Plan For Social Occasions

In this episode I dive into one of the biggest speedbumps for a consistent training process - social occasions. And I share a few tips on how I managed these during my 20 weeks training journey.

Chapters

0:00:00 Introduction to the importance of planning for social occasions
0:02:46 Managing drinking during social occasions with non-alcoholic alternatives
0:06:01 Using a stubby holder to discreetly drink soda water
0:07:01 Balancing Socializing and Sleep Routine
0:07:52 Setting Deadlines for Social Events
0:08:44 Finding Opportunities to Train and Stay Committed
0:09:29 Making Intentional Nutrition Choices in Social Situations
0:11:32 Managing Food and Routine During Weekends Away
0:14:37 Importance of Having a Plan for Social Situations
0:15:32 Creating a Plan for Tricky Social Situations

Transcript

Introduction to the importance of planning for social occasions

[0:00] All right, hello, hello, ladies and gentlemen. So, and today we are covering episode number nine of this 20-episode mini-series, 20 Lessons Learned Through 20 Weeks of Training.
And today we're talking about a really, really, really important subject about training, planning for social occasions.
So, essentially when it comes down to, you know, if you're training for a particular goal, very, very, very rarely are you going to give up all your social occasions.
You You know, if you're training for a big adventure, for a big hike, for a big fitness goal, some people are okay saying, you know what, this is the only thing in my life.
But in all honesty, that's the very, very, very small percentage.
Most of us have lives. Most of us have friends we want to meet up with, family members we need to look after and meet up with, you know, occasions we want to go out for and whatever it may be.
And it's very, very, very rare that you're going to give up all your social occasions. occasions.
However, you know, most of us are pretty aware that social occasions can be a bit of a barrier, a bit of a speed bump when we're trying to prepare for a big thing or really focus on a training adventure.
And a lot of us are aware of that. So, today we're going to be diving into this a little bit and talking about, you know, what I did personally to kind of work around this.
So, the story really comes from, you know, with all of this.
Like in my training journey when I was going through that 20-week training process, you know, I was training really, really hard.

[1:23] I was being really, really careful with my nutrition, with my sleep, and with my recovery.
And I was really, really, really managing my energy intentionally because I went into that process saying, you know what, I'm going to give this my all.
And in the training sessions, I was going to turn up every day, do the work.
Outside of the group training sessions, I was going to be focusing on other things to give myself the best chance of success.
I was going to be doing strength training, other cardio, and this and that.
I knew that, you know, as we sort of talked about in the last podcast, I knew I was wanting to lose a little bit of weight through the process just purely for weight classes.
I also knew my nutrition had to be on point to help with my energy and help with my recovery.
I knew I needed to look after my sleep because I was up so early, so many mornings in a row, and all of these things.
And I knew the energy balance was going to be tricky because I'd gone through periods of low energy prior to this process, which absolutely sucked.
And I knew I was putting so much energy out there through this training.
I knew I needed to look after these things.
So all of these areas, you know, I had a whole bunch of things, which we'll be going into other podcast episodes, like that I was doing to help with this, to help with the training, help with the nutrition, help with the sleep, help with the recovery.
And in the perfect week, when this is like all I could concentrate on, that was my one true focus.
This stuff was, it was tricky to do. It was a bit of an effort, but it was pretty doable.
It wasn't outrageous and it was doable when that was all I had to focus on.

Managing drinking during social occasions with non-alcoholic alternatives

[2:46] But, in all honesty, I rarely had a, in quotation marks, perfect week.
You know, there was rarely that it was just one week where that was all I had to focus on.
And one of the big things that was just coming up again and again and again and again and again were social occasions.
For whatever reason, the end of last year was just crazy.
There was just stuff happening all the time. We had house warmings where people were getting us around to their new apartments.
We had dinners. We had picnics. We had weekends away. We had a bunch of weddings, which were all pretty much weekends away as well. And all of this stuff was going on.
And in all honesty, even though this training was really, really, really important to me, I didn't want to give up my life. I didn't want to say to Ali, hey, we're going to be a hermit for 20 weeks.
Hey, I'm just not going to see my friends or see my family or anything like that.
But so I didn't want to give up on my life, but they're really important to be aware of because I knew to ensure my energy and my training and nutrition stayed on point through this process, I would need to go into these social occasions with a plan because I knew they were going to make things tricky.

