Chugging Along

The theme for this week is "Chugging Along." Not very splashy or exciting, but I believe most of us are doing exactly that: chugging along. What I mean is that we go through extended periods of time where we just keep executing our plan. If the plan was to walk, we are walking; if it was doing varied workouts through the week, we go through our workout routines. No-one is really watching. No-one is throwing us a parade.  No-one is writing about us in the newspaper.

We are chugging along with our wellness or fitness plans, sans fanfare. But that is perfectly fine. I would coach people to stock up on encouragement from their fitness buddies, and develop the attitude of diligent, self-governed action. You work on your fitness plan on your own, as it were. Once in awhile, you might pass some cheerleaders, but the more you can do your thing - chugging along, not needing regular recognition for your effort - the better off you will be. Or, at least, the more self-sufficient. While I believe encouragement is critical for all of us, my observation is that constant encouragement creates dependency. Appropriate, well-timed encouragement along with proper skill instruction and as-needed corrective feedback creates self-sufficiency and confidence. And that, more or less, amounts to good coaching.

Back to chugging along. This is the non-glamorous, real-world side of building and maintaining your wellness and fitness. Here are some examples of chugging along that have inspired me in the past week or so:

• a friend training for a running event and he's not feeling the love
• my Mom, who is still walking, in spite of Parkinson's Disease
• another friend who did an amazing number of pushups to support a good cause
• a high school student who joined cross-country to improve his running ability
• even I have found myself chugging along, alternating between a couple of different workouts through the week
• two ladies who meet regularly to improve their swimming strokes
• a guy and his young family, who all participated in a 5k run last weekend

Rest assured, you will probably spend much of your life in between "parades" which celebrate your amazing and inspiring example. In other words, you will simply be chugging along. I hope that you are inspired by a vision. I hope you have plan to follow.  And, I hope you get enough periodic encouragement to keep you chugging along.