Recently, I have started going to gym again. As you do at the start of every new year. However this time I have decided to stick it out (as I had that previous dozen times). Nonetheless one incident in the gym helped me learn a lesson that I had verbally heard being told a couple of times before.
Not all battles are worth fighting. Pick the right battle and win the war.
I go to a local gym and I have started the spinning class. The way it works in my gym is slightly different, in the sense that the cycling machine has a screen and a training session running on it. I hop on, plug in my earphones, select the class and a trainer video comes on with the guy talking the script and advising me of what to do.
If you’ve done spinning before, you know the pain. For those of you who haven’t tried it, it’s a pretty tough 45-50 mins on the bike. Not a single session goes by without me being furious at the trainer, it’s as if the trainer has a personal grudge against humanity.
However, spinning is very effective.
Anyhow, embarrassingly, in the 50 min class I could only do 22 minutes the first couple of times. I just couldn’t go on… I tried my best, I was probably exhausted at 17 mins, but I kept going. But after trying to fight and keep up, I eventually gave up at 22 minutes.
This went on for more than a couple of times. I could overcome the high mountain climb in high speed, but couldn’t go on for more than 22 minutes.
Couple of days ago, when I was doing the same route, around 20 minutes when the high mountain climb at high speed phase appeared, I decided to back down and do the high mountain climb but at slower speed. I just wanted to get over it.
And I did!
And guess what? After that, the climb was high intensity but slower speed by default. And I was able to do the class for 34 minutes. I burnt more calories than ever before in the spinning class.
This simple exercise change helped me understand that some battles aren’t worth fighting. There was no way I was ready to win the battle against the high mountain climb at high speed pass, so it just wasn’t worth fighting it.
I could lose that battle, but go further in the war and burn more calories overall. There’s few more battles in the spinning class, but one by one I shall win them.
However, I will always remember you can lose a battle and yet win the war.
