Back in 2011, I got SCUBA certified in Australia.
It was during my year of “exercising around the world,” and I couldn’t wait to cross off “find Nemo” on my Epic Quest of Awesome.
It involved a few days of classroom learning, an in-pool test, and then some epic dives out on the Great Barrier Reef, where I did, in fact, find Nemo.
The dives were incredible (duh), but there was one part of the certification that was more mentally taxing than expected:
I had to tread water without any floating aid for 10 minutes.
Of course, we needed to be able to swim well. But out on the open ocean, being really, really, good at treading water is probably more important than being a great swimmer.
We simply had to keep our head above the surface, and do whatever we needed to do to stay afloat for those 10 minutes. I remember having a weird amount of apprehension for this portion of the test.
I had been swimming since I was a kid, but it was always about swimming the fastest or diving the deepest.
It was never about calmly treading water!
And then I jumped in the pool, and the timer started. About 30 seconds in, I had already gotten bored and noticed I was kicking and paddling too aggressively. I then slowed down my movements, and started to sink a bit too much, so I started experimenting with different amounts of energy.
Eventually, I found the rhythm: slowly moving my arms in a circular motion, and slowly kicking my legs forwards and backwards.
Once I found this rhythm, I could have treaded water for hours.
I spent the 10 minutes joking calmly with the other folks taking the test, and when that buzzer sounded to signify we were done, things felt effortless.
13 years later, I find myself treading water once again.
Steve half-asses his workouts
Over the past nine months, my workouts have been somewhere between subpar and average at best. One big barbell lift per workout, a few mobility drills, and that’s it.
I haven’t hit any strength training goals. I certainly haven’t “left it all on the gym floor.” Most of the time, I don’t even break a sweat when I work out.
Navy SEALS like Jocko Willink and David Goggins would be appalled at how not-hardcore I have been about my training. I don’t have any expectations for my lifts other than “show up and do my dumb workout as quickly as I can” and move on.
This is no mea culpa, nor is it an admission of guilt, nor an acknowledgment that I’m doing something wrong.
It’s me treading water.
Earlier this year, I began a new top-secret-project-that-may-or-may-not-be-book-shaped, and it’s been mentally kicking my butt in the best way possible. This is in addition to the rest of my responsibilities and the typical chaos that comes with being an adult. I’ve also managed to focus on a few hobbies again more seriously, and have been traveling more regularly.
While I’m figuring out the best way to juggle this new phase of life, I’ve simply had less energy and time and excitement to truly dedicate to the gym.
However, my health still IS a priority, which is why I still work out. Like flossing my teeth or putting on deodorant, not working out just isn’t something I plan on doing.
Instead, I do the bare minimum to maintain muscle mass and momentum during this chaotic period of my life, because I know if I tried to do ALL THE THINGS and hit ALL THE WORKOUTS I would get burned out, demotivated, or injured.
By specifically doing something (not “everything,” nor “nothing”), I’m constantly reminding my muscles to stay strong, because they’re still being used. In addition, I’ve put my nutrition on “set and forget” mode where I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch, so that my dinners can be a bit more adventurous or outside of my “goal meals.”
That’s just the season of life I’m in right now.
Fortunately, judging by how my clothes fit and the mirror and my mental health: treading water is doing a pretty good job at keeping me pretty fit, strong, and healthy, even during the chaos.
As long as I do something, it counts:
- Working up to one set of heavy squats is still a workout.
- 20 push-ups in the office still counts.
- A walk with my wife and dog still counts.
Something is better than nothing.
If you’re in a period of life right now where things are crazy, you have my permission to half-ass your workouts too. Maybe even quarter-ass!
It’s infinitely times better than not doing anything.
Tread water when you need to, so that you can swim when you’re able.
It’s much easier to start swimming again from the surface than it is from the bottom of the pool.
-Steve
