Most people fail or fall into stagnation when it comes to fitness, including almost all regular gym goers, and most of the time it comes down to one thing: they don’t set specific goals.
They have a vague idea of where they’re starting and what they need to work on, and a general idea, that it might be nice to lose 20 pounds, tone up, and get more flexible, but they also only have a general idea of exercise as this thing that’s difficult and onerous, and if you do enough of it often enough, then you might achieve a desired outcome.
That’s not exactly a specific plan of attack.
Most people let their emotions and a bunch of things that they hadn’t thought out or articulated make them think “just work really, really hard” or “I’ve tried and it didn’t work, so I’m going to quit” or falling into the rut of doing enough so that the wheels don’t completely fall off, but never making real progress.
So, I’d like to unpack some of that today, specifically around fitness, and to some extent, mindset.
It’s super common to have a moral theology approach when it comes to training. You do something that’s difficult and uncomfortable (a negative, something that you don’t enjoy), therefore there should be a reward, be that a better physique, improved strength, health, etc. (a positive that you enjoy the benefits from).
Few people stop to ask what is the actual outcome of their actions, are they specifically connected to the reward you want, or are they just difficult, and in paying the difficulty tax, you hope to get the reward?
I had a lot to unlearn after swimming competitively in high school and college, and then living through the “triathlon is the ultimate thing” of the 1990s.
Eventually I did learn, not only as a concept, but really got it and the light bulb truly lit up when I finally understood that strength training for a fraction of the time per week could get results faster, then real change finally started to happen.
It also involved seeing a lot of positive examples and finally seeing that yes, I could accomplish it, and not trying to merit it by using inefficient means that were really hard. Lifting is hard, but it’s also much more effective.
I used to think that lifting was secondary. I used to think that high rep calisthenics at a high heart rate, swimming, and cycling were the things that I could do. It wasn’t because I didn’t know lifting was more efficient. It was because I didn’t see myself as a person who could accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. Just because you do hard work, doesn’t mean that work is going to lead to a particular outcome.
A bit of a tangent, but worth going over.
Plus, if all we’ve seen is Arnold, Jane Fonda, and more recently, social media influencers and movie star transformations, it reinforces the idea of just throwing a lot of random hard work at the problem and hoping we can keep showing up often enough and long enough and making those sacrifices in order to reap the reward.
One thing that I’ve changed in the last few years that’s helped tremendously is change how I go about solving the problem. I look at goals in two ways.
First, I break it into getting from Point A to Point B goals.
Most people, myself included, tend to fall into Point A to Point Z goals. If any of us got our Point Z goals (We all have them – if we won the lottery, if we were suddenly super fit, if all our dreams came true) it would be so incongruous with who we are now, our current habits, mindset, the whole nine yards, that consciously or unconsciously, we’d find ways to torpedo the whole thing and get back to Point A.
Instead, set modest Point A to B goals. These are short term, doable, and will build so that you can then set Point B to C goals. In the process, you will most likely change your actions, habits, and mindset and you’ll be in a position to handle life at Point B and be ready to work on getting to Point C.
This is the best illustration I can think of. There was a route, parameters (weather, speed, altitude, distance, carrying capacity, etc.) But, if the pilot said “I’m going to try really, really hard to get to Nepal, never mind the what the engineers and other pilots said, I’m just going to give it my all!” the plane would have run out of fuel and crashed. Instead, he followed a route that worked within the specifications of the plane, probably had to switch to a plane that could operate at higher altitudes for the last leg of the trip, and they made it there.
Which leads to the next part of how I’ve changed my approach which is to look at things like a geometry problem to be solved. (I didn’t exactly love geometry either, this is just an illustration, stay with me.)
That is to look at your givens and take those into account.
- How fit are you right now?
- Are you working around any injuries?
- How strong are you? This is a major limiting factor that almost no one considers. The stronger you are, the easier it is to achieve your fitness goals.
- How old are you? Age shouldn’t stop you, but it does limit how much overall work you can handle.
