I observed an older man, probably in his 70s at the time, come for a swim daily, at my place of work for around 10 years. In the beginning, I was working there part-time so I wasn’t quite sure that he was coming daily. A few years later, I was now working there fully as a teacher, lecturer if you may, at the gym’s Fitness school. Here now, I got to see this old, tall, full grey-haired man come for a swim every single day. He would walk in during the mid-morning hours, a little after I started my class. He had laser-sharp focus, walked in, said hi signed in at the reception and proceeded to the pool’s changing rooms.
He mostly wore a T-shirt, some khaki pants or shorts based on the weather and carried a simple dangle bag, it looked sort of polythene but it was always the same simple bag. He got into the changing rooms and out in less than 15 minutes. He’d walk into the shallow end of the pool and walk his way into the deeper end. You could see him shiver if you looked closely. But once he made it to the deep end wall, he turned and pushed off the wall and started his swim. He started slow but kept moving.
In about 10 lengths, you could see him panting, swimming can be so exhausting you know, especially in those first 5-10 minutes. He took a small break and went on. He’d be swimming back and forth for around 10 minutes in a not-very special way, he wasn’t an extremely great swimmer as you might be assuming. He knew the strokes, yes, the regular kind we all know. Front crawl and breaststroke. You’d be able to tell if he was tired because he would switch to a slow, big glide, low-resistance breast stroke.
After each break, he would then start with some front crawl, big kicks, long strokes, and lots of energy. He did these sets 2-6 times; I guess some days were better than others. After that, he’d walk out of the pool, change and leave. I’m sure whoever he left at home was told ‘I’m off for a swim’ and they probably knew how long it would take.
He did this daily, for many years. He came on days it rained cats and dogs, luckily the pool was covered. He came on days when the sun shone through the cover and made the place a little too warm. He came on days he probably didn’t feel like, on bad days, on good days, on fast-paced days and on slow days, I’m sure he did, even when we couldn’t tell. He came.
A few years in we closed this facility and moved to a new location that didn’t have a pool, I guess that he found another place. My class schedule changed and I was now en route to a client’s session, in the direction of our previous location, during these mid-morning hours. I’d almost daily, as long as I was on that route, see him walking, with the same swimming bag, probably to a new location. I was certain he was going for a swim, but now I was even more excited to see that he would walk to the pool.
One day, it was raining very heavily and he was walking to the pool perhaps, in the rain, with an umbrella and a raincoat. A day I’m sure he was alone in the pool. His tall lofty, slow walk was so familiar that I could see how well his day would go despite the weather. He’d get to his destination, unbothered by the rain, change, wade into the deep end and acclimatize to the temperature, set off for 10 lengths, take a break, go at it again, do some slow breaststroke lengths, achieve his 30-minute swim and walk back home.
This man probably achieved way more than many of our gym members who’d go hard 3 days a week, 3 months at a time, probably in the first quarter of the year, and drop off as soon as life happened until they gathered enough reason to come back. He had mastered the art of showing up, no matter what and doing what’s possible each day. There are days he did 30 minutes and others he did 60. There are days he did a few good laps and others he gave his all. Some days were thoroughly exhausting and others fully energized. I’m almost certain no day was the same.
Consistency seems to challenge each one of us in the fitness journey. We hope to give 150% each day and then life sits in a corner and laughs. We hope to stick to the plan as written and then we lose the plan and for the life of us cannot remember what we are meant to do. I frequently get asked how I’ve managed to stay consistent over the years and my answer is that I’ve shown up. For whatever I had in me on that day. Some days it was 2 stretches, others it was a hike.
Some days it was high-intensity sleeping and a walk while others saw me workout, walk, keep my nutrition in check and even more. Showing up is amazing when you are looking to build consistency. It is when you promise yourself to do what you said you would do, no matter how little that might look. It is giving all your energy to 15 minutes you could afford today because of work and an average good 60 minutes tomorrow because work was less stressful today.
It is meeting your friend for a walk because you haven’t managed to work out today and meeting them was equally important. I can promise you this, showing up will improve your outlook to consistency and deliver more results than you think. SHOW UP, that’s the bulk of the work.
