What Bench Do You Sit On?

This past weekend I spent the weekend with Coach Kim, Coach Jeremy and 1,100 of the top fitness professionals around New England learning at one of our annual conferences. 

We took a lot of notes, and I'm sure you'll see snippets of them over the coming weeks, but one of my favorites came from a coach by the name of Dan John. 

He's a 61-year-old coach who has worked with everyone from professional athletes to grandparents, but his biggest skill?

Keeping it simple. 

He shared a lot of lessons but here was one of my favorites...

What's the difference between a park bench and a bus bench?

What's a park bench designed for?

It's there to sit, look out, and wait for things to happen, or people to pass by. 

It's relaxing and enjoyable. 

When you sit on the park bench you typically have no plan, no agenda, and you're just enjoying life, living in the moment. 

A bus bench has a purpose. 

You're waiting for your specific bus, to take you to a specific destination, and it's going to come at a specific time. 

In fitness specifically, we want to go hard 100% of the time, have super specific workouts and crush our bodies until we can't even brush our teeth the next morning. 

That's the bus bench workout. 

Specific, dialed in, not the most enjoyable, but it's going to take you to a specific destination in a specific time. 

There is a time and a place for bus bench workouts in life. 

However, most of us could benefit a lot more from park bench workouts. 

Come in, see how we're feeling that day, and do whatever our bodies are up for that day. 

Sure, you can work hard, but it's relaxing, taking things as they come up, and enjoying the moment. 

Take a look at the people that sit on bus benches...they usually don't want to be there.

But a park bench?

There's a coffee in your hand, it's a beautiful day, you're relaxed, and life is good. 

We could all use more park benches in our life, even outside of fitness. 

Fitness should be something you enjoy doing, it should be something you look forward to, not something that you dread. 

And trust me, I'm all for working hard and dialing things in during certain times, but most of us that want to feel better, look better, and move better, we could benefit a lot more from park bench workouts. 

Keep it simple stupid (KISS). 

The point of this analogy is not to say that you only should be on the park bench, or that you only should be on the bus bench, but to know that there's a difference. 

In life, during certain times, they each play a role. 

1% Better.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Doug Spurling