Personal Fitness Training Articles
Why most fitness efforts fail and what you can do to succeed
How many times have you sat down and said to yourself “today is the day I start exercising, eating right and living a more healthy life?” Almost all of us have at some point. Our intentions are good. We want to look and feel healthier. Sometimes it’s to recapture part of our youth. Other times it’s out of a health necessity. There are a number of people who are genetically gifted through their twenties only to realize that a sedentary lifestyle and a slow metabolism can defeat any genetic gifts in their thirties and forties. And so begins the cycle of fad dieting and new workout crazes.
The first thing most people do when starting a “fitness plan” is go to old reliable for knowledge. No not a certified personal trainer or fitness enthusiast. They go to the “other” expert…Google. Search after search yields diet pill after diet pill. Maybe you get lucky and you do find a site that has some information on “calories in vs. calories out and nutrition made easy.” While this information is useful it doesn’t exactly prepare you for the task that awaits you. There is a science and methodology to everything. Most people are going to tell you that “their” way of doing things is “the best” and alternative routes aren’t any good. So called fitness “guru’s” are going to try and sell you on a multitude of different gimmicks and quick fixes.
There are no quick fixes that have long lasting results. Hard work, dedication and discipline are the only solution for a long term healthy, and fit body. Now before you get depressed and give up on the idea of fitness because you realize you are neither dedicated nor disciplined, listen up. You can do this if you break it down into steps. Any fitness goal and I mean ANY can be accomplished if you’re willing to “Earn It”(as a side note “Earn It” is something I’ll say to my clients when the workout gets challenging and they are thinking about taking an unscheduled break).
Here is what most people will think when they decide that they are going to have a six pack in three weeks. “I am going to be ripped. First I’m going to go buy a gym membership, then I’ll buy some fat burners. After that it’s off to Trader Joe’s to buy organic soy milk and a box of cardboard err I mean rice cakes! I’ll be ripped in NO TIME!” For those who don’t think like the above their thought process usually looks something like this. “I really need to lose weight. My doctor says that it’s the cause of my high blood pressure. Maybe I’ll call one of those personal trainers who’s ad I saw on Google. I’m too big to get in shape anyway…it’s impossible.”
Both of these trains of thought are destined for failure. Let me explain. The first person is absolutely sky high about getting in shape. They “think” they’ve got it all figured out and that it’s not going to be difficult. The problem is that the motivation they are feeling will wear off. Especially if they don’t see the results they think they should get within the first couple of weeks. The other problem is that they have went so overboard with their decision they immediately started a ridiculous diet that is nearly impossible to maintain. The average human being cannot change years and years of habits on a whim. It doesn’t work that way. Long term lasting results are discovered through gradual systematic change over the coarse of time (there are those who are rare and will be able to make these changes on a whim. I would say they account for about 2% of the population. Odds are you are not one of them.)
The second person in our example is the one who doesn’t believe that fitness is even possible. This person is not choosing to change for any other reason than his/her doctor said it was necessary to their survival. They have yet to confront themselves honestly and therefore have a skewed view of reality. The good news is that they contemplated getting a professional trainer to help, the bad news is that the belief that they will fail will probably prevent them from following through with the decision.
The solution to both of these problems is as follows. Be honest with yourself. If you’re obese or overweight, accept it. You did it to yourself. It wasn’t McDonalds, it wasn’t your mom or dads lack of love. It was you. Maybe you’re a busy professional who is responsible for many important decisions and in addition to that you have a household to run. If that’s the case it was still your fault (I have two daughters and have had to find ways to include my fitness even when I had already worked twelve hours). No matter what excuse you come up with I’m telling you right now it was your fault. I’ve never heard of someone holding a gun to anyone’s head and forcing them to inhale a Big Mac and fries.
Now that we’ve been honest with ourselves and taken responsibility for our actions we can move on to the next step of the process. Change. First we’re going to realize that it took years to get this big and it may take years to get it off. You have to accept that. Can it all come off in months? Yes. Will it? Who knows. It doesn’t matter anyway you have made the decision to get in shape and be healthy for the long haul. Whether it takes months or years is irrelevant once you’ve drawn your proverbial line in the sand. Fitness is a journey not a destination. There are more than a few once proud bodybuilders who had sported six pack abs and twenty inch guns for most of their twenties and thirties who now at the age of forty five can’t see their feet. Don’t let this be you. It’s a journey not a destination.
The following is something I do with MY clients. It does not mean it is the gospel or is the only way to achieve great results. This is a method that has worked for me and that’s why I’m sharing it. If you have not been a part of health and fitness of any form for months, years or ever then listen up. I DO NOT RECOMMEND STARTING A NUTRITION PROGRAM AT THE SAME TIME YOU BEGIN EXERCISING. Now you’re probably thinking “what the hell is this guy talking about?” Remember before when I said that it’s a gradual systematic change? Most clients that I have had in my past who started out with a training program that called for exercise three times per week in addition to a meal plan right out the gate…failed. It’s too much to ask of yourself to completely overhaul who you are in a matter of days.
My rule is that we begin training and exercising for three weeks before I’ll even discuss nutrition. Even if you just exercised and did not alter your eating at all the first three weeks you are still going to see “some” results. I would rather the client feel a sense of accomplishment after three weeks than disappointment the first time they mess up on their meal plan. Usually by the third week my clients are begging for nutritional advice. Which is the reason I do it. They change at their own pace. I didn’t force them to give up there entire identity and change in a millisecond.
If you’re not working with a personal trainer I would still recommend not thinking at all about your diet for the first three weeks. Allow yourself the opportunity to just focus on exercising three days a week for an hour each day. There is more than enough information for you to study about exercise to keep you busy the first three weeks. Once you’ve been to the gym at least three times per week for three weeks then start focusing on the diet.
Now the purpose of this article is not to lay out an exact workout program or proper diet. Those are two subjects that are very specific to the individual. I would rather focus on the psychology of fitness and how to develop that discipline. Like I said before there are many roads to living a healthy and fit lifestyle. None of them are wrong or right. Some may be safer and more effective than others but when you are first starting out it’s more important that you’re doing something vs. nothing. Regardless of what that something is.
After you’ve been attending the gym for a while and possibly have begun some form of meal planning and or diet you will have some hurdles. Maybe you missed a workout or forgot to plan your food and went through the drive through. Do not panic. You must allow yourself the freedom to make mistakes. Life is demanding and stressful. If you had an off week, accept it and focus on the next week. In the past eight years of personal training I have had many clients who would not allow themselves the chance to slip up. As a result they were constantly riding a wave of ups and downs until they couldn’t take it anymore and quit. That is not a realistic way to live. Fitness is not just about getting stronger physically it’s about mental strength as well. It takes mental strength to not be perfect but to still strive for perfection.
You can achieve your fitness goals. It’s not going to be easy but it may become easier as time goes on. All fitness goals are achievable. You are responsible for your current physical state. No family member, boss or friend “made” you fat. You have accepted this and are now changing. Your initial goal is to exercise three days per week for an hour each day for three weeks. You will then start slowly implementing some form of meal plan and or nutritional rules. You are going to have hurdles that you must overcome and forgive yourself for making. This journey is for the long haul and you realize that even though you may slip up sometimes you will not give up. You deserve to look and feel healthier.
So if you think you are ready to turn around your health and are committed, feel free to write to me at info@hublifefitness.com.
