Chaos vs. Crisis: When to take a break or push through with your health habits
When I was coaching people 1-on-1 for 3 months at a time, they usually did an awesome job sticking to the plan and getting solid results.
While I’d like to attribute that to my amazing programming skills (💅), probably the biggest factor was their ability to be consistent with strength training and eating better because they only had to do it for 12 measly weeks.
Almost anyone can white-knuckle their way through such a short amount of time!
And even though we were building sustainable habits that fit into their lives, after they finished working with me, eventually something in their lives would shift into one of two categories that would annihilate their new-found health habits:
CHAOS or CRISIS.
🔥 Chaos
This is your normal, run of the mill hectic busyness that happens to everyone in fits and spurts to varying degrees.
Chaos is getting slammed by work demands, getting sick, going through a breakup—basically feeling stressed, tired, and unmotivated because life has ticked up a notch.
How to deal with chaos: Most people think chaos is an emergency. It’s not. You often have far more control than you think, especially with regards to how you choose to respond.
Getting through a moment of chaos means setting boundaries, deciding your priorities, and then dialing your health habits down to the level they need to be for you to show up for them.
This means your workouts might have to be abbreviated, or do less or them, or swap some out for walks. It means your meals are less dialed-in, but you’re still finding protein to add.
These are smaller, easier versions of your normal health habits, and they keep you showing up for yourself so you can dial them back up when you can. Consistency is king, as any coach will tell you.
☄️ Crisis
This is a straight-up emergency or act of god.
Crisis usually involves a hospital, death, an insurance policy kicking in (hopefully 😅), or deep insecurity in your or someone you love’s livelihood or ability to survive.
How to deal with crisis: I’m sorry you’ve been knocked on your ass. This sucks. And also you’ll get through it. All you can do here is give yourself grace while you get through an insanely difficult time.
Understand that this, too, shall pass, and in the meantime your job is to manage the stress as best you can.
Taking deep breaths, going for short walks, eating food and drinking water as consistently as possible (even though appetite is low), petting the dog—anything that helps your nervous system relax for a few minutes so it stops compounding the stress!
Here’s the thing to remember: Both chaos and crisis are ACUTE.
They are things that happen in a brief window of time. The downstream effects can absolutely be chronic and last a long time, but once we’ve shifted into long-term effects, we need to shift our habits accordingly.
If this is going to be your life for a while (thinking in terms of months or more), you’ve got to accept that and adjust.
I’m not saying it’s fun or enjoyable, but this is where we’re at, so what versions of your health habits can you show up for in this new scenario?
Those who don’t bend, break.
Get flexible. Live in the grey area. When you’re able to dial things back up again you will.
Chaos and crisis are a huge reason I decided to make a year-long program, even though it’s against the fitness industry norm. Because if you really want to build a body (and the necessary habits) that is strong for a lifetime, you need long-term practice and support.
(The other reason I wanted a year of support is because sometimes life gives you a good year and you absolutely smash your goals and want support as you find NEW levels to crush! Which is thrilling when we get it!)
So if you’d like some support and structure while learning how to sustainably train and eat for one helluva powerful body, consider applying to the Adventure Ready Academy!
Love & muscles,
Coach Mac
Muscle Sherpa
