You hear it and see it all the time come New Years Day. All these New Year’s resolutions based around a common agenda to get fit, lose body fat and give up the “bad foods”. It is then exacerbated by the product lines that require you to undergo a “cleanse”. After all, that extra food is doing you damage and you must help out your kidneys and stomach before it falls over. Well that is the message that is thrown out there. By the time March and April roll around, the gyms are rubbing their hands together as their membership numbers have increased tenfold, but no one is using the equipment. Why did you join up if you weren’t going to follow through with your resolution? Did it sound like a good idea at the time, or was it peer group pressure that made you feel like you had to? What we need to do is look a little deeper into our reasoning. Down in there will be your why.
Your why should be easily defined, once you start to dig that little deeper. It won’t be your job, or the money you make or the house you live in. These things can change, and sometimes even without your control. It is not even your clothes you wear, or even the car you drive. These are items you have. They do not define you, but instead allows others to make an instant decision about who you are. Your why is deep. Your why is buried, and it tucked inside all the bullshit that hide it. It’s no one else’s bullshit. It’s yours. It’s your excuses. It’s your ability to get railroaded by friends who made you feel terrible by not having a beer or a piece of cake . Your inability to deal with your problems, whether they are with food or the way your body looks.. Your why is buried underneath all of those excuses and reasons that you put forth not to succeed. How do you find your why?
Normally it is associated around the things that make you upset, and this is closely linked to family, and yourself. Remember the last time you felt disappointed and angry and it stayed with you? Who was it at? I bet it wasn’t at your boss, nor your bank account, or even your car. In all likelihood, it was with yourself, your family or your close friends. This is your why. Your why could be to be fit, healthy and around for your daughter when she grows up. Your why could be setting a good role model for your children and friends to look up to, instead of allowing them to focus on sporting stars to fulfil that void. Take a pen. Write down your why.
At the school we endeavour to find out your why early on. This serves two purposes. Firstly it allows an exercise program to be designed. How can you design an exercise program around a why? Imagine someone has body conscious issues; you wouldn’t have them run along the beach in a bikini, would you? Instead you would focus on having more quality movement throughout the day. Some sprints up and down their backyard would work wonders. Secondly, it serves as a positive reinforcement to the individual during their training session, as well as bringing it to front of mind awareness. Reinforcement form habits. Habits form motivation. Motivation brings results.
If you want to learn more about habits, I recommend the following to your reading list. Kennet Wale did a brilliant blog on a similar topic, and bought to the world the acronym PLOM. Take a look at his blog post below.
Habits can be hard to start. After all, the internet is filled with experts on how to do it. The link below is to probably the best, no sorry, the BEST, habits program on the planet. How much? It’s free, and the lessons you will learn would have cost you $000’s if you went to a self help guru.
For those that like a podcast, Evil Sugar Radio (www.evilsugarradio.com) is my go to podcast for all things outside of training. They cover absolutely everything, and in this episode, they interview JC Deen and discuss habits and motivation. Pretty solid podcast.
Next post we will talk about how to deal with people who refer to your fat loss and muscle gain in the terms of “fading away”. You here it often, and to me, it sends a negative connotation to the mind of the individual it’s delivered to. To me, fading away indicates that there is a problem and not just a minor one.
Remember. Move more, feel better. Feel better, move more. Move more, feel better.
Strength. The secret sauce.
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