The small stuff matters

Strength and fitness is a long process with ups and downs along the journey.

It’s a journey which will see you try various programs, diets, change gyms a few times, hire new trainers, and sometimes regress.

Holidays come and go with the inevitable day of gluttony, work piles on and you miss a few weeks at the gym, but on the flip side things can line up perfectly for some incredible results.

You will read trainers writing, “consistency matters and one day won’t kill you”, but as a man who has been knee deep in this business for the better part of 2 decades, there are times when one day will quickly turn into a landslide.

Statistics don’t lie as we are fast approaching the New Year’s resolution list and the inevitable, “well I am too busy to start now/it’s the holidays/I will wait until New Years” excuses. Eight percent of you who make a NY resolution will stick to it even a little. Just 8%. Of all the people saying, “I will lose weight” or “I will go to the gym every single day”, just 8% of you turn those large scale promises into some semblance of reality.

What happens besides the big picture being lost? Aside from the resolution crowd, why do so many people join gyms with the greatest intentions and forget where the building is?

They are lost without a tangible goal

It’s easy to say, “I will lose weight” but how much will you lose? How you will lose it? Are you planning to prepare food or do you magically expect Olive Garden to strip the extra calories from your Linguini with Alfredo you eat three times a week for lunch. The correct way to plan a goal like this is to categorize it into a few steps.

1. How much weight do you want to lose?
2. How are you going to manage your diet?
3. What are you going to do when you dine out?
4. Do you have an accountability partner who will hold you to the fire?
5. Do you want to lose weight for the right reasons?

Number five is important as many people want to drop weight for something superficial or temporary. The goal is shrouded in something else besides your own desire to achieve it for you. If your goal isn’t specifically because, “I want to do this for me”, you will either fail or you will regress once that goal is achieved and you have no plan to move on from it.

Answer those five questions honestly and you will find your tangible goal.

They do not seek professional help

I know trainers aren’t cheap, and I can sit here and tell you Kansas City Barbell isn’t as affordable as Planet Fitness, but what personal trainers and my gym excel at is accountability and expertise.

When you want your plumbing fixed do you buy an e-book and hope you can understand it or do you call a professional?

When you need taxes done for your business do you use TurboTax or head to an accountant in order to find the best possible solution for you?

We are professionals at what we do, and despite the barrier to entry being incredibly low for a Personal Trainer, you can find quality amongst the saturation.

This is where the old saying “Let the buyer beware comes into play”. I can safely say if you head to a local 24 Hour Fitness and hire some 20 year old kid, you are probably not going to have the most wonderful experience with a trainer.

Questions you need to ask before dropping money on a coach:

1. What is your background as a trainer?
2. What is your philosophy?
3. What type of workouts will you have me do?
4. How long have you been a trainer?
5. Is this your career or a hobby?

This list will give you a good place to start when you interview a PT or a gym like my own. The good thing about Kansas City Barbell is we are a coaching gym, we provide the program and we provide the coaching for every member. We want our people to get results and be treated well, not to aimlessly shuffle on a treadmill wondering what Muscle and Fitness routine they will follow this month.

People will often value what they value which is often dining out frequently, buying an excess of material items, getting a brand ass new car with a 700 dollar a month payment, but investing in your own health is more valuable than it’s worth. Our nation has a tendency to look at health and wellness from the viewpoint of, “well I need to fix this before it gets worse” rather than, “let’s work hard to prevent it all”. Despite the fitness business being a multi-billion dollar enterprise it pales in comparison to the amount of people who value other temporary things over the investment into your health.

I can’t change it, but I can address it.

Personal training and coaching is an investment that will go a long way into ensuring your goals are being met.

They allow the small stuff to derail the train

Raise your hands if you ever prematurely “cheated” on your diet only to throw the whole week away saying, “screw it, I will start fresh next week.

This is often the hardest lesson to learn for all.

Screwing up is ok.

Screwing up often means you need to recalibrate and get back on track, but eating a few extra slices of pizza at lunch isn’t going to ruin your life.

I cannot reiterate this enough and I have had enough clients over the years who allowed an off day to turn into a bad week. I tell them the same thing I will tell you now.

1. Did the meal taste good?
2. Did you enjoy it?
3. Move forward and get back on track.

I want you to remember those three questions above all else you read in this article, as you CAN have lofty goals and do it all without someone training you. Of course it is easier to organize goals into smaller blocks and hire a professional, but it isn’t a dealbreaker.

You will never improve if you allow mistakes to derail you. The roller coaster of ups and downs will be like a Six Flags rollercoaster ride. Like all rollercoasters you eventually get off and go back to what you did before.

The goal here is to accept imperfections, accept a bad day when it happens, accept you are a human being incapable of being a robotic being, and move forward with the intent to jump back on the goal train and keep riding.

As we approach the time of year when many people start to think about resolutions, my only bit of advice is why wait?

Start now, who cares that Thanksgiving is coming, who cares about Christmas? You can use those days for “off plan days” and still have progress, but if you are hellbent on waiting until January 1 to set a goal, let’s hope you use some astute planning and execution to achieve the goals while the other 92% fail.

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