January 12, 2010

A Job Worth Doing.....

xkcd, of course.

Feeling a bit like a Grouchy Gus today? More like Goofus than Gallant? Tired of being sore? Tired of sticking to that redacted sixteen-hundred-calorie torture plan menu you worked out?

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. It happens to everybody. It's happening even to your pal Jo, right the heck now, as she eats a huge lump of pecan sour cream coffeecake.

I am not this guy. He has no coffeecake.

Wanna know what the secret is to getting through a workout you don't want to do? Wanna know how I can have a huge lump of pecan sour cream coffeecake and not feel bad about it? Check out Auntie Jo's Top Secret Workout And Diet Tip....

A job worth doing is sometimes worth doing half-assed.

Seriously. Even if you feel like this.

What do you mean, "Go put on some makeup"? I *am* wearing makeup!


As I do just at the moment, thanks to allergies, you can still do a half-assed job on a workout.

What good's a half-assed workout? More than you might think.

For one thing, it gets and keeps you moving. If you normally walk/run/walk for thirty minutes and you only do ten, well, that's ten minutes of activity you wouldn't have otherwise had. If you really get going and feel good, you can add on three- or two- or one-minute increments to your half-assed efforts and end up doing almost as much as you would've had you not been a Grouchy Gussy Goofus.

For another thing, it reassures you that fitness is not an all-or-nothing proposition. Everybody, even Venus Williams, has an off day now and then. Being healthy isn't so much about making huge changes all at once as it is about making small decisions on a daily basis--or multiple times a day. Getting up and moving is a small choice to do a small thing that, if you keep it up, will lead to long-term benefits.

And finally, even a half-assed workout will make you feel better. It doesn't matter what you have to promise yourself to get through it (for me, it was that coffee cake)--once your heart rate is up and your blood is pumping, you'll be less cranky.

Well, mostly. I mean, I'm still pretty cranky. Cranky and full of delicious, delicious coffeecake.

40 comments:

  1. Amen, Sister.

    I am the QUEEN of the halfassed runs.

    and, for now, thats a job well done for me.

    I know how easy it is to fall into the BUT I ONLY HAVE 15 MINUTES TO HAMMER OUT A POTENTIALLY CRAPPY WORKOUT!!
    and Id always encourage my clients to launch aforementioned crappy workout as it is FIFTEEN minutes more kickass than, well, sitting on their ass.

    easier said than done---I well know....


    Miz.

    ReplyDelete
  2. not an earth shattering revelation, but you're absolutely right! And I need to remember this far more often. even half assed is better than nothing.

    HA! word verification is cheta

    ReplyDelete
  3. True enough. Fine, I'll feel less guilty about those days from here on in. Please pass the coffee cake. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. omg i cannot describe HOW MUCH i neeeded to hear that today (not so much about the cake, coz now i just want cake) but the realisation that it's all about little decisions each day not changing my entire lifestyle over night!!

    THANK YOU!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks! Was definitely feeling the half assed blahs this week...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Amen! Some people forget (including myself) that half effort is okay sometimes. Perfection is over rated!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you for posting this. I had been doing really well - even through the holidays. Then I've hit kind-of a slump at the New Year. Right around the time everyone else is gearing up and full of energy. I guess sometimes good enough is OK. So glad I'm not the only one!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Half-assed rocks. If I don't feel like doing the whole routine I do a few of each exercise and know that it's worlds better than doing nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey listen... how come everyone else here who has posted comments figured out how to read the rest of the article (when it didn't have a 'read more....' and I can't???? I think I must still be busy having that appointment with my frontal cortex about willpower or something like that!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mmm. That coffee cake sounds good. Oh, right, we were talking about exercise...

    I think this is a great mindset to go into a workout with--better do something rather than nothing. Because when I think this way it turns out I can push myself harder than I originally imagined. The problem was just getting there in the first place.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I hope you brought enough for everyone!

    Love your point about it not having to be one gigantic change but a series of smaller ones - easier to not get so overwhelmed.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I call them BBTN (barely better than nothing) workouts. They're so popular around here they needed a name!
    mmmm keep talking about coffee cake like that and I promise I'll visit more often...

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've done some pretty half-asses workouts myself. Sometimes, I'm just too tired, or can't concentrate or just doing freaking care. Enter crappy workout here. But I say, anything is better than nothing. Even if I do only run on the treadmill or stepmill for five minutes before I give up and leave, it's better than nothing.

    Hope

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anon above, click on the post title. Sometimes Blogger does this wonky thing where we lose the "read more" link temporarily. It'll come back....I hope.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am new to your blog, but liked today's message. I agree with you, but wouldn't have thought that a few months ago. Great tip!

    Big Clyde

    ReplyDelete
  16. My variation on that is that on any day when I am not sick enough to skip work, I have to at least get dressed for the workout & do 10 minutes. Once I've done the ten, I gave myself permission to stop. There have always been plenty of days when I didn't much want to start, but I can't remember a single one when I actually quit after 10 minutes. Oh, some days ended up being sloooow & easy, but I always managed to decide that as long as I was creating all that laundry I might as well get something out of it. I always feel better the rest of the day, too. Let's hope those anti-drug forces never try to regulate endorphins!

