The 10-minute Rule

There are some days where you’re feeling super 100% motivated to hit the gym, and everything about your day is all green lights; You have a beautiful drive to work with no traffic, your favorite songs come on back to back on the radio, and you find a $20 in your back pocket. You get off work and hit the gym just to find that all the squat racks are open and you can get all that you have programmed for the day done without a bother.

But then…

There are days where you’re not sure how the day will go because you spilled your coffee clear across the kitchen counter, to where you forgot your lunch on, and it’s that month where paydays seem a lot farther away so you can’t exactly splurge on a decent lunch. You get off work and hit the gym already in a “blah” mood and you see there’s someone being silly and using every bar to do each movement separately. Not cool dude. Luckily, you haven’t warmed up yet, so there’s a chance that he’ll be done with his workout by the time you’re done.

You have a choice: to pursue your workout or go home. This is where the 10-minute rule plays its part.

Put a 10-minute timer on and just move. Dance, do a warm-up, put some music on and do what feels good for 10 minutes. After the time is up and you still aren’t motivated enough to continue, then stop and know that you would have at least moved your body for a little bit already. If you’re feelin’ it after 10 minutes, keep going!

It’s okay to go home, but it’s not okay to refuse yourself that chance to change things around. I find that you can do this in many other scenarios in life, and not just in lifting. If you can just give yourself 10 minutes to move yourself in a positive direction, it can really change your perspective on things. As I said, you have a choice. So flex that mental muscle and give yourself 10 minutes! If you can’t do that, how about with 60 seconds?