Today was a busy day. With Labor Day yesterday, a few training sessions that regularly occur on Mondays were rescheduled for today. Those combined with the group sessions I cover on Tuesdays and the time I allocate to writing this weekly tip left me with only about 20 minutes to train.
Of course I could have just skipped lifting anything today—rest is important, after all. But my brother and I are in the early stages of prepping for an epic climbing adventure next February. (There’s nothing like goals to keep us motivated.)
Since mindset will be equally as important as physical capabilities on that trip, I want to cultivate a strong mental attitude any chance I get over the next six months.
I also like to practice what I preach. And since today felt like a paying the price protocol sort of day, I planned a short, twenty-minute session that covered a lot of bases, including:
Here’s what I did—which you shouldn’t necessarily follow because it may not align with your goals—and, more importantly, the few other concepts that I considered when deciding what to do—which you should also consider for times when you have 20 minutes or less to train.
Don’t…
- Don’t skip training because 20 (or 15 or 10) minutes doesn’t seem like enough. A single step toward your goal is still one step closer than where you were before.
- Don’t skip movement prep (see link above). But also don’t spend half the training time doing it. You can’t prioritize without deprioritizing. And while movement prep is important, it isn’t the #1 priority when time is short.
- Don’t necessarily do as much work as possible. If the day’s bubble wrap protocol (see the paying the price protocol link above) was a low-intensity session, that doesn’t need to change just because time availability did.
Do…
- Do align the session with your goal and any prior plans. Adding on to point #3 above, certainly hit it hard for whatever time is available if that’s what your time-rich plan had specified.
- Do keep it simple. Add any basic human movements (see link above) that aren’t a priority into the movement prep. You can always do more of that or anything you might have missed tomorrow.
- In the event of almost zero time, do your bare-ass minimum (BAM).
- (After the session…) Do reinforce your identity as someone who aims to do what you say you will do (DWYSYWD) whether you feel like doing so or not. Celebrate by giving yourself a little high-five, fist pump, or whatever else feels appropriate, and say aloud or in your head, “that’s like me” (see cultivating a strong mental attitude link above).
My 20-minute session
Movement prep (about 3 minutes)
- Pull-up x 5
- Push-up x 10
- Body Weight Squat x 15
- Brettzel
Main training (about 12 minutes)
- Three rounds (9 minutes)
- Snatch 4 x 5 (one set every :30, switching hands every set) @ 32 kg
- Rest x 1:00
- Farmer Carry x 30 ft (right hand) @ 48 kg
- Goblet Squat x 5 @ 48 kg
- TGU x 1/1 @ 48 kg
- Farmer Carry x 30 ft (left hand) @ 48 kg
Cool down (about 5 minutes)
- Walk around, controlling my breath and slowing my heart rate
Putting it into practice
I have two simple suggestions for you this week:
First, remember that a single step toward your goal is still one step closer than where you were before. (Yes, I’m intentionally repeating myself.)
Second, commit or re-commit to doing a daily fitness-focused BAM… which should also help you remember that a single step toward your goal is still one step closer than where you were before. 😉 (Read more about BAMs via the link in the Do section above, and also consider learning about behavior MAPs.)
Both are small but effective ways to help you cultivate and maintain the identity of being an active person, which is a great perspective to have on those days when you had planned to train but found time to be at a premium.