    ReplyDelete
  17. half assed workouts are great. Even better, sometimes when I go out intending to do it half-assed, I perk up in the middle of it and finish the whole ass :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm so with you on the absolute necessity of accepting half-assery in you health and wellness journey.

    It's weird, too, because the more accepting I get about being imperfect, the less often I actually end up being half-assed. It's like I've finally internalized I have permission to do what I need to on any particular day, and knowing I can bail makes me more likely to get out there and try. But there are definitely still half-assed days, and I really don't feel bad about them.

    And yeah, our read more coding gets hosed every now and then--we have a non-standard template and blogger likes to throw a bunch of random html coding in there for kicks. Sorry! I took it out and it should be fixed now.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for the timely post! I spent half the day putting off any thought of training until I read your post... and OK, for a while afterwards as well... but eventually I made it into the gym, and even though it wasn't my planned HIIT session it was still a fairly respectable cross training session that I wouldn't have bothered doing without your suggestion! Perhaps you could remind me again tomorrow, when I fully expect to feel the same way again???

    ReplyDelete
  20. So true...sometimes it's the act of just doing it, rather than powering through a workout, that gives me the greatest satisfaction, because those are the days that I used to give up.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Great point about fitness not being an all-or-nothing proposition.

    I half-ass it sometimes when needed. I figure it has to be better than nothing and it also keeps me from getting all down on myself that I let my grumpy mood keep me from working on my fitness goals after the mood has lifted. Heck most of the time I start out half-assing it and by the end I'm at my regular level of intensity. Got to love the rush of feel good hormones that you get when you are active.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hand over the coffee cake and no one gets hurt! Ahhh! The sugar cravings! And it's only day 6!

    Thanks for the inspiration though. It's so dadgum nice out I think I'll go for a walk at lunch since I opted to catch up on sleep this morning.

    ReplyDelete
  23. For sure! I find that just putting on my workout clothes and lacing up my shoes puts me in a different mindset, so if I can do that and get going, 99.999% of the time I'm going to complete my workout as planned. I can probably count the amount of workouts I've actually cut short after starting on my fingers and toes in the last 28 months, because once I show up, I might as well rock it, right?

    ReplyDelete
  24. So true! I used to be a perfectionist. (Having kids has helped cure me of that, luckily!) It only brings heartache and madness.
    I remember the first time I did a workout while giving myself permission to make it low-impact rather than going all-out. I thought to myself, "Well. it's better than nothing." And you know what? It was!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Im bookmarking this ;)

    I get SO into the 'all or nothing' mentality, even though I know it's wrong. *sigh*

    ReplyDelete
  26. LOL. I think I answered *yes* to your first four questions but I know that I wasn't the only one...

    ReplyDelete
  27. This is exactly what I wanted to hear! I am taking this approach this year and thinking that anything is better than nothing. Of course I have goals and am not doing a bunch of 10 min workouts...but on those days that I don't feel it I am tell myself that 10 mins is just fine.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I force myself to put on my workout shoes and do 10 minutes no matter what. I almost always do more once I get going but the promise that I only have to do 10 minutes when I'm feeling blah is what gets me there in the first place. Some is better than none anyday.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I've been know to knock out a half-assed workout from time to time.
    But it's better than nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  30. uh, can you pass the recipe along please?

    ReplyDelete
  31. If I workout for 10mins and still don't want to I can leave, but by then I'm normally committed to finishing.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anything worth doing is worth doing.

    It is even worth doing wrong. Or halfassed. Or in bits and pieces.

    If it is worth doing, it is just plain worth doing. Period.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I always tell people something is better than nothing! AND, sometimes it feels like it is going to be crappy & turns into an awesome one so ya never know!

    ReplyDelete
  34. My workouts are usually halfassed through the month of december. I guess it's because my diet goes out wack and takes everthing else with it.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Man, what I wouldn't give for a half assed workout right now. You know that all or nothing mentality? I think I invented it or at least one of my ancestors because I'm just too damn good at it for it to not be in my DNA.

    But, I know you're right. It's 10:30pm right now as I type this so there is NO WAY for me to get in a full workout tomorrow morning before work. But I'll give the half-assed way a try and go to the gym for 10 minutes and see what happens.

    But for now, I'm going to bed! Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Well, everybody already said it, but, I agree too! Going and doing is better than not, no matter how long.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I agree! Even if you can't do a whole workout, do it anyway. It's better than just sitting on your a-s-s and doing nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Good point. The important thing is to get moving.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Absolutely right! Hauling ass to the gym/out of the front door for a run/ etc. is half of the battle anyway. If you get as far as doing that with the intention of making a half-assed attempt you often end up with a full-assed attempt in the end anyway :o) And even if you don't, you've still done -something- which is much better than -nothing-.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting, Cranky Fitness readers are the BEST!

Subscribe to comments via RSS

(Note: Older Comment Threads Are Moderated)