OK guys. Here it is. It’s time to do it for real.
“Imagine yourself in 365 days on the beach with a smile on your face and the best physique you’ve ever achieved.”
Gym memberships go through the roof in the month of January and every machine has a line to get on it, but come February, the gym returns to it’s dedicated members and say goodbye to the ‘new years resolution types’ as they drop to the waste side. I want you to be the one who ‘stays the course’ and doesn’t become a statistic.
Every dedicated ‘gym goer’ hates the month of January at the gym as it is overcrowded with ‘want-a-bes.’ The majority of gym membership are never used whatsoever. For example, a local gym here in New Zealand told me that only 8% of their members actual use the gym at least once a week, and over 64% used the gym only four times in a given year, yet still continue to pay their membership. You might ask why they continue to pay for something they don’t use and the answer to that is they feel healthier being a non using member to a gym then canceling the membership….aka, they are WEAK, mentally and physically.
Below is a list that you need to understand in order to increase your chances of keeping your resolution THIS year.
- THE THREE WEEK HUMP
- TOO MUCH TOO FAST
- CHAMPIONS COME IN PAIRS OF TWO
- DOCUMENT THE JOURNEY
- REALISTIC GOALS
THE THREE WEEK HUMP
The biggest reason why people don’t stick to their New Year’s resolution is because they are not seeing results fast enough. That being said, one must remember that your body has been in it’s current mold for the last 20, 30, 40 years, maybe your entire life. When the body gets into a certain mold for a prolonged period of time, it practically locks into that mold. Imagine your body is like cold clay and you have it on a spinning wheel and you are trying to mold it into a pot. When the clay is cold as it has been sitting there for a while, it is reluctant to move to take a new shape. Only after heat is applied to the clay for some time does it warm up and become ‘moldable.’ It is impossible to mold cold clay, but extremely easy to mold once it become warm. Your body is the same way! You are ‘cold clay’ as you make your New Year’s decision to get in shape and you go to the gym over and over again for a week or two and get upset that all that effort hasn’t beared any results seeable in the mirror. The reason why is that it take an average of 3 weeks of training until your body starts to ‘heat up’ and begin to take form and change where you can see your efforts. Far too often, people don’t understand that and figure a week in the gym will change their body mass that has been that way for over 20 + years. It doesn’t work that way, go into the gym this January knowing your results will most likely not show until a month from your start date….think of it is the price of admission to your new healthier stronger you.
TOO MUCH TOO FAST
To get you your ideal body, I teach an equation of four factors:
- Lifting Program
- Cardio Program
- Diet and Nutrition
- Sleep and Recovery
Each one of these factors are as important as the other carrying 25% of the equation, but when you are starting a new program to ‘GET IN SHAPE,’ you will fail if you try to do all of them at once. Start off slowly with realistic goals or you’ll burn out. I have seen it so many times that people decide to get in shape and they shock their system on every front….they change their diet drastically, lift more then they have their entire life, elevate their heart rate higher then it’s ever been through cardio and so on. That program, that balls to the wall style, will burn out as fast as it was started. You must start with one of the four factors first, and slowly build into it. No one will have the body they want by the end of January, it’s not like a school test you can cram for, it takes time dedication and sacrifice.
Start with getting your body used to going to the gym first….if you can conquer that first step you will find the others are so much easier.
CHAMPIONS COME IN PAIRS OF TWO
Your best asset in the gym is to get a dedicated partner to work out with. Find someone you know or that you meet at the gym who is of your same fitness level and wanting to transform their body as well. Your workouts will be exponentially enhanced and safer as well as you have a constant spotter. In addition to that, a partner will keep you coming back to the gym as more is on the line if you don’t go to the gym then just yourself. A partner makes you accountable. Will there be days when you don’t want to go the gym? Hell yes there will be! But the chances that both you and your partner will not want to go to the gym is significantly reduced. Once you and your partner get over the 3 week hump, the two of you will push each other to each individual’s best.
NOTICE YOUR PROGRESS
Everyone has heard the expression: “You cannot see the trees from the forest!” Another example is if you have a puppy, a puppy you see everyday and never notice how fast it’s growing until a friend comes over that hasn’t seen the puppy for a few weeks and make a comment on how big the puppy is getting. Same goes with training and transforming your body. One will hate to take a picture and take measurements, Body Fat %, waist measurement, etc when they are just starting as they might be embarrassed, but those are the numbers I urge you to record as they will be your most proud numbers recorded. There is nothing sweeter then having a before and after shot to compare to visually when you are feeling worn out from working out. When you record your progress, you are creating a tangible record of where you were and where you are currently. Sometimes some of the greatest results cannot be seen in the mirror, but rather on paper as what you used to lift to what you lift now, or how many more reps you are doing now, or how much faster you are running, etc. The more you record the easier you can track your success and also take notice on what works and doesn’t work for your body. There are a million different workouts out there, but only a few that makes you feel like a million bucks. If you record those workouts and results, you can easier find what workouts work best. When I first started, I took a pictures of myself along the way to see how far I had some.
“The only time I look back is to see how far I’ve come.”
REALISTIC GOALS
A huge element to any program you start in your life is your confidence in your journey. If you want to play golf and play against a Pro Golfer your first time, it might be such an ass kicking experience that you decide to give the game up. Going to the gym can be the same ordeal. If you go into the gym and try to go too hard too fast, you will leave the gym feeling like you got your ass kicked and embarrassed. We all have to start out ‘out of shape’ in order to get ‘into shape,’ so know that everyone in the gym has been in your shoes at one time or another and pushed past it and now they stand in front of you as an example of what you want your body to look like. Go into the gym with a daily modest goal, a