From David P.
Answer: LOL! I have NO idea what you’re talking about David! I feel exhausted most of the time! But thank you for the compliments none the less. If you knew me 15 or 20 years ago, I believe you wouldn’t be asking that question, you’d be asking “what happened to you coach?” LOL!! I feel a big difference in my recovery and performance over the last 20 years. I still train hard, VERY hard, but my body doesn’t recover as quickly as it did and my knees cannot handle all of the aerial kicking that I used to do for hours on end. But so what? I still gotta train right?
To answer your question “where do I get the energy?” here are my answers:
1. Make specific goals with dead lines:
train on the days you really don’t want to so that you’ll not fall behind. Some days, something is better than nothing. I HATE the feeling I get when I fail to accomplish what I’ve set out to do!!! Set your goals TODAY!!2. Rest: I remember staying up for 2 or 3 days partying with friends and then going into the Dojo and training- crazy! I would end up in a coma if I tried that today! I simply don’t recover as quickly as I used to between workouts now, so I make sure that I try to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night and nap once or twice a week. Every study has shown how beneficial sleep and getting extra naps in can be or athletes- and I agree 100%!! BUT, there are days when I simply need to rest and NOT workout. Last night was one of them. So I did a half a workout and went home and ate a good meal. It happens.
3. Nutrition: I cheat on Saturday night with pizza, ice cream, candy, etc. The other days my food is simply fuel for the next workout. If I eat like shit- I perform like shit. Most people I coach will get the physical side to this down, but disregard the other side which is nutrition. If you really want to make progress and have energy not only for training, but for the whole day, eat healthy foods! (Your Mother was right all along!)
4. Motivation from others: By opening the gym, I have been able to surround myself with people who have a similar mindset to me. They push themselves in each training session to their fullest and still strive to do better! That alone can give me motivation to be my best! But I also train with my wife-to-be Mary (this Saturday!!!) who is a constant source of motivation for me in the gym AND at home. We encourage each other to eat better, think better and DO better. We complement each other when one of us is down and set the other one straight when they get off course. (OK, that’s really Mary setting ME straight!! LOL!!)
4.5 Coffee- it truly is the nectar of the Gods! Starbucks is my second home…..
