Motivation: It ebbs and it flows. I believe the key is not to listen to it when it’s not there. Just go to your gym at the usual time anyway. In times of lowest motivation, it helps me most to reach out to my community. It helps me to express to those lifting around me that “I’m just not feeling it today.” Sometimes I’m met with a sense of relief from others who agree but have still kept the commitment to themselves to put in the work. Other times, the person I share my bad gym attitude with feels good and motivated and they give me a little boost saying something like, “You’ll feel better once you sweat. Get warmed up and let’s get lifting.” Remember it starts with one person, that’s all you need. He or she doesn’t have to be a best friend. They simply have to be someone you feel comfortable with who typically works out at the same time you do.
As I wrapped up 2015 I was feeling adrift in the gym. I had gone to Nationals and had a great experience and was also feeling a bit burnt from training all year. My coach saw it and put me on a strength maintenance plan. I felt like I was rising in strength the entire year and now I was put on a still tough programming but essentially one where I wouldn’t peak and the goal was to maintain the strength I had built. Ummm…. What’s motivating about that???
I need goals. I’m like a hyperactive border collie. With goals I’m productive and happy working to achieve without them I’m tearing up the sofa. I’m not happiest once I’ve achieved a goal. I am happiest when I have a goal in sight and I’m slowly building my way towards it. Over the holidays, I had plenty of time to think about what I loved about my year of powerlifting, what I missed about CrossFit, endurance sports, and I dreamed about the sports I have yet to try and have always wanted to try: Dancing and Masters Swim I’m still coming for you!
I also thought a lot about my ego. Would I be okay stepping back from competitive powerlifting this year? Have I done all I’ve wanted to in the sport? Am I okay with losing strength? Where does it end? Does it have to end? Being new in a competitive sport is great because in the beginning you are improving so quickly. So long as you are committed to your training and have solid programming you see results and the momentum is hard and fast. It’s quite addicting. Now, the greater challenge is if I do want to stay, how do I continue to evolve while still staying fresh both mentally and physically?
I can get to the point where I paralyze myself due to over analysis. I know this about myself, so I stopped my mind after a bit. I decided, I don’t have to know right now what this year holds for me competitively. What I find most meaningful after having achieved the goal of qualifying and competing in Nationals is the team. I love the camaraderie and fun we have together. There it is: FUN. Fun is what kept me coming back for a$$ beatings in CrossFit. I was a part of a tight knit group who kept each other text accountable and who I loved competing against and who pushed me to explore my limits as an athlete. That crew disbanded due to people moving away and focusing on other sports BUT if it was possible to re-create the feeling again, I wanted it. And the Anti-Fluff Squad was born!

Here’s what I missed about CrossFit: The camaraderie and the post workout HIGH. The Anti-Fluff Squad is a few guys and girls I see on a daily basis who all mainly train powerlifting or weightlifting. Did I mention they are beastly strong? There had been some chatter that while it’s really fun to get insanely strong it’s not fun to lose metabolic conditioning.  Sometimes the CrossFit workouts are complimentary and sometimes the lifting required in them on top of barbell programing would set one up for injury. So the anti-fluff meet up is a collection of body weight workouts aimed to blast fat and not impede the heavy strength training sessions. Not everyone can workout at the same time but the meet up allows us to hold ourselves accountable and have support in reducing the fluff. What is absolutely required to attend? A great sense of humor! Let’s just say one cannot be easily offended by fat jokes.
This meet up is completely selfish. It allows me to connect with at least one other person who has finished the lifting programming for the day and sweat to a body weight style workout. I also got really tired of hearing you can’t be both strong and conditioned. That eventually something has to give. We will see about that 😉

Action Steps:
1) If you’re feeling unmotivated (which is completely normal) seek out motivation from those you look up to or simply feel most comfortable around.
2) Sometimes taking some introspective time to re-evaluate your goals can help you train smarter not harder.
3) If the FUN in training is what you miss, bring it back! For me that includes fat jokes and friends who I can laugh alongside while dying for air doing burpees. But to each his own.