Ask Questions

​In this episode I explore a major mistake I made in the early stages of my training (and how I turned it around). 

Episode Transcript:

Introduction to Episode 12

[0:00] All right. Hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So in today's episode, we are covering episode number 12 of this 20-episode miniseries, which is 20 lessons learned through 20 weeks of training.
And today's episode is covering such a simple concept and one that you probably heard a million times before.
But if you utilize it and use it during a training process, it will just do wonders responders for your improvement, for your confidence, for your performance, and ultimately for your hiking as it all trickles down.
So, and that really is, just to sum it all up, is ask questions.
So, let me tell you the story of this and where this is coming from in my personal experience.
Now, in the early days of my training process, in all honesty, I was pretty hesitant to kind of stick my hand up and ask questions.
You know, I was completely new to this type of training, training completely new to the gym, didn't really know anyone in there. We were taking in a huge amount of new information.
And I've said a few times in the podcast, in the series already, you know, it was a little bit overwhelming.
There was just so much to learn. There was so many new things and, you know, it was a bit of a struggle and intentionally it was supposed to be a struggle.

[1:14] And there was a lot of stuff that we went through pretty quickly in the beginnings.

Overcoming Hesitation to Ask Questions

[1:18] And the coaches has said, you know, a lot of times, look, if you don't understand something, please put your hand up, ask a question.
Because if you have in this question, probably five other people in the room will have that.
I mean, they said that a bunch of times, but, you know, as with a lot of people, ultimately, for me, I was a little bit hesitant about that.
You know, I didn't want to be the guy always putting their hand up, you know, because I am a little bit slow to pick things up sometimes. I am a little bit dense.
And ultimately, I didn't want to hold up the group with questions.
I didn't want to be a bit annoying.
I didn't want to be that guy who, It was just asking questions which would be obvious to other people or whatever it may be.

[1:54] And for whatever reason, I fell into that trap. And in all honesty, that was a massive, massive, massive mistake.
Because a lot of the things that I didn't understand completely in the early days, particularly in the first five or six of the process, when we're just taking so much information, it was a lot of foundational work.
It really came back to plague me further down the line.
You know, for example, there's a dozen of examples, but I'm just going to give you a couple here.
For example, you know, in the early days, probably in like week three or week two even, There was one particular movement that we were going through, which was just a foundational movement.
It kind of set everything up that we're going to be doing further down the line for a certain thing.
And I didn't particularly understand it. I kind of got the basics, but the nuances, I didn't really understand it.
And I didn't put my hand up in that day and ask the question, like, how does this work? Or what am I doing wrong here? Or whatever it may be.
I was just like, you know what? I'm going to deal with it. I'll figure it out as we go.

[2:48] And then the tricky thing happened here was we did that on the day.
I knew I had a problem on the day, but I was like, I'll kind of, you know, figure it out as we move forward.
And moving forward, as we got week after week and week, I honestly forgot that I was confused.
I was forgot that I had that question. I was, I forgot that I was like, look, this isn't right or whatever it may be.
And I convinced myself in my head that what I was doing, even if it wasn't working amazingly, what I was doing was right. And I just needed to try harder.
And in all honesty, for weeks, I was doing this and it took weeks for this to be identified.

The Consequences of Not Asking Questions

[3:20] And you know when i either i can't remember if i actually put my hand up um or if someone actually you know one of the coaches was like oh what are you doing there or whatever maybe but it took weeks for this to be identified and ultimately i changed it um but those were honestly wasted weeks there's so many weeks while struggling with this particular thing and because it was such a foundational thing that we built so many things off it it was holding everything else back and on top of that after i've been doing it wrong for multiple weeks um it was really hard to change that habit that i'll just straight away go to that, So, for me, you know, because I didn't ask that question in the moment, in the beginnings, and I was like, I'll just deal with it or figure it, it just held me back so much. I had so many filtering out effects.

[3:58] Now, there was another one with literally, it was just like a term, a terminology that sort of one of the coaches was saying, and I honestly didn't know what it meant, and I never thought to ask, and it was just something they said, and then they just kept on saying, kept on saying, kept on saying, and it was just so basic, so simple that I never really thought to ask, oh, what does that actually mean?
And it honestly took, again, weeks for this to be randomly explained.
And it took that explanation for a bunch of other things, kind of clicked for me. I was like, oh, that makes sense.
So that means I do this and do that. And that comes together here purely from this little explanation.
And this term, you know, the reason it wasn't explained initially was it was super, super, super obvious.
It was literally self-explanatory. It wasn't complicated.
I literally had to put the the words from the term together, and it's explained itself.
But for me, as I said before, I am a bit dense sometimes. It sometimes takes me a while to make sense of things.
And when there's so much information coming in, I just didn't put two and two together.

