Back in the day I was the king of writing long articles. To be honest, I still enjoy writing long articles but have gotten much better about keeping them to 1,000 words or less. This was one of those from back in 2013. If you don’t mind a little reading, I do think you’ll get something out of it. Yes, I chose to keep those dated references in there to keep it real:)
Here are two questions that I would like you to think about and answer honestly: Do I feel good? Do I look good? If you answered “yes”, congratulations and keep doing whatever it is that you’re doing! If you answered “no”, don’t feel bad or become discouraged.
The truth is, the majority of the people that I come into contact with in a moment of honesty are truly not 100% satisfied with the way that they feel and/or look. True, some are much closer than others, but even the ones who look like the perfect bastion of health wish they could lose a few more pounds, gain a little more muscle, and not have achy knees when they exercise.
While I know that everyone has varying degrees of health and fitness related knowledge, even those with the least amount of this knowledge understand that eating well and exercising are the building blocks of feeling and looking the way that they desire. The next obvious question is, if we know what it takes to get there, then why aren’t we doing it? Or, if we’re doing it, why doesn’t it work?
When I first began my career in the the fitness industry, I believed that people chose to eat poorly and not exercise mainly due to a lack of motivation and a general feeling that being healthy was not important. Sadly, for some, this is probably true, but over 10 years later I have come to realize that this is not entirely the case.
What had never occurred to me before is the amount of pain so many people are in. Just the day-to-day pains of getting out of bed, bending over to get the newspaper in the morning, getting into the car to go to work, and walking up the stairs to the office can be very uncomfortable for some. Throw in the thought of some squats or lunges at the gym and this pain becomes downright unbearable.
So it finally hit me…people will just choose not to move (exercise) when it finally becomes too uncomfortable to do so. Maybe they choose not to exercise because they can’t, not because they don’t want to?
As for eating poorly, I have come to realize that people do want to eat healthy. But when you’re addicted to the foods that are responsible for keeping you unhealthy, you will be facing a losing battle no matter how good your intentions may be. Quite frankly, I just don’t buy the fact that the 80-pound overweight, energy-deprived individual with a shopping cart full of garbage that I see in the supermarket is just lazy, lacks motivation, and doesn’t care. I fail to see this as an easy way to go through life, and given the choice, I believe most would choose something different.
Why doesn’t it work? Simple. At the risk of sounding crass, most don’t truly know what they are doing or trust what it is they’re doing is going to work. Sure, there are numerous books, blogs, and DVDs out there to obtain the needed information but even if it’s the best of the best, it still needs to be filtered and implemented correctly. I have read numerous books on finance and while I may be somewhat educated on the topic, there is no doubt in my mind that my investment portfolio would be in much better condition if, say, Warren Buffet were behind the wheel of it.
The thing is, eating the correct diet and exercise does work. In fact, it works just about every time. It is the only thing that does. Sometimes we just expect too much from ourselves. We need to realize that we have busy lives and are not (and probably will not) become health and fitness experts. This is okay because, fortunately, some of us are.
Enter the fitness professional. I know it seems easy for me to say this, but I truly believe that we are too often underutilized in the total health and wellness picture. Understand that we have read all the books, taken all the classes, and attend all of the seminars. As a result, we know what works. And if I might add, we continue to educate ourselves because the field is constantly evolving.
Just like you can look up at the sky and know it’s blue, we can separate the fact from the fiction just as easily. A good fitness coach can literally take all of the leg work out of it for you to the extent that all you need to do is listen, learn, execute, and reap results. A good fitness coach will provide you with the proper education, structure, accountability, and motivation required to help you feel and look the way that you should.
If I had $1 for every time a client told me they could not do squats or lunges because it hurts their knees, I would have my own private island in the Caribbean by now. The real reason most of these individuals could not squat or lunge is because they were never instructed on how to do so correctly. Usually within one session I can help someone perform a squat and lunge with no knee pain at all. True, it often requires some form of modification, but in the end, the client is still lunging and doing it pain free.
As far as diet and nutrition are concerned, education is again lacking. Most know the basics, such as vegetables are good for you and that sugar is bad. However, there is a disconnect when it comes to one’s diet and obtaining certain goals. Just because a food is considered “healthy” does not automatically make it a good food for someone who is looking to burn fat and lose weight. While you might be perfectly healthy eating certain foods, these same foods can also be the reason why you can’t lose those last 5 pounds. Once a client is educated on how to perform exercises correctly, including what muscles are working and where it should be felt, along with how they need to eat in order to achieve their goals, we can progress to the next step.
When I talk about structure, what I’m really talking about is program design. Once the education part of it is out of the way, it all comes down to program design. The bottom line is, clients don’t pay me to watch them do a push-up. After a couple of sessions they pretty much have that figured out. What they are really paying for is the program. The program, which is made up of systems, is what drives results. And the better the systems, the better the end result.
To create the ideal program, I take the time to prescribe certain exercises based on the client’s wants, needs and abilities, sequence them in a particular order with a certain amount of sets and repetitions, factor in rest intervals, and add and subtract weight, all of which will be in a constant state of change over a 4-6 week period.
The same is true for the individual’s nutrition program. Chemically, foods can react in different ways from person to person. Your best friend who eats Greek yogurt everyday for lunch might look fabulous, but your Greek yogurt might very well be the reason your jeans don’t fit to your liking.
The fact of the matter is, your books and and stay-at-home workout DVDs can’t do all of this for you. Yes, they can help when applied correctly, but they will never be as efficient nor will they produce the results that you’re seeking as well as a fitness coach who is personally invested in your health and well-being.
Finally, when it comes to accountability and motivation, I can pretty much guarantee that you will not skip your 8am workout if you know for sure I’ll be on your doorstep at 7:59 – no matter how much you don’t feel like working out that morning! Also, keep in mind that at some point it is going to get difficult. You’re putting in the time and the effort, and for whatever reason, the results are harder to come by. This happens to everyone. It’s unfortunate, but so many people give up right before the big payoff. When you have someone in your corner with your best interests at heart helping you through it, it is so much easier to stay motivated until the results start to come again. And if things are done correctly, they surely will.
I know what you’re thinking. This is all fine and dandy except for the cost. I know times are tough, and I am certainly not here to tell you how to spend your money. However, I know many of us that don’t think twice about spending hundreds of dollars on monthly cable and mobile phone bills. How about all the dollars spent at drive-thru windows or on daily $5 Starbucks Caramel Frappuccino habits? Sure these conveniences are fun and enjoyable, but they are certainly not contributing much to one’s health.
The point is, it all comes down to what we value as important. It personally saddens me when I see people who take better care of their $200 iPhone than they do of themselves. If you answered “no” to one of the questions in the beginning of this article, I encourage you to consider making an investment in your health and fitness education.
I can tell you this. I still have yet to meet a client who took their diet and exercise seriously, got the body they always wanted, felt better than ever before, and at the end, regretted spending the money to get there.