- What’s your schedule like? If the “perfect program” doesn’t work with your schedule, then it’s not perfect.
- Do you have a gym nearby or are you willing to set up a home gym? (You can set up a beginner home gym for under $100)
- Are your current habits going to support your goals? Do you have a ballpark idea of how much protein you’re eating, do you regularly get at least seven hours of sleep per night, how much alcohol do you consume, etc. (These aren’t fixed givens, this is just understanding your starting point)
So, then you’re able to look at those givens and come up with a plan that will work within what you can realistically accomplish.
In choosing A to B, we narrow our focus for a few months to one main goal, and possibly a secondary goal that won’t be at cross purposes. (IE don’t try to do a muscle building plan while also training for a marathon)
So what does A to B look like for most people?
For the average person just starting out, it usually looks like this:
- Strength train three times per week for about thirty minutes (note: strength training is for getting stronger and putting muscle back on, it isn’t just another way to burn calories)
- Increase daily step count. It’s not that complicated – a ten minute walk comes out to about 1000 steps. That’s a grand total of walking a total of 100 minutes per day to get 10,000 steps.
- Getting a handle on how to eat like an adult, get away from processed foods, get a basic idea of how much protein you consume each day
- Improve sleep habits and get at least seven hours most nights
That might be like the first long stretch of the journey over the ocean
Later, you can go after more specific goals for seasons whether that’s:
- Building muscle. Almost everyone is under-muscled, making it harder to not get over-fat. This, done with some low intensity work like walking that doesn’t cause soreness, and you can work on two goals without working against yourself.
- Building strength. Strength is the limiting factor in building muscle, so going back and forth between muscle building and strength as the two main areas of focus, and setting short term goals makes it easier to stay motivated.
- Preparing to run a race. During a strength phase you’ll have extra bandwidth because this approach isn’t as physically and mentally taxing.
Also, as you go along, then you can fine tune your habits around sleep, nutrition, recovery and gradually replace the habits that haven’t served you well. Eventually these things become a part of who you are and part of your daily routine that doesn’t require willpower or inordinate effort.
Another point worth noting, regardless of the goal you’re pursuing.
This means doing the same thing a lot.
The same workouts.
You did XYZ exercises last week? Good. Do them again. Try to demonstrate more mastery. Add a little weight or an extra repetition if you can still move well. This doesn’t mean tooth grinding ugly effort ad infinitum. It means approaching this as a skill.
Success comes from gradually getting better, not from endless novelty. Novelty and complicated movements are a distraction from not getting better.
The same basic meal prep. Knowing within a reasonable degree how much you’re eating and how that breaks down in terms of protein, carbs, and fat.
Don’t calculate everything down to the last calorie, but then go out, get extra glasses of wine and another round of appetizers and do that multiple nights per week.
That often happens with the moral theology approach. “I worked out hard this morning! I earned this!”
Not necessarily.
You burned a few hundred calories, but then you ate and drank an extra 1500, and you messed up your sleep quality, setting you up for a bad day tomorrow, and those downsides include less willpower, more cravings for junk food, and less testosterone, growth hormone, etc.
Plus, the thing that’s going to move you forward is super adaptation. Recovering and coming back stronger and with more lean muscle than you did prior to training. Nutrition and rest will either support your goals or work against them. It’s not just about doing exercise as penance and earning indulgences.
Another tangent, but also worth going over.
Having a reasonable set of habits in place that support your goals. It doesn’t mean never having fun, but it does mean that exceptions are the exception, not the rule.
This means gradually getting better at the basics.
Do simple things savagely well.
Don’t keep looking for novelty, secret hacks, or quick fixes.
Play the long game.
Know what you’re doing and why.
Work towards specific outcomes and build from one success to the next.
If you’re up for sticking with a plan, if you know that what you do outside of training is just as important as the workouts, if you’re up for lasting change, then email me at 513fit@gmail.com about working together.
I have a few options from training in the gym, to in-home training, to online coaching, so this can fit almost any schedule and almost any budget.
The real cost of admission is consistency and effort.