[3:47] And I knew I had to go in with a plan and I had to figure things out to make sure they were not going to completely derail me.
So, you know, to give you some context onto this and some examples, here are some five different examples around sort of different things that were a bit tricky in regards to social occasions.
So, the first thing, you know, with social occasions, weddings, house warmings, just dinners, all of that, drinking was a tricky thing, like drinking alcohol.
Because I'd sort of decided, you know what, through this process, I was really not going to go completely zero alcohol, but pretty much not going to drink much.
Occasionally, I had something, I would have something, but I was like, you know what, I'm just going to get rid of these just casual drinking.
Drinking when I'm just standing around having a drink or having a drink at the end of the day or just like, you know, or just going out and, you know, really, really having a lot of drinks at a wedding or something like that. I was going to get rid of that because I was like, you know what?
Number one, I want to manage my energy. Number two, you know, I know alcohol is just not great for training and recovery in general.
And number three is, as I sort of said in the last episode, I was trying to cut a few kilos as well. And I was like, you know what? This is just an easy way to get rid of things.

[4:53] So, at first, you know, with the drinking, I was like, okay, how can I figure this out?
How can I work around this? And, you know, some people say, Jay, just go and don't drink.
But in all honesty, I needed a plan because I know socially it was going to be a little bit tricky.
So, first of all, I decided, you know what, I'm going to try and drink some non-alcoholic beer. That stuff's getting bigger. A lot of my friends drink it.
I'm going to start bringing that to dinners and that.
And I started drinking it and I was having it, but I didn't really love it.
You know, it wasn't, you know, for whatever reason, I couldn't find something that tasted something that I just wanted to sit down and drink.
And then I was still drinking it, and I was like, ah, you know what, like, you know, for something I don't particularly enjoy, it still has a reasonable amount of calories, like, what's the point? Like, you know, honesty.
So, then I was like, you know what, I'm just going to start drinking soda water.
I like soda water as a drink. It gives me that bubbly, bubbliness.
It gives me kind of something to sip on in the occasion, which is really the main thing for me, and I was like, that's a cool solution, well, simple solution, so I'm going to do with that.
Now, when we were at the house warmings and when we're at the dinner parties and all of that, initially I started getting some comments, just people like, oh, you're not drinking, what's going on?
And nothing like people were getting up my grill or anything like that, but they were just commenting on it.
Using a stubby holder to discreetly drink soda water

[6:01] And I got a bit bored of it. And I was like, oh, I'm sick of just sort of saying, hey, I'm not really drinking at the moment or whatever it may be.
So my solution to that, eventually after a few weeks of that, I was like, you know what? I'm going to drink some soda water with a stubby holder.
And if you don't know what a stubby holder is, if you're not in Australia, it's basically drinking out of a can.
You get a little, I don't know, a little fabric-y thing you put on your can to kind of just hold it so your hand doesn't get wet with condensation and whatever it may be. and everyone, like all my friends, drink their beers out of tins and out of cans and they'll have the stubby holder.
So essentially what I was doing, I was having cans of soda water with this stubby holder. No one realized it was soda water.
No one was commenting on it. It was just super easy and that kind of got me through.
So you can kind of see the evolution of that sort of planners through for something that wasn't, you know, particularly a major issue, but there were a few little roadblocks.
And when I'm already tired from training, when I'm already struggling with certain things, when I've already got so much willpower going to other areas, I just need need to make that situation as simple as possible.
And that's kind of the progression of how it ended up.

Balancing Socializing and Sleep Routine

[7:01] Now, another sort of a speed bump that came up with all this socializing and all of this was late nights. You know, I was kind of, you know, during the week, I was up at 4 a.m.
Monday to Friday, and I was going to bed because I was so tired.
I was going to bed pretty early, like before eight most nights.
And then if I'm new, look, if I'm going to have some pretty late nights, that's going to kind of throw my sleep routine out.
That's going to make Monday an absolute torture when I'm up at four o'clock and it's just going to throw me out of whack.
So, essentially, but instead of just saying, look, I'm not going to go out, I had a conversation with Ali. I was like, look, you know what?

[7:32] For most of these things, we're going to put us at a deadline, if that's okay with you, where, you know, it comes to a certain o'clock that I'm probably going to go home.
You can stay out if you want, if you're having a good time, whatever may be.
And it wasn't like a super antisocial o'clock, but if I could sort of say, hey, I'm going to go home at 10 p.m. as opposed to 11 p.m. or midnight or whatever may be, that for me was was pretty good.

