Got an email from a reader a while back, and while I can’t recall the exact words he used, the general thrust of what he said was that he finds a lot of “discipline” and “motivation” talk in the fitness space cringey as sin.
He ain’t wrong.
It certainly speaks to a life free from meaningful challenge (and meaning in general) if you believe something as basic as consistently training a handful of times requires superhuman resilience.
For sure, it’s an unusual thing to do in this day and age.
But difficult?
Not really, no.
If you’re the least bit organised and able to overcome a modicum of discomfort, it’s not hard at all (unless you’re someone who smashes yourself into the dirt hoping for “quick” results).
Actually, the hardest thing about staying in the habit of training is dealing with pushback from friends, family, and society at large; all of whom have their share of devils with a vested interest in keeping you fat, weak, and compliant.
That, I concede, can be a pickle to deal with. Especially if you are interested in maintaining relationships with people who don’t share your desire to be strong and in shape.
So much so, you can find any well-meaning people-pleasing behaviours you have rapidly (and often without warning) undermining your efforts on the training front. Potentially to the point that you’re skipping workouts, eating too much of the things you know you ought not to eat too much of, or even falling off the wagon altogether for months at a time.
The best tool I have found to combat this is to develop your own “philosophy” of living. One that grounds your choices in how YOU want things to be, and, ultimately, resist the pernicious influence of the world around you, without becoming a joyless loser nobody likes.
Enter my latest book:
“Strongosophy”
This is a collection of material, including transcripts of audio training modules from a fat loss programme I no longer sell, bonus material I sent to my Phil Tyreman Letter subscribers, a letter to my son, plus some of Jess’ writings related to the theme of the book.
Combined, you’re getting a high level overview of the way of thinking that has enabled me to train without unplanned interruption for a decade and a half while still leading a full and varied life outside of the gym.
Also, unlike many of my books, this one is dirt cheap (a fiver for the eBook and a tenner for the paperback).
If you’d like a copy, pick it up from Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strongosophy-Phil-Tyreman-ebook/dp/B0FNBGGDHZ
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman
P.S. If you do get the book, I’d appreciate it greatly if you could leave me an honest review (i.e. don’t just give it five stars because you like me and want to help out).
Come to think of it, if you’ve bought and read any of my Amazon titles (including those contained within Phil Tyreman’s Big Book of Fitness), a review (or even just a star rating) would be mucho appreciated.