Fit for Life: I’m in a Slump

Saturday, September 17, 2022

Matt Espeut, Health & Lifestyle Contributor

 

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Have you ever noticed that when you scroll social media, people mostly put the fun and exciting things going on in their lives on display for everyone to see? 

Well, in all reality, life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows, and if you are human, living in reality, you are going to hit some hills and valleys in life. 

The difference between being in a rut and being in a grave is the depth of the hole. 

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Let me explain.

When you get stuck in a rut, valley, or slump you have 2 options: figure out a way to pull yourself out quickly, or keep digging until it becomes a grave and you end up buried so deep you never recover, or take a long time to recover. 

Right now, I am feeling the effects of being in a rut. 

My finances took a dip, my fitness is off, and the business took a small dip over the summer. 

With all that being said, I know there are two different scenarios that can take place, I either dig myself out, or dig the hole deeper. 

Let me elaborate on what I am talking about.

Starting with finances. 

My reserves took a dip, and my debt went up due to a couple of things. 

First, I hired a sales organization to do my sales for us, and it didn’t pan out as expected. I paid numerous thousands of dollars to hire this sales team for a return on investment, much less than I could’ve done myself, therefore putting me in a little bit of a hole by not accumulating the proper amount of funds to cover operations and expenses. 

Another factor that added to the dip is that I have continued to invest in training and self-development for myself and my team. I pay to fly them all over the country, cover hotel, training, and food allowances, AND pay their normal salaries while they are away. Lately, there has been something going on every month, so it had added up. 

Finally, the summer months are always slow for new folks joining the gym. We stayed busy, but nothing like our prime months of January - June and September - November. (December usually slows a bit too) 

In addition to that, my fitness went backward since the end of June when I trained for The Spartan Death Race. During the final three weeks of preparation, I was training 4x a day and my nutrition was on point. I was eating like a champ and feeling like a weapon. I gained 5lbs of muscle and was weighing 210lbs at 10.5% body fat. 

I had several small injuries going into the race such as a torn lateral meniscus in my left knee, and a small Labral tear in my right shoulder. I got shot up with cortisone before the race so I could deal with the pain, however, after suffering for 35 hours straight with 120 lbs on my back, the injuries worsened. (Big surprise there). 

So, needless to say, the intensity of my training slipped a level. I still work out regularly, however holding back and taking time to recover psychologically stresses me out. I couldn’t sprint, lift, or push myself to normal levels, and it showed up on my last body scan. I lost muscle and added a couple % to my body fat count. 

With all that happening, I am feeling my morning anxiety come to the surface again. This always happens when I am in a valley. There are several reasons why we experience anxiety. One is the fear of the unknown and anticipation of bad things happening to us. 

This is our mind playing tricks on us. I wake up before my scheduled time and lay in bed thinking of all the bad things that “could happen”. What if I lose all my money? What if my injuries get so bad I can’t work out at all? What if a bunch of people quit on me? What will I do if these things happen? 

“Get up and take action, you little bitch.” 

Those are the words I tell myself. Action beats anxiety, so stop festering, and do something about your problems and issues. Everything that I mentioned that is causing this anxiety is in my control, so I can either let it keep digging the grave deeper, or I can take the necessary steps to dig myself out. 

Here’s what I am going to do, and if you are currently experiencing a slump, you can take the same or similar actions to help dig yourself out. 

1) Start training harder. Now that my shoulder and knee feel better, I can push a little harder. We have a 5k coming up late October, and that gives me a goal to train for. You can do the same by upping your workouts. If you hit the gym, add an extra day. If you like to run, increase the distance. Working out is in our control, and every workout is a win. Keep stacking the wins whenever you can, and you start feeling better all around.

2) I am getting back on the phone to do sales. I don’t like doing it, however, I need to for the time being. I have one of my coaches joining me, so we planned to divide and conquer the sales roles, which will bring us back to the top, and generate the revenue lost over the past few months. 

3) Staying on point with my nutrition. I fell off during my birthday week because I was away, and my girlfriend sent me a box of cookies, in addition to the box of cake bites that was brought in by a member, and the few beers I drank to celebrate. Now I am back in my routine, and after a week, I am back to feeling “normal” again. 

4) Getting to bed on time. Even though I struggle staying asleep until the alarm goes off, I make sure I reverse engineer my bedtime to get 8 hours of sleep. This is a non-negotiable regardless of what emotions are circling through me. Rest is essential. Even if you aren’t fully sleeping, just lying there and resting is beneficial. 

5) Lockdown a solid morning routine, start of workday routine, end of workday routine, and end of night routine- Your guardrails for the day. I always wake to 32 oz. of water and add my powdered greens and wellness shot. I review my calendar, get a workout in, and schedule some blocks of time to GSD. This keeps me from distractions (for the most part, not 100%) and allows me to be more productive. At the days end, I shut down technology, unwind with an hour or so of tv and go to bed at my designated time. No exceptions.

Life is full of winning seasons, however, we will always encounter losing seasons. We will get knocked down on a regular basis, but the secret is to get up fast. 

If I were to wallow about finances, take time off from working out, stay in bed until 10 am with the covers over my head, and complained about my situation to everyone, I guarantee things would get worse. I would surely dig my grave to depths that would be near impossible to overcome in a timely manner.

It is up to us to solve our own problems, as the man on the white horse isn’t going to come to our rescue. The first step is to recognize you are in a slump and start taking the necessary actions to dig yourself out.

Again, life isn’t always going to be sunshine and rainbows. 

You are human, and you will get knocked down over and over again. It’s ok; you are normal and have normal problems, so put on your gloves, make your way into the ring and fight like hell to get a win. It’s your fight, and only you can fight it, so get up and keep swinging. Now I am off to make some sales calls, so have a great day.

Committed to your success

Coach Matt

 

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