The Frustration Trap
Who here has ever been frustrated by something?*Everyone reading at home raises their hand*
Its normal and it happens to us all at some point. The question is how do you respond when that frustration hits? Do you use it as fuel to perform better? Or do you let it take hold and drag you down? I can tell you right now that I have had both reactions, as I’m sure you have as well. You let that guy at work get under your skin and lost it on him. Or, if you are like me, you got frustrated at yourself and let that boil over to someone else who didn’t deserve it. Either way, that frustration got the better of you and I’m sure you didn’t feel great after it happened.
On the flip-side, maybe you got frustrated at yourself and used it as fuel. You felt weak, you felt out of shape, you felt slow, you felt run down all the time. So you used that as your incentive. You picked up more weight to get stronger. You worked harder during training and felt more fit. You picked up the pace and got faster. You concentrated on your diet and sleep and you didn’t feel run down anymore. You actively made a change to put yourself in a position to avoid that frustration showing its ugly head again.
When it comes to frustration, we often see it here in our facility in the form of results, or lack thereof. You came up 1 rep short of the rep range when you were lifting heavy or you came up short of your weight or body comp goal. That darn nagging knee, shoulder, or back injury just will not go away. Then, you start to lose focus and, in some extreme cases, you lose something even more important than focus – you lose hope. You accept that your injury will never get better. You accept that you will never get stronger or that body fat will never go away. With the loss of hope comes the loss of your ability and your drive to do anything to change it. Hope, drive, and determination are all synonymous with each other; you have to have all three to achieve your goals. Lose one and you lose an important part that will make you fall short 9 times out of 10.
When these frustrations arise, the first place you need to point the finger is at yourself. You need to examine your process. You think “I’m not losing body fat”…well, are you following the plan or are you picking and choosing your parts? Or you think “I’m not getting stronger”…well, are you training in a different way?
I recently spoke to a client training for a long distance race. This client was frustrated because their strength was not increasing, but at the same time they were training for a long distance event coming up. Training for endurance competition and training for strict strength at the same time, in a lot of ways, is like trying to look left and look right at the same time. It’s very difficult to do both. There is nothing wrong with doing it that way, but you can’t let those strength drops pull you down. When it comes to injuries, we’ve all had them at one time or another. I guarantee they will get worse if you just swear off exercise all together. The may shake you, they may cause you frustration, but you can never let them break you.
Remember, I have had all of these – frustration at lack of strength gain, nagging injuries, feeling slow, feeling out of shape, feeling like I mess up everything I touch at times. And I have reacted in both ways; I’ve used it as fire, and I have lashed out. The latter of which I am not impressed with myself about, but it’s a fact of life that it happens. What you need to decide is whether you will use your frustration as fire to make you better, or if you will let it rip you apart. I have yet to see anyone who has not had that fire at one point or another. Just remember – don’t lose hope, don’t lose your determination and don’t lose your drive. Use that anger and that frustration as fire push yourself beyond what you thought was possible.
Make it Happen,
Coach Adam
On the flip-side, maybe you got frustrated at yourself and used it as fuel. You felt weak, you felt out of shape, you felt slow, you felt run down all the time. So you used that as your incentive. You picked up more weight to get stronger. You worked harder during training and felt more fit. You picked up the pace and got faster. You concentrated on your diet and sleep and you didn’t feel run down anymore. You actively made a change to put yourself in a position to avoid that frustration showing its ugly head again.
When it comes to frustration, we often see it here in our facility in the form of results, or lack thereof. You came up 1 rep short of the rep range when you were lifting heavy or you came up short of your weight or body comp goal. That darn nagging knee, shoulder, or back injury just will not go away. Then, you start to lose focus and, in some extreme cases, you lose something even more important than focus – you lose hope. You accept that your injury will never get better. You accept that you will never get stronger or that body fat will never go away. With the loss of hope comes the loss of your ability and your drive to do anything to change it. Hope, drive, and determination are all synonymous with each other; you have to have all three to achieve your goals. Lose one and you lose an important part that will make you fall short 9 times out of 10.
When these frustrations arise, the first place you need to point the finger is at yourself. You need to examine your process. You think “I’m not losing body fat”…well, are you following the plan or are you picking and choosing your parts? Or you think “I’m not getting stronger”…well, are you training in a different way?
I recently spoke to a client training for a long distance race. This client was frustrated because their strength was not increasing, but at the same time they were training for a long distance event coming up. Training for endurance competition and training for strict strength at the same time, in a lot of ways, is like trying to look left and look right at the same time. It’s very difficult to do both. There is nothing wrong with doing it that way, but you can’t let those strength drops pull you down. When it comes to injuries, we’ve all had them at one time or another. I guarantee they will get worse if you just swear off exercise all together. The may shake you, they may cause you frustration, but you can never let them break you.
Remember, I have had all of these – frustration at lack of strength gain, nagging injuries, feeling slow, feeling out of shape, feeling like I mess up everything I touch at times. And I have reacted in both ways; I’ve used it as fire, and I have lashed out. The latter of which I am not impressed with myself about, but it’s a fact of life that it happens. What you need to decide is whether you will use your frustration as fire to make you better, or if you will let it rip you apart. I have yet to see anyone who has not had that fire at one point or another. Just remember – don’t lose hope, don’t lose your determination and don’t lose your drive. Use that anger and that frustration as fire push yourself beyond what you thought was possible.
Make it Happen,
Coach Adam
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