Bad Days- Good Days. A guest post from Arsene Dee

Arsene Dee by Liam Oakes Photography

This is a guest post from professional massive dude Arsene Dee's absolute banger of a blog 'Smart Monkey', I read these entries a few days ago and felt so strongly about them, I had to share with you guys. Give it a read then get over to Arsene's blog for more gold. AT

I’m sure every single one of you guys, regardless of your sport has had or are currently having a bad day or a bad week, or even a bad month. This kinda thing in my opinion is influenced by an infinite amount of things, some more obvious than others.

You know that feeling, you step into the gym like bleeergh and even your warm up feels exhausting, the weight is just not moving and hitting the same numbers just feels so fucking impossible. It’s okay to have one of those days or weeks, even months, your body and mind need rest. You don’t always need to max out and go balls deep. This exact sentence kind of goes against everything I have taught myself, I believe that you should give 100% every workout. However, I guess sometimes you need to take a step back, relax and evaluate the situation.

I’m a strong believer that the main cause for this is overthinking, figuring out a reason why you’re having a bad day is as bad as googling your illness symptoms, one minute you’ve got a blocked nose the next you have full blown aids. To give an example, on my heavy days recently I’ve been having this feeling of nervousness which I haven’t had in a very long time. Especially during heavy sets on flat benching, all I could think of were reasons as to why I wouldn’t get that off my chest with a pause for a solid single. I was a little tired, so I started questioning myself, “did I have enough sleep? I haven’t eaten enough! Man I’m still sore as hell from last week! I’m not recovering quick enough because I’m not sleeping enough! I hate that bar ms that bench” Etc etc…

Overthinking and questioning yourself will bring a ton of negativity and it will eat you alive during your workout and probably translate into the rest of the week or the month. So, when it was time for my last set, I got my shit together, quit being such a little bitch, turned my music on loud, cleared my mind and grinded that fucker out. Lesson I learned from this? Fuck overthinking and doubting yourself, if you’ve done it before you’ll do it again, if you’ve never done it before, put your mind to it and it will happen.

You have to learn the difference between your body and mind needing a rest and questioning your ability based on your surroundings and whatever it is that has happened over the last few days.

There obviously are many other factors that will influence how you’re feeling, such as relationships, breakups and make ups, family issues and drama, death of a loved one or even a crap week at work. The most important ones I believe are support and motivation, from your friends, your family, that crazy hot girl/guy who comments and gives you love on your IG, even when you get a retweet or acknowledgement from someone you look up on social media can give you that boost. This I find is especially important when you’re a beginner, you need support from your friends and family? If people around you constantly criticize your lifestyle choice you will either pack it in or you will say fuck them! If they don’t appreciate ambition and my love for my sport and this lifestyle then the hell with them! They will learn to!

What ever is going on in your life that’s causing you to have a bad workout or a number of them will pass, learn to clear your head, calm your mind and enjoy your workout. Have a laugh with your friends, listen to your favorite music and challenge yourself.

You will always have more good days than you do bad ones, how do you think you got where you’re at in the first place.

The very next day Arsene followed up with another related gem...

Off the back of yesterday’s post I’ve been thinking, why do some people find exercise so hard, why do so many people give up and return to a lifestyle that they hate? There’s bound to be more than a 100 reasons but I only thought of a few.

Incorrect advice from shit coaches must be towards the top three, the type that don’t assess a client’s physical ability and kind of just throw you in the deep end with a stupidly low calorie diet, then you end up hating it because you’re constantly sore and seeing absolutely ZERO progress. A lot of trainers and coaches tend to forget that you’re not trying to become the best at exercising, you’re trying to reach your goal, which takes time, not an 8 week program.

Another one is motivation and support, I know I’ve mentioned it yesterday but it’s so important. I guess mainly for beginners but on any level, support from your friends, peers and family will go a long way, negative comments, if you let them get to you will drag you down. If you have the support, motivation will come. If you’re an advanced lifter, sometimes staying motivated is tough, purely because you’re not seeing progress as often, you have to work twice as hard and you may improve only by a fraction, but an improvement nevertheless!

The most important one in my opinion is perception, how you perceive and visualize your training. If you think of it as impossible and daunting, chances are you’ll find it harder. If you are confident and motivated, no matter how hard it is, what numbers you’re hitting or how much weight you’re loosing, you’ll still enjoy it and you will find it a lot easier.

What ever your goal is, keep your eyes on the prize and enjoy your journey.

Thanks for reading, peace!

I want to say a massive thank you to Arsene for such a thought provoking read, keep it up pal; you're an inpiration!

https://smartmonkeylfstl.wordpress.com/