Setting Deadlines for Social Events

[7:52] So, going in with a plan where I was like, you know what, this is my deadline, and Ali knew that was my deadline, that really helped on that front.
The third thing was missing training. You know, there are a lot of situations where I was like, okay, you know, this social event, maybe it's starting pretty early in the morning on a Saturday, or maybe we have to go away on a Friday, and it's Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and maybe I was planning on fitting in some training on Saturday morning, or it's my routine, or maybe doing a session Friday afternoon, or whatever it may be.
And I was like, I don't want to miss these sessions that I'm kind of fitting in. So what can I do?
So again, when I knew these were coming up, I came in with a plan.
You know, maybe I was sort of in a few situations. I was like, you know what, I'm just going to kind of fit these sessions in before we go away. I'm going to find time for it.
So if we're going away on a Saturday morning at like nine o'clock, I was like, you know what, I'm just going to get up early and get that session done.

Finding Opportunities to Train and Stay Committed

[8:44] Not amazing on a Saturday having to wake up early again after five mornings of being super up early but at least I got it done and then I could just you know enjoy the the time away um or when we're going on a Friday I was like okay you know what through the week I've just got to double up somewhere I've got to fit this session in somewhere where can it go or another situation was just finding opportunities to train while we're away like for example there was a couple of situations where once we're at a wedding we're a weekend away once we were doing a big picnic and there there was a lot of organization.
And I was like, you know what, I need to, well, I really want to fit this session in somewhere.
So, I just went to a local gym and just did a session, ticked it off, ducked away for an hour, and then I got back to things.
But again, like all of this was pre-planned. I had a plan of attack.
I knew what I was going to do to help fit it in.

Making Intentional Nutrition Choices in Social Situations

[9:29] Another thing was nutrition choices. So, socializing, you know, one, number one was I was like, you know what, every social official occasion, has cheese.
And I love cheese. Cheese is my weakness. And if you put me in front of cheese and crackers, I just don't have an off switch.
And I knew for myself that, number one, when I was trying to cut a little bit of weight for this, you know, weight class event, that wasn't going to be great.
And also, number two, I know when I just go out of town on cheese, I don't feel particularly amazing when I've had, you know, three quarters of a whistle of cheese.
I don't feel amazing. And I was like, well, that's probably not amazing for my trail.
And I also knew there there was a lot of situations where, you know, we'd get pizza for dinner or we'd get this or that or whatever it may be.

[10:07] And I was like, you know what, that's fine, but, you know, I'm being really intentional with my nutrition.
So, a few plans that I went in with was, number one, like before I went out at night, I would eat before I went.
So, I'd make sure I had a decent meal that was going to fill me up.
So, when I was in these socialist situations, I wasn't tempted just to completely eat and eat and eat.
I wasn't starving and just making, you know, bad choices if there There weren't so many, whatever it may be. So I'd eat before I go.
And then when we got to the snacks, I was like, you know, I would look at the snack options and I'll be like, all right, what am I going to eat?
I knew for the cheese, like, you know, it's probably not that big a deal if I have a few bits and it's not going to be the end of the world.
But I also knew I have no off switch.
So I was like, look, cheese, no, not going to touch it. You're not allowed it just purely for the fact that it's just, we'll just turn into go and go and go and go.
So I go in, I look at the kind of snack selection or whatever's coming out.
And I would say, I'm going to eat this, this, this, this, this, this, this, not this, not this, not this. And at the start of the night, I would have that plan.

[11:04] And then, you know, with other situations, if we were, you know, somewhere where, say we're getting pizza and I was like, I don't particularly want pizza.
I particularly don't want the nasty, greasy, cheap pizza that we're getting.
But I don't want to be that guy who's like, oh, I'm not going to eat dinner or, you know, just make a fuss. I was like, look, I'm just going to be moderate with other things.
I'm which may be normal for me or whatever it may be. And again, all of this was pre-planned.

Managing Food and Routine During Weekends Away

[11:32] And then the final thing, it's like weekends away. So, as I said, there were a bunch of weekends away, whether it's for weddings or other things.
And there were kind of a couple of different things that went into this that were a bit tricky. Number one was food and just food on the weekend away.
Because I knew like, look, if we're away for two or three days and maybe we're staying with friends or whatever it may be, nutrition choices may not be amazing.
So, I knew, look, if I can control three out of six meals on this weekend away, at least that's pretty good. good.
So when we went away, we'd do the grocery shopping. I'd make sure that for the meals that I could control, and I'm not saying control in the whole group, but that I had choice in, that they were really good choices.
And I was like, boom, that's what I'm going to do.

