Don't be afraid to pivot
Keep your options open
In basketball, one of the most important technical details is where you place your pivot foot when you’re handling the ball.
Effectively, you come to a stop, but are free to move around so long as that pivot foot remains on the ground. This allows a player to find teammates for a pass, potentially dribble themselves (if they haven’t come to a stop on the pivot foot), or take a shot at the basket if opportunity opens up.
The pivot foot keeps options open and doesn’t determine only one way of moving forward.
In fitness, it’s important to always have a sense of your pivot foot. Things don’t always go your way and your ability to quickly move to the next option is how you keep moving towards the goal.
They don’t let you run during thunderstorms
I experienced the need to pivot hard yesterday.
I had it all planned out. Drop my kids off at school, head to a funky coffee shop close to Northwestern University and the beach I like to run sprints.
After an hour and a change of good work on the digital product I’m working on as part of the Tribal Quillkeepers writing community (endurance athletes who also develop their intellectual creativity, how cool eh!) I grabbed a coffee to go and headed to the beach to run.
Problem, heavy rain, crashing lightning, and booming thunder made the beach a pretty hostile environment. I didn’t want to go, but also love the challenge of nature and wanted to get out and face the elements head on.
But there was one giant problem; the town closes the beach when lightning and thunder are present.
Could I have broke the rules and run the beach still? Yes, but it wasn’t the move yesterday. In the past, when the weather closes the places I like to run, it’s not a .2 mile strip of land I’m running back and forth right next to the parking lot. It’s through miles of forest where no one would even know if I was out there.
Not wanting to risk a confrontation, ticket, or even a ban, I decided to cancel the beach run.
NOW WHAT?
Quick pivot; instead of making excuses, I took ownership of the situation (I could have researched the inclement weather policy before heading to the beach), and crafted a new plan in my head as I walked back from the water’s edge.
I went home, cleaned for a few hours, then went out and hit a progressive four mile run around the lagoon’s that were on the way to pickup my kids from school.
The Takeaway: Muscle Memory
For me it was easy to change on the fly, I’ve been making these quick pivots in my fitness routine for years.
I prefer flexibility to rigidity when it comes to keeping my fitness consistent. The need to pivot for a whole host of reasons is always present. I don’t mind changing things up if the circumstances call for it.
I know that the more I allow myself space to pivot, the less pressure I feel overall in my process. I’ve got room to move around.
I see this play out in the people I coach as well. The idea that ‘things have to be one way always and only’ puts people in a defensive position.
Inevitably when things happen outside their control, they don’t have the ability to pivot, instead making excuses as to why ‘they can’t make it happen’ this time.
But the pivot is powerful. One of my guys fell in love with running after searching for fitness consistency for years on his own. Maybe he fell too much in love with it, head over heels type of fall, and went a bit too hard on hill sprints trying to keep up with a friend who’s more experienced in running. A sore hip was the gift, and running had to be put on hold for the time being.
Instead of determining one way only, he pivoted to the bike, it didn’t cause any issues in his hip, and had maintained his consistency. Shoot, he just rode his farthest and fastest ride EVER last week (three cheers for you my guy, you’re awesome!)
I see the same outside of fitness too. One of my guys has been open in experimenting with his fitness to find consistency. We’ve dabbled in longboarding, skating, walking, sprinting, weightlifting, and even playing music as ways to keep moving. Depending on weather, work schedule, and his travel he’s been open to pivoting to stay consistent.
Now he’s applying that same idea too his creative project. After the first months of operations, he’s having to pivot on his responsibilities, publishing protocols, and communication with contributors. What could have been too much pressure, and folding the project entirely, turned into a quick pivot and onto to the next week.
In fitness and in life, the pivot is a crucial tool in your kit.
It’s how you adapt in real time to adversity with positive creative problem solving instead of taking weak excuses that make you feel better about quitting.
Embrace the pivot.
Happy Training Friends.