As anyone who trains regularly will confess, sometimes you just can’t be bothered to hit the gym. So, it’s comforting to know as a mere mortal that influencers and personal trainers like James Smith also experience the same mental blocks.
Unlike some of his counterparts, the ever-honest fitness guru isn’t afraid to show the ‘ugly’ side of keeping in shape. Instead of professing to be a ‘mentality monster’ that spends every waking moment scaling his health and wealth, James Smith takes a rather more relatable approach to his coaching.
Speaking in yet another expletive-laden YouTube video, he revealed his top tips for overcoming the gremlins in your head telling you to skip your session in favour of sleeping in or getting an early night.
He said: “I thought I’d give you some of the insights on what I do when I really don’t feel like going to the gym. Number one: ask myself out of 10, how much do I want to go? The inclination is probably like a four. The second most important question is, why do I feel that way? If the reason was poor nutrition, poor sleep, no rest and overtraining, I would then address those things rather than pushing through.
“I would say, take today off the gym and start preparing a healthy dinner. Have an early night, go to bed, start again tomorrow and see if it gets better.”
He added: “I’m going to go to the gym, and I’m just going to say to myself, ‘James, just do the first four working sets’. Prime myself for the gym, get dressed and ready, clear my schedule, have some caffeine and do the first four f*cking sets. That’s it, mate. I mean, I’m not asking too much of myself here, am I? I can get that done in maybe eight minutes.
“That’s what you need to ask yourself as well. Just prime yourself to do it and do the first f*cking four sets, and guess what? If after those four sets I don’t want to work out, then I f*cking leave. But this is where the magic happens. It’s pretty f*cking rare that I do. I call this the four-set rule.”
Aside from his four-set rule, James also revealed he has a ‘getting ready to punch strangers’ playlist to gee him up in times when motivation is at a premium. It’s not for me to tell you how to live your life, but the four-set rule certainly seems the legally safer choice.
