In this guest blog post, we’re featuring Maksym Bilan, a Senior iOS Developer at MySwimPro! Max is based in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and is busy adjusting to life as a new working father. Check out his tips to prioritize fitness and always find the time to get a great swim in.
If you’re starting to become lazy when the conversation turns to sports, and it’s difficult for you to get up in the morning to go to the swimming pool, or you’re exhausted at the end of the day and don’t want to work out, but you want to be a swimmer – this blog is for you! It’s a 7 day log about how I struggled with reaching my goal to do a 2,000-meter workout. I hope my story helps you find some clues to help combat laziness. Let’s begin!
Day 1 – The Starting Point
December 25, 2019
Today is Christmas morning. It’s a good day to start my challenge to track my workouts with MySwimPro during the next quarter. Since today is Christmas, I hope the pool will be empty. I have a 2km workout planned. I woke up at 7:30 a.m. and went immediately to the swimming pool. When I was parking my car, I thought that my workout would fail – too many cars in the parking lot. And yes, oh my god, there were about 10 people in the pool. Sorry, today is not my day. Why are you here, people? Go celebrate Christmas! So, after swimming 300 meters, I gave up and left. It was a good try, but maybe next time.
Related: How to Set SMART Goals
Day 2 – The Technical Issue
December 29, 2019
I woke up to a baby screaming this morning, so it’s another attempt to do a “12 Days of Christmas” workout. It was Sunday morning and the pool was empty. But I didn’t complete 2k, unfortunately. I paused the app to fix my goggles, and I lost my current progress of 1,450m. I was upset and left, but I know now that I can finish 2k. I was so close and had the power to finish!
Day 3 – The Depressing Weather
January 4, 2020
The weather is very depressing. No snow yet, everything is messy, and it’s a little bit weird for my region. Usually, we have snow in January. Today is Saturday and I hope there are no traffic jams, as in Ukraine people have days off after New Year’s Eve and celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January. I’ve woken up already tired, it’s my default state now because of a 3-week-old baby in the house, so I decided to choose the simple 1000-meter workout called “January Delight” in the MySwimPro app. I completed it in 29 minutes and returned home happy that I didn’t skip my workout today.
Day 4 – A Typical Morning of a Young Father
January 12, 2020
Today is a typical morning for me. Every day of the week, I wake up exhausted by default. I try to find the best time to work without family distractions and be efficient in helping my wife with the baby. I never would have thought that my working time was going to be between 10:00 P.M. and 3:00 A.M. This morning, I was empty, but I decided to go to the swimming pool anyway. It’s better to do a light workout than to do nothing. So, I did a 1km swim, and I am pretty happy. I overcame my laziness today!
By the way, I started doing 2×20 push-ups every morning and some exercises with a dumbbell. The reason is simple, and not actually for swimming, haha. We live on the fourth floor in an old building, and the elevator doesn’t work sometimes. The baby’s pram (stroller) is so heavy, that I need more power!
Related: Max Bilan | The #AskASwimProShow
Day 5 – No Hope
January 19, 2020
I wanted to swim 2km today, but… no hope. Yesterday was my friend’s birthday, you know, so no chance. So, I just enabled the “Pool” mode in MySwimPro and started my relaxation workout. 800 meters done, and that was a victory. Then I bought a 6-month membership to my swimming pool for 10% off, and it made me happy. Plus, today we planned our first road trip with our baby out of the city, so I had to have enough power for all day.
Day 6 – The Waterproof Case
February 2, 2020
I ordered a waterproof case for my iPhone and finally got it. So, it’s time to take beautiful photos underwater. Today, I swam only 550 meters as my attention was on making creative stuff. Tech gadgets help me to not be a lazy person. It is always exciting to check out something new.
Day 7 – The Final Countdown
February 9, 2020
I woke up and said to myself, “today or never.” I have to achieve my goal to complete the 2km workout, so stop being lazy. And yeah, this day has come, I’ve done it! Check out my workout below:
Those are my struggles with laziness, and how I figured out for myself that finding a combination of reasonable goal setting and balancing motivation is the key to success.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Max! If you’re ready to hit the pool and work toward your swimming goals, download the MySwimPro app on your iPhone or Android.
