Miami Downtown Grant Broggi Starting Strength Coach

Train Anyway | Why & How You Should Prioritize Your Training

The more people I coach, the more I realize that those who end up having the greatest success long term are also those who are the most consistent. I know it sounds obvious, but that does not make it any less true:  you must train even when you do not want to.  

Plenty of people go through ups and downs in the gym. They are consistent for a few months and then they fall off the wagon for a few months. The cycle repeats (usually with their recovery and nutrition too) and they never end up where they want to be.  

The things keeping them out of the gym are real: traveling, long work days, moving, a screaming new baby, stressful life situations… the list goes on and on.  So the key is to make training a priority. That does not mean you should obsess over it; it just means you should make it a priority.

If you prioritize your training even during your busiest times,  it will positively affect your body weight, your composition, your performance, and even your mental health. 

About two weeks ago, my wife and I flew to Miami on a whim to catch a basketball game and visit some friends. As we arrived at what felt like the Capital of South America, I found myself in the exact situation above. I did not want to lift; I simply wanted to enjoy Miami.

boston celtics

We landed, rushed to the stadium, and thoroughly enjoyed watching the Celtics beat the Heat … and, of course then go rip my heart out by tying the series 3-3 before losing game 7 at home (thank God I didn’t go).

All in all, it was a great trip. Good food (well kind of, I found I am not a Cuban sandwich guy), great people, clean city, and nice weather. We were only in town for two nights, but I told Diana that we still had to lift. 

I know it sounds crazy, but I really believe making lifting a priority even when traveling leads to progress long term. And if you find yourself traveling regularly, you better do this, or your lifting will not progress… probably along with your other fitness goals.

With that said, I’m not a complete and total nut job, and you should not be either. Do not ruin a vacation or work trip because Grant said you can never miss a workout. Make adjustments so that you can get something productive done while at the same time cope with your life situation. 

In my case, I had never been to Miami and wanted to explore. I did not want to train. As a matter of fact, after staying up late the first night for the game and waking up early for some work meetings -  when 12 PM rolled around in Miami Beach, it was the very last thing I wanted to do. 

But I know better than to skip a workout, so I decided to make some adjustments so  the workout would be shorter and get as much bang for time in the gym as possible.

Originally, I thought about carrying plates out to Miami Beach and deadlifting while the waves crashed (solely for your visible enjoyment), but the constant rain and my desire to not have my wife kill me for making her haul weights out to the beach deterred me away. (If you want us to do that video, let us know).

Our friend, Jordy, lives downtown and has a full set up on the 19th floor of his apartment. I’ve been coaching Jordy for about a year online and have always been impressed with his set up. I figured, “What better way to get a workout in than use our own equipment on the 19th floor?” So up the elevator we went.

We broke the camera out to showcase a 19th floor apartment gym as well as to test some crash pads which I had never trained on before. All in all, I think we showed that you can build a gym in a really small area if you really want to.

I warmed up to 530 for my first heavy pull but my grip failed. I usually live and die by the hook grip, but I was sweating like crazy in the Miami heat and decided rather than be hard-headed and keep missing to just pull with a mixed grip. I got it.  

I then pulled 475 for a double, then 455 and 405 for sets of 5. Diana then hit a few sets of deadlifts and the whole workout was done within an hour. Was it our best training session? Absolutely not. But we prioritized training even though it did not perfectly fit into our schedule. We made adjustments and did something.

The next day I woke up and went for a run before Diana even got out of bed. At the end of my run, I knocked out 100 pushups to make up for skipping my bench press the day before. I then took the next day off before going into the gym on Saturday for squats, presses, AND bench presses (combining the missed bench presses with the press session).

All in all, I ended the week having gotten all the work I was supposed to do even though I had moved it around to accommodate my schedule. Is this ideal? No. Did I hit the press and bench press weights I was supposed to by combining them into one session? Also no. (Well, I hit the presses but not the benches but you get the point).

The point is that I made training a priority, I got to the gym, and did SOMETHING HARD. I then set up the rest of the week to make up for what I missed. This is how you make progress long term. This is how you stay active and prevent injuries long term. The people who miss weeks at a time are the ones who are always dealing with tweaks and setbacks.

Make training a priority. Get to the gym and work hard. You will be glad you did. Your wife will not thank you until after the fact. But she WILL thank you (especially if you take her out for a Cortado).

 

If you want to see the entire workout VLOG check out our last blog post here.

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