#3 Reason Your Training Can Fail: Not being patient with your program and progess

How many times do your start something and then find yourself quitting or getting impatient with your progress? Most of us experience this in a variety of areas in our lives. We want results and progress faster and a lot faster than what is realistic. So we get frustrated, have expectations that we should be further along than we are, and sometimes quit.

This happens a lot when it comes to training. We find a coach or trainer, set a realistic goal and start the program we set up to follow. We start making small strides forward. Some things come easier than others and at first we are okay with it. We can throw a decent jab, but look like a goof ball when we attempt to throw a hook. Just when we master jump roping, we attempt the speed bag and can't get the hang of it. We start getting stronger, faster, and increase our stamina and then we spar for the first time and feel like we regress way back.

This is how training goes. You move forward and then back and then forward again. This forward and backward movement results in progress. We learn and make strides and then we are tested/challenged and slide back just a little only to improve and learn more. We must have this pattern to truly make progress. It is humanly impossible to simply keep moving forward without bumps in the road. Progress with out bumps and steps backward is seemingly false and most likely means you are just staying "safe" and never truly testing yourself.

Not being patient with your program and progress is not easy and can be the death of your success. Change takes time and occurs in small steps. Skill development takes time and practice. Improving performance takes time and will come. We can all remember the time we stepped foot in the gym and couldn't throw a punch to save our lives and now we can throw a pretty darn good jab for 3 minutes! When you are in the "omg I am never going to make progress" phase you can't see beyond the struggle in that moment. Then when you make progress one day you are doing the very thing you thought you would never be able to do and you remember "wow I couldn't even stand properly 3 months ago and now I can do it effortlessly!".

Everyone's path looks different and follows a different timeline. We all come to our training programs with different abilities, skill levels, fitness levels, experience levels, ways of learning and investment levels. All of this and more dictates progress. We all must be patient. Even for the most able, talented, skillful, fit, experienced, intelligent student that can spend 2 hours a day in the gym there comes a time when they feel stupid, impatient, frustrated, and stagnant.

The key is to not compare yourself to others, remind yourself of how far you have come, acknowledge your progress and be patient. Don't sell yourself short and give up before you have realized your potential. Whether you goal is to improve your fitness level, lose weight, test your skills sparring, or compete remember its a journey and it takes time! Many times the most important changes happen internally before they can be seen, so fight the urge to beat yourself for your supposed lack of improvement and fight the urge to quit! Keep working at it! You wouldn't expect a baby learning to walk to master it in an instant so why do you think you have the ability to master something faster than realistically possible?

The challenges and frustration will make you internally stronger and build your toughness level. Dealing with the stress of training challenges will help you improve your mental game. Those athletes that skate along with no stress, frustration, difficulty, or bumps will not be mentally tough in life and in the ring. When life and training eventually gets "hard" they will buckle under pressure. So remember being patient and making progress include frustration and all of this is part of your training program so don't give up!

At Warrior Fighting Sports & Fitness, we pride ourselves on supporting our students (recreational and competitive a like) in understanding and mastering the mental game. We manage expectations and provide and environment that fosters change and success. We understand that training is a metaphor for life and make it a priority to guide our students down a healthy, realistic and successful path!