The evil voices that whisper “Have a sleep-in. You can train tomorrow!”
It's 3am when the alarm goes off.
It’s late June and the temperature is hovering around 3 degrees Celsius.
I force my tired eyelids to open against their wishes one at a time and the first word that escapes my lips starts with “F” and ends with “K”.
This is when the little, nasty, evil voices in my head jump into action.
"Don’t do it", they scream at me.
They beg me to stay in bed a little longer, an hour, half an hour, 15 minutes. “just 5 more minutes!” they say, but deep down I know that if I give them an inch they’ll take a mile.
Then they play on all my emotions both positive negative. These buggers can be very persuasive, telling me it won’t make the slightest difference if I have a sleep in, “Hell you can make up for it tomorrow”.
They try massaging my ego. “You’re the undisputed champ Tone, who can touch you?"
I swear I reckon those little buggers have been implanted in my brain by my competitors, by those that are trying desperately to unseat me at the top of the mountain, my enemies that want to see me fail, to see me experience the bitter taste of defeat.
The easiest thing in the world would be to give in to the voices, to listen to them and have a bit of a sleep in - but of course I don’t!
Because I know, if I do it once then I’ll do it again and again, and before I know it, I’ve blown it!!!
So I get up and hastily don my training clothes, down a quick coffee and out the front door.
Making my way across to the gym, the streets are deserted except for a few night shift workers, the odd thief and the occasional police patrol trying to either catch the thieves or someone in a Red Ute speeding.
Approaching the laneway, I switch on my high-beams half expecting to catch some no-hoper criminal trying to break into my gym.
I do that hoping to get my adrenaline pumping.
Out I get from the warmth of the car and into the cold dark night, my breath leaving a cloud of white wispy fog as I exhale the warm air from my lungs into the crisp night air.
I unlock the cold steel door and enter the freezing cold chambers of my gym, which are filled with even colder steel contraptions of torture.
But my office is warm (because of the coffee machine) and dark and my desk chair inviting, VERY inviting.
That’s when those the little, nasty, evil voices reappear in my head, jumping into action yet again.
“Turn the heater on and have a snooze Tone", they implore me, tempting me to take up their offer, almost daring me to sit down on my comfy desk chair.
“FK U” I scream at the top of my lungs (lucky there’s no one around) and quickly turn on all the lights, don my earphones and hit the treadmill.
Here we go again, I think to myself, as those nasty, evil buggers are at it again, hopefully for the last time that day.
This time they’re saying things like; “Just go for a leisurely walk Tone, don’t raise a sweat mate, stuff the stepper, the rower, the bike. Turn on the TV and take it easy. Read the paper. After all, you’re the champ.”
Decision time.
Luckily for me I’ve got the benefit of experience behind me and I don’t listen to those evil voices in my head.
YES, in the past I’ve succumbed to their persuasive words and as a consequence tasted the bitter flavour of defeat, something I don’t ever want to taste again.
There’ll be plenty of time to sleep-in, I reason with myself, after I’ve been crowned “King of Hill”, or when I decide to finally hang up my posing trunks, or when I’m dead, but now’s not the time. Now’s the time for action; time to pay my dues, time to pay the price required to stay on top of the hill - the small price for my health and mental wellbeing.
OK, so why am I recounting this little story to you?
I’ll tell you because, YOU ARE NOT ALONE my friends.
I know how you feel, and I know how persuasive those buggers can be.
Be strong.
Don’t listen to them. Embrace the cold winter months to achieve your summer physique because the winter months are ideal for fat loss.
The body uses more energy to warm up, so in actual fact the more you do the quicker you will burn fat.
Stay strong, stay focused and don’t succumb to the nasty, evil voices trying to sabotage you.
