So, you’ve decided to get in shape. That’s awesome, the future you will be so thankful you made this choice! So, you start a new exercise and nutrition plan, and for the first week, everything feels great. But then, life happens. Motivation dips, and suddenly the goal you were so excited about feels like a burden.
The reality of the health and fitness space is that most people won’t accomplish their goal(s). Only about 50% of people report doing enough lifting OR aerobic exercise to meet the recommended guidelines. Even worse, less than 25% meet the minimums for both targets.
You read that, correctly, less than 25% of us are doing the bare minimum. The next reasonable question to ask yourself is “does my goal require the bare minimum or more”? I’ve personally never met anyone excited about “doing the bare minimum”.
Clearly we have problem but what should we do about it? Today, I want to share some useful ideas to those of you that are considering making a change in your health/fitness or perhaps, for those of you that are in it and struggling.
Stop Thinking and Start Doing
Many beginners think they need to know everything about strength and nutrition before they start. You don’t, and you don’t need the latest and greatest program. You don’t need a comprehensive understanding of “the literature”. This leads to anxiety and “busy work” in the brain causing a lot of people to sit around and wait for the right time, program, etc. How many times have you heard “I’m starting on Monday”? Just know that successful people follow this rule: imperfect action is better than perfect inaction. You won’t get it right, you won’t run the perfect program, the good news is you don’t need to. You just need to start.
Change is a Repeated Behavior
Change isn’t a single act; it’s repeated behavior. As you move through the process of achieving your goal, your motivation will be high at times and low at times. This is normal, accomplishing a goal is supposed to be HARD. A lot of people fail because they try to change everything at once and expect that single act to ensure success. Instead, success comes from focusing on several small, repeatable actions at a period of time. Over a long enough period, you simply start living like the type of person that has already achieved your goal. Success is inevitable once you’ve reached this point.
Asking for Help & Finding a Tribe
Starting on your own is a major hurdle. Often, what separates successful people from those who aren’t is the repeated execution of the basics. True, but having a coach or community to keep you on track makes all the difference because the majority of the time, those basics will be BORING. A lot of people pivot when achieving the goal becomes hard. Suddenly, entertainment takes priority over the goal. I’m not suggesting that achieving a goal must be boring, I’m just saying it doesn’t matter either way. You just need to do what it takes to get it done. Choose to be entertained or not, either way… keep going.
Having people around you that have experienced the same flatness or boredom is helpful as they’ll help you get through those low interest points.
Respect Yourself (you’re worth being successful)
Here are the things I can do as your coach:
Provide a great gym atmosphere / community
Provide a great team of coaches to guide / support you
Provide a clean facility with great equipment
Provide a simple, effect pathway to your goal
Provide opportunities to check-in along the way
Assess your wins and missteps
Here are the things I can’t do as your coach:
Have more respect for you than you have for yourself
Convince you this matters
Make you show up
Make you work hard
Make you engage with your nutrition plan
Coaching is coaching for the most part. Similar to coaches that work with addiction, fitness coaches must let the client CHOOSE to change their behavior(s). A coach can’t do this for you, at least not in the sense of making an authentic, long-lasting change. It must be the choice of the athlete to change and the responsibility of the coach to guide that process.
PRO Tip: Fitness challenges are so popular, no matter how restrictive and grueling, because there is a built in “back to normal” phase at the finish line”. In other words, a single act. No carbs or alcohol for an entire month, no problem! That’s way easier than learning how to manage carbs and alcohol in the context of your goal… forever. Amirite🤷♂️.
At the end of the day, change comes down to loving and respecting yourself enough to stick with the process. Even (especially) when it gets hard or boring.
