Commitment

Commitment. This small word means so much. If you make a commitment to your family you stick to it right? After all, you don’t want to let them down. If you make a commitment to get something done at work you make sure it gets done because if you didn’t it would look bad on you as an employee correct? Well working out and exercise takes just that… commitment. Without a commitment you may start off strong maybe working out 4 or even 5 days a week, eating all of your 5-6 small healthy meals a day, drinking all 8 glasses of water or more a day, and passing on the after dinner dessert. But after a while you start slipping. You might say to yourself, “Well I can skip the gym today. I did go yesterday after all.” And before you know it that one day has turned into a week, then a month. Then comes the dessert. “Well it IS Bob’s birthday. I can’t NOT have a piece of cake.” When all the while you don’t even really like Bob. But now that he has cake and you want some of it… he’s a “pretty good guy”. Without a commitment to a friend or family member or most importantly to yourself you’ll never achieve the goals you have planned. Commitment means going to the gym even when you don’t feel like it, eating more chicken because you know it’s healthier and leaner even though you can’t come up with a different way to cook it this time, passing on that piece of cake and just telling Bob happy birthday, and drinking that last bottle of water for the day. It’s squeezing in at least some type of exercise even though you’ve had a rough day and you just want to kick back and relax. Remember… working out helps relieve stress so go for a walk or a jog after that long day and unwind. Take out those co-worker frustrations on some quality weight training. And at the end of the day not only will you have less stress and sleep better, but you’ll feel better about being one step closer to your goals. When you first decided to get in better shape do you remember the person you pictured in your head? The smaller, healthier, fit version of yourself? That person wouldn’t quit! They know this isn’t just something that you can do for a little while and expect amazing results. That there is no magic pill you can take. That this is a lifestyle change. And until you realize that and make that commitment to yourself your goals are way out of reach, because you can’t reach for the stars when you’re constantly looking down at that cake!

Things that make you go #?/&%$

So this week I'm going to talk about something that just really gets under my skin concerning fitness. People that say, “I can't.” I'll be training someone who is just going through their reps relatively easy and all of a sudden say,

Client: “I can't do it!”

Me: “What!? You can't do it!? You're doing fine. Look, you're still going.”

Client: “I know, but my arms are hurting.”

Me: “Ok. Is it a muscle hurt or an injured hurt?”

Client: “A muscle hurt. It burns!”

So in this situation it's not that the client can't do it, it's that they don't want to. The way I feel about it is (in the words of Jillian from The Biggest Loser) “If you choose to be less that what God intended you to be then don't tell me that you can't. Tell me that you choose not to!” There's no room for excuses when it comes to fitness, but that's what I hear every day. You either do it or you choose not to. That's it! The word “can't” should never come into play. This is also true with nutrition. I'll look over a client's food log and they're either not eating enough or they're not eating enough and what they are eating is junk. It usually goes something like this:

Me: “You're nutrition isn't looking too good here. What's going on?”

Client: “Well I'm at work all day so I can't eat 5-6 times a day” or “I have kids” or “I just wasn't hungry.”

Really? I work all day, I have kids and you know what, sometimes I'm just not hungry either. Millions of people are in the same situation, but they still make it happen. Then when it comes time for their monthly assessment and they don't see very good results they want to look at me like I'm failing them when they're the ones who aren't working out like they should and/or eating like they should. I can only do so much. I can't force anyone to do 5 more reps, although sometimes I try. And I can't follow clients home and force feed them or prepare all of their meals while they relax. Oh you want to look like Jessica Simpson? Quit eating freaking cookies and ice cream and try a few carrots and apples. You want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger or look good in a bikini this year? Quit complaining that you're muscles burn or that the weight you just did 12 reps with is too heavy. It's called responsibility and determination people, try a little bit!

The bottom line is it all depends on how bad you want it. If you really want it you'll do what it takes to make it happen. Something else that gets me is when people look at me and say, “You can probably eat anything you want and not gain a pound. I wish I was like that.” Are you freaking kidding me!? I've busted my ass EVERY day in the gym and at the dinner table to get where I am. I'm no supermodel or the next Mr. Olympia, but I work for what I do have. I don't sit around complaining that it's too hard or it's not convenient cause you know what, it IS hard, it IS inconvenient, but that doesn't matter because I can see the goal line. I can see where I am now and where I want to be and I know what I have to do to get there. You're damn right it's hard and anything worth having should be! So suck it up people and see your goal line. How far away is it? What do you have to do to get there? Got a trainer? Need one (hint, hint)? If you're paying someone money to help you get to where you want to be then listen to them. That's why they're there. To help you. Not baby you!

Time

"I don't have time to exercise." How many times have you heard that? How many times have you been the one saying that? Well do I have some good news for you. There is always time for some type of exercise. There's no golden rule saying that you must be in a gym and be there for at least an hour for it to be considered exercise. Most of us get an hour lunch break right? But it doesn't take that long to eat assuming you've packed a healthy lunch for the day. Use the extra time to do some light stretching. Sitting at a desk all day actually lets some of your muscles shorten and tighten up and they won't just magically go right back to normal when you stand up. You've got to stretch them back out. You can even get some benefit while you're driving. Research has shown that repeatedly tensing a muscle, letting it relax, tensing it again, etc. is almost as beneficial as strength training. Now you no longer have an excuse for not exercising at least a little each day!