The Key To Getting Better
Over the past few months, I’ve been speaking to my coach at the Quad about a new move I’m trying out. I got lucky that I have a set of coaches who understand my body and limitations. But my journey with “getting better” at training was not easy.
But first, some back story.
I used to train for years, but probably only retained 10% of what I learnt. I was always more closer to someone who's just starting out with workouts. Basically I could do a few moves well, and my skills started to plateau quickly.
You don’t get better by hanging out there.
Some books, a couple of apps, and bunch of Youtube videos later, I realised it’s best for me to learn ‘working out’ from an in-person class.
And I’ve gotten better over the past 2-3 years. But I discovered that there’s a dimension that unlocks with deliberate practice.
Feeling better doing the thing that you’re learning makes you get better.
Before you shoot me off, getting better and feeling better are NOT the same. Getting better is about improving (on specific metrics, parameters etc), whereas feeling better is about confidence, comfort and acceptance.
Once you start feeling better you’re no longer intimidated by the act of doing something. You’re not rushed into optimising things. You’re not in a race with anyone.
Granted I’m far away from having a chiselled body, and my endurance is still way off where it needs to be- but I’ve passed the first waypoint
It just feels better to train, even when I have a bad day!
So rounding off- If you haven’t been getting better ask yourself “Am I feeling better doing this?”