[4:57] And it held me back for a long time. And ultimately, about halfway through the process, I honestly, I was like, you know what, you know, I need to change this.
And I got a bit more confident about asking questions.
You know, when something didn't make sense, I kind of put my hand up.
I'd sort of pull a coach aside after after a session, like, hey, how does this work?
Or if they literally asked, does anyone have any questions? I'd be like, yes, I do have a question, instead of just sitting there silently as before.
And for me, this had a huge amount of positives. It was such a turning point in the program, because number one, it helped clear those things up in the moment, so things I was unsure of, I actually figured out.
But also on top of two, it got the coaches more involved with me, instead of me being the quiet one who was just kind of, you know, sitting there pretending everything was fine, and they kind of just assumed everything was fine, because I was pretending, Um.

[5:44] They saw that I was engaging in the process. They realized, look, sometimes I need a bit of a different explanation. Maybe I learned slightly different to other people in the room.
They got a little bit more involved in my process. They gave a lot more back in return because I was actively engaging with them.
And they naturally just spent a little bit more time with me because I'd ask questions, I'd ask for help.
So they would give me that help. And I got way, way, way, way, way more out of the process.

Importance of Asking Questions for Hikers

[6:05] Now for hikers listening to this and particularly hikers who are going through any type of training process, this is exactly, exactly, exactly the the same.
And again, I know you've heard this before. I know it's been hammered in home before, but I want to say it. Don't be afraid to ask questions.
If you're doing a coaching program, you know, in personal training, online personal training, coaching, whatever it may be, and you have a coach in your corner who's giving you support, ask questions.
If you're unsure about something, ask.
If you're not, you know, you don't know why you're doing something, ask. If something's a little bit uncomfortable and you want a bit of a way working around it, ask.
If you woke up one day and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm knackered, I'm super tired, or maybe I'm sick, what do I do with the training? Ask.
Use your coach. Ask those questions. For our online summit program, which is our signature online training program for hikers, we try to hammer this point home.
We have a coach in these people's corners. We give them a huge amount of support.
And time and time and time again, it is the people who actually take advantage of this support, who ask the questions, who get the most out of this thing.

[7:11] Or maybe you're not working with a personal trainer. Maybe you don't have a huge amount of support, but maybe you are following a set structured program.
You've reached out to a trainer and they put together a program for you, or you've downloaded something off the internet or whatever it may be.
And maybe this program, it does have some inclusion of support.
It's not like you've got a coach with you every step of the way, but maybe there's a a forum you can ask questions on, or maybe you have like, you know, set checkpoints once a month or once every couple of months or whatever it may be. Take advantage of these things. Ask.
Things don't make sense, not working for you, whatever it may be.

Utilizing Support Systems and Asking Questions

[7:42] Use your communication. Put your hand up, ask questions.
For us at Summit Strength, we do sell some packages which are a little bit more hands-off.
So it doesn't come with our full unlimited coaching support, but it's more sort of based around training.
And there's some certain checkpoints along the way where you see your coach and you can ask questions.
And again, it's the people who take advantage of these communication windows, take advantage of these checkpoints, ask questions, they get the most out of things.
Or maybe you're not working off a structured program or with a coach, you're literally just putting together your own training.
But more than likely, if you're listening to this podcast, you're digesting information from some source.
Maybe it's from me, maybe it's from another person online or whatever it may be. Maybe you're reading books, listening to podcasts, watching videos, whatever it may be.
A lot of the time, the people who are putting content out online, giving information out online, there is somewhere where you can reach out and ask questions.

[8:39] Whether it's reaching out on their Instagram, doing Q&As, whether it's, you know, hopping on a live call or what it may be.
For us, you know, for me at Summit Strength, the people listening to this podcast, we have our free Facebook group, the Training for Hiking and Trekking group.
And if you ever have any questions from what we're talking about, questions about your training, whether something makes sense, what to do about your hiking, you can post up in that group and I'll do my best to answer.
Because ultimately, if you have a question, probably dozens, thousands, if not hundreds of people have the same one.
So it's not going to be just beneficial for you, but so many other people.
And by the way, if you did want to find that Facebook group, go to Facebook and look at the Training for Hiking and Trekking Facebook group.
Completely free, open to the public.
You can hop online and then ask any questions you want.
But ultimately, when it comes down to it, if you're going through a training process, ask questions, help yourself, help others, and get the most out of whatever you're doing.
​
Final Thoughts and Encouragement to Ask Questions

[9:36] So thank you so much for listening today. I know you've heard this before, but I wanted to hammer it home because myself, I've heard it a million times.
For myself, I've told a million people this, but when I was in that situation, I didn't take advantage of it as much as I should.
So learn from my mistakes, ask questions, and it will serve you really, really well.
So thank you so much for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this and we'll talk to you soon. Bye.

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