[12:13] Another thing I knew on the food front was if I have a weekend away, that's going to throw up my routine of doing groceries at the end of the week.
And then I know for myself, if I don't do groceries at the end of the week, then I start making bad nutrition choices. We start getting takeaway.
Away. We're not organized.
And if I miss my grocery day, it kind of throws out the whole week.
So I was like, look, if I'm away, if I don't have time to groceries, and by the time I get back from this, I'm being away, I'm going to be knackered.
I'm not going to be in the mood to go down the shops and fight with people on a Sunday evening or whatever may be.
So I was like, look, if I'm going away, I'm going to get a grocery delivery.
I'm going to book that in to come on Monday morning or come Sunday evening or whatever may be. And that was pre-planned.
So I knew I was in control of that. And this weekend away wouldn't throw me off track.
The same thing with like, Like, you know, I'm a bit funny where it comes to chores in the sense of like if my clothes aren't washed or if the house is dirty, whatever it may be.
I usually sort that all out on a weekend. If it's not, then it kind of throws me out of whack a little bit during the week.
I won't have the clothes I want to train in. The house will be like messy and it'll just annoy me or whatever it may be.
And I get a little bit funny about certain things like that.
So I was like, look, I don't want to come home after a weekend away and this happened because it's going to throw me off and it's going to throw me off doing other training sessions and making good nutrition choices. And it kind of has a spiral effect.
So I was like, you know what, I'm going to get this done before we go away.
So, you know, through the week, I'd filter through things and make sure it's all ticked off before we went away.

[13:35] So, there are a bunch of different things. Like, you know, for me personally, I knew these things were going to be issues for social occasions.
I knew the drinking, the late nights, the missing training, the nutrition choices, and just the weekends away in general were all going to be a bit of speed bumps to getting in the way of things.
And when I was already training, already using all this time, attention, willpower to go into these sessions, go into my nutrition, go into my recovery, I knew these speed bumps were going to make things tricky.
So, for each of them, I I identified them. I had a plan.
And that plan, as I realized, if it didn't work sometimes, it would evolve.
It would evolve. It would evolve until I found something that worked for me.
So that's my story there in regards to my specific social occasions.
And it really applies to you. If you're training for a big adventure or a big fitness goal or whatever it may be, and if you're putting your heart and soul into these preparations, this is really, really relevant for you.
Because if you know there are socializing coming up, if you know you've got dinners out if you know you've got family meetups if you know you meet up with friends if you know you're going away or whatever may be you need to go in with a plan.

Importance of Having a Plan for Social Situations

[14:37] Because i'll tell you right now nine times out of ten for people who don't go in the plan of these types of things they find it just ends up being a struggle and they'll either completely forget about their training and just be like screw it i'm just going to enjoy myself which is fine but then they'll regret it afterwards so go in with a plan i'm not saying you have to be a hermit I'm not saying you have to give up any specific things, saying you can't go out and have nice dinners.
You can't do this. You can't do that. I'm not saying that.
But if you know there are certain things you're working on, whether it's your training, your nutrition, your sleep, or whatever it may be, and these things are important to you, and you are aware that they may get tricky in certain situations, certain social situations, I should say, please have a plan of attack.
So right now, my mission to you, if you're training for a big adventure or you're You're doing a big fitness goal right now.
Sit down, write out all the things you've got coming up in the next few months in regards to social situations that you're aware of.
​
Creating a Plan for Tricky Social Situations

[15:32] And then write down all the things that may be a little bit tricky in those situations.
And then sit down and figure out a bit of a plan.
This one simple thing, it'll take you 15, 20 minutes, but it can save you so much effort, so much stress, so much worry in the long term.
So a little recap. cap. If you have social occasions coming up, plan for it.

[15:56] You won't forget it. So, I think I've hammered this home enough.
I hope this makes sense and I hope you've enjoyed it.
So, for anyone listening, if you do have any questions from this, please reach out. I'm always happy to have a chat, email, Facebook group, whatever it may be.
But I hope this helps and I hope you've enjoyed it. And, you know, with that being said, we'll wrap this up and we'll talk to you very, very soon.

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