier in your life that is keeping you from being more proactive. Plan for something before it happens.

Purpose - having a clear purpose will help you understand what you need to do to get to where you need to be. Having a purpose for how you train, why you do certain workouts, why you go to bed at a certain time, why you eat what you do, etc. will help you appreciate the steps that you are taking to reach the end result. When someone has a purpose for doing something, less excuses come about and actions are influenced by passion. If you don't truly love what you are doing, it's likely that you don't have a good or believable purpose for doing what you are doing. Rethink why you are doing something and if you can't find a clear purpose, perhaps your goals need to change.

Present - dwelling on the past or feeling anxious about the future will not help you in this moment in time. Wishing for a workout to be over so you can do something else or hating what you are eating are not the attitudes that you want to bring to your actions.  Keep in mind that food choices, sleep habits, stress in your life and unclear goals can all contribute to not being present.
Don't let yourself get distracted when you are doing something and don't let someone else distract you from your personal journey.

Remember that your intentions for your goals may be different than someone else's. But don't doubt your ability to do something by comparing it to another person's actions.
Be willing to take some risks, don't be afraid to fail and don't let your ego (or self-doubt) keep you from giving a bit more effort.

If you want to accomplish something, you have to be willing to give it your best effort every single day.

 The entire purpose of our training camps is to provide our athletes with a safe and motivating environment so that it is easier to give the effort that is hard to achieve at home.

This doesn't mean that our athletes are lazy or are not accomplishing workouts at home but I often find that athletes fail to realize their full athletic potential simply because the focus, time, energy, intent, purpose or attitude of achieving something is often difficult to do alone.

What we love about camp is that our athletes really get to know what it is like to give it your best.

Although a training camp can help you understand that you are capable of achieving so much more than you ever thought was possible, you shouldn't let a day go by without giving your best effort to whatever you are doing. 

You can either choose to give it your best, just get by or believe you are not capable of achieving something. 

Which do you choose?