I admit it: I am an alien. Why? Because I enjoy doing what many people are only willing to do from New Year’s to early March: Challenge your body with body-building workouts. Straight up: I’m an indulgence trainee.
However, I never used to be as consistent as I have been in recent years. So I wasn’t born to persevere – quite the opposite, in fact. I’ve been training since 1982, but always with interruptions that lasted from a few weeks to a few months. But since fall 2018, I’ve had a much better handle on it: I train with myTRS based on regeneration. That means: with a reduced risk of burnout and with a lot of variety in the exercise selection.
There are obviously very different types when it comes to physical training. For example, there are the competitive athletes who really try to get everything out of their bodies. For them, there’s not much discussion, they just give everything. The coach should worry about it – the athlete concentrates on the sport and goes full throttle. You just have to like it. It’s obvious that in the long run, this kind of activity can’t be described as all-embracingly healthy.
But in addition to the professionals, there is also the huge group of recreational athletes. And among them, those who are equipped with a decent amount of determination – at least in appearance. They always have their sights set on what needs to be achieved next. Intermediate goal follows intermediate goal, and step by step they get closer and closer to their big milestones on the way to the success they have dreamed of. What is done is what has to be done: The goal determines the action. The necessary action is merely a means to an end.
But last but not least, there are also those people who enjoy doing what they do to a large extent. They don’t want to be uptight or stubborn about working every minute of their lives toward a goal, however defined, nor do they want to masochistically give themselves over to the pain of training. No – what they want is something completely different: they want to enjoy what they do. Indulgence trainees, that is.
I want to enjoy what I do – that doesn’t necessarily mean indulging in a rapturous pleasure addiction. It can also mean being aware, every step of the way, of the advantages, the benefits of keeping your body in good shape. And from such mindful awareness ultimately comes a positive feeling of satisfaction at having done the right thing – even when it was once again quite strenuous.
Personally, I’m in my mid-fifties and have no competitive ambitions whatsoever. None at all. But consistent training over the long term is a high priority for me – and has been for almost four decades: A good level of fitness helps me get through the progressive aging process with a good level of physical performance.
However, a key factor in this matter is: variety. Avoiding boredom plays a central role in not losing joy and jumping off sooner or later. Not only burn-out, but also bore-out is a realistic danger. Variety helps to maintain or even increase the “indulgence” by including always new exercises.
If you follow the philosophy of regeneration-based build-up training, variety is automatically ensured: the different load and recovery situation of the previously trained muscles every day ensures different exercise suggestions. So there is no danger of getting stuck with the same favorite exercises for the same favorite muscle groups – and thus risking one-sidedness and boredom.
There is another way …
