The next tendency I’m going to discuss is the Upholder. My husband is an Upholder so I see first hand the strengths and weaknesses of an Upholder on a daily basis! An Upholder can meet inner and outer expectations without an issue. They are self-starters, self-disciplined and like a schedule with rules to follow. I’m guessing several athletes are shaking their heads in agreement with that sentence. I think Upholders tend to be the “type A” athletes. A few weaknesses of Upholders athletes are that they might experience “tightening”, feel like they must always finish what they started, or struggle when plans change or there isn’t enough details provided.
Upholder “Tightening”
An issue Upholders may face is “tightening” – this is when you follow a rule tighter and tighter – to the detriment of yourself or others. One way athletes might experience tightening is through streaks – running a mile every day, working out 7 days a week, or getting in their step goal – they might push themselves beyond what is healthy (and/or safe) for the sake of the streak. If you, as an Upholder, have experienced this – go back and think about the inner expectation – you might find that running when you don’t want to, working out when you are tired and sore, or getting in those last few steps – isn’t a good use of your time and doesn’t ultimately serve your inner expectation.
Must Finish What Is Started
Along the same lines as Upholder “tightening” is the idea that Upholders often feel like they must finish what they’ve started. How many times have you pushed through your workout when you were sick, tired, felt like crap, or simply didn’t want to do it. Yet, how many times did you finish it? All of them. Were they good workouts? No. I challenge you to think about this next time you are in this situation. Allow yourself to stop. Allow yourself to think about your inner expectation again and decide if finishing what you started is really serving that expectation.
When Plans Change
Upholders may also struggle when plans change. Your masters swim session is canceled due to winter break at the school. The single Peloton in the gym is occupied by someone else. The inclimate weather forces your group run to be delayed for two hours. What do you do here? Get mad, frustrated, worked up, angry? Yet, does that help the situation? No. Try to relax and think of the next best way to accomplish your goal – find your local pool and swim over your lunch hour, ride the non-Peloton bike in the gym, or use the 2 hour delay to chat and get to know someone new in your running group. Or, simply move on from the workout, do something to #treatyoself, and pick up your schedule tomorrow.
Not Enough Detail
Upholders may also struggle when their training plan isn’t detailed enough. The swimming workout uses acronyms you don’t know. Or your ride or run only says “easy effort”. What does easy effort me? What heart rate or wattage should I be at? I challenge you to look at the bigger picture if there isn’t enough detail and encourage you to swim freestyle in the yardage prescribed if you don’t know the acronym or cycle way easier than you did yesterday (20-30 beats lower or 50-100 watts less).
To close, I want to remind you that our Tendency only makes up a small portion of our personality and as Gretchen Rubin, creator of the Four Tendencies, stated, “Remember, our Tendency is a part of our nature—how we are most inclined to respond to the expectations placed on our lives—so while we cannot change our Tendency, we can change our circumstances.”
No Comments