Joshua J. Svare is a Seattle based audio engineer that often travels for work for up to two weeks at a time. His main goal is to cut down to his mid-20’s weight and make strength gains in the gym while keeping his cardio up to sustain him through his long days working sets on production.
Many of us at SEA train more than Josh, but after coaching him for the last year I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from him as an athlete, not so much from the volume he puts in, but from his pure consistency. It sounds obvious, but a big battle for a lot of athletes is time management and the tendency to skip a workout and put it off until later. Taken to the absurd, I’ve seen an athlete miss up to 4 days of training during the week and then try to make it all up on the weekend.
Your body hates that. It thrives best with consistent inputs, not herculean workouts that put you in the box for 3 days after.
What I often see with Josh is that while he’s far from perfect, he makes a point to get in a workout or two while he’s traveling. I’ll also see him immediately put a week of green on the TrainingPeaks calendar after an intense work trip. When we chat, he tells me that he recognizes if he can get even 30 minutes in the gym that might change his whole day around, lead to making better meal choices, and maybe not head out with the crew for late night beers in some random bar in Barcelona.
At SEA we talk about beating your past self, and as we enter the new year I invite you to remember that progression is just a series of choices and you get new chances everyday. Even if the workout isn’t perfect, get out and do something – moving toward your goals, even a half step, has a snowballing effect that carries through to the rest of your life.
Matti Rowe grew up in Wisconsin on the Packers, casserole, and cross country skiing. He took his skinny skis with him to St. Olaf College and spent 4 years traveling the midwest racing circuit while studying biology and exercise physiology. Diploma in hand, he headed West towards the mountains, jumped in his first bike race and has been shaving his legs ever since.
