Overcoming Fitness Comparison-itis w/ Craig Zielinski

Have you found yourself falling into fitness comparisons not only with the people around you or that you know but in comparison with yourself and what you used to be able to do? If you are struggling with this concept or keep challenging the idea of coming back to exercise because you worry you won't be at the place you left off, this episode is for you. Key Takeaways If You Want To Stop Falling Into Fitness Comparisons, You Should: Let go of your 'all or nothing' mentality Choose movement practices that bring you joy Work towards developing a set of skills rather than a specific outcome Redefine your fitness goals and focus on mental and physical flexibility Letting Go Of Comparison-itis with Craig Zielinski Craig Zielinski is a USA Weightlifting Sports Performance Coach, a repeated LTYB guest, and my loving husband. Throughout the course of the pandemic, Craig came face to face with his 'all or nothing' mentality and found a way to get over his 'Comparison-itis'. Today he is here to share his story about how to get over your fear of judgment from others or yourself and start enjoying moving your body again. Get Out Of The 'All Or Nothing' Mentality For many people, their fitness identity in the past was tied to the exercise routines we used to do that are more often than not based on equipment that we simply don't have access to during the Covid-19 pandemic. Although Craig originally got caught up in the 'all or nothing' funk, he realized that a lot of his reasoning was unreasonable and started to choose exercises that were based more on having a good time and making the best of what we had, rather than training super hard. Instead of engaging in movements that were comparison-based, Craig learned to focus on building his 'skill tree'. You Don't Have to Specialize to Succeed The way that diet and fitness culture convince us that we have to specialize in one certain thing, even if it makes us miserable, is simply not true. When you are able to get back to the basics as Craig did, you can develop multiple skills and focus on the process than the all-illusive outcome. You never know where any exercise will lead or take you, so the point is to be open to trying new things during this time of uncertainty and continually check on what feels right for you. Looking for fun, developing new skills, and being flexible about what fitness is can help you enjoy different areas of your life and get back into the movement mentality without all that added pressure. What activity are you excited to get back into the routine of? How are you going to find healthy ways to limit your comparison-itis mentality? Share your thoughts with us in the comments on the episode page. In This Episode How the Covid-19 pandemic affected the way in which Craig trains (5:56) Tips for navigating the 'all or nothing' funk by choosing exercises that you feel are fun (12:20) Why you should stick to the basics when it comes to reintroducing yourself to movement practices (30:11) The issue with training for a competition and why Craig chooses to direct his fitness goals elsewhere (33:30) How to redefine your process to get closer to your fitness goals given the current circumstances (35:32) Quotes "I, for the longest time, could not get my head around what on Earth to do with myself [with Covid restrictions], so the answer was, in classic 'all or nothing style', was to do nothing." (9:53) "The problem created by returning to training and doing the same thing and being all dejected about how I have lost strength or capacity is by doing training that is adjacent to the training that I did, and as also something that is fun and I enjoyed while I would do it. And the cool part is that because it is adjacent to the training that I used to do, I have got developed skills so I won't feel like a complete novice and just give up." (21:25) "It is really basic, and it is a lot of fun. And it also, when you think about it really, it is more a skill tree." (30:28) "We are told that we have to specialize in everything, and we end up plowing the same furrow, and that is just not very interesting. And there is also no point in doing that, it's not very fulfilling, at least for me. Being a specialist in one thing is my worst nightmare, but that was kind of what I did in the gym if you think about it." (31:52) "The importance of developing what you can do as a project, is much greater than whatever the conclusion of the project is, right? (36:56) Featured on the Show Join the Tune-In Membership Here Strength Workout Mini-Course Rogue Fitness Website Magic Carpet Sled The EmPack Website The McGill Big 3 for Core Stability Breathe: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor The 5 Main Movement Patterns of Functional Movement Reel Steph Gaudreau Website Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes! Related Episodes LTYB 165: How To Adapt Strength Training To Your Menstrual Cycle with Craig Zielinski LTYB 327: Getting Back to Exercise Without Feeling Wrecked LTYB 331: Strength Training & Your Relationship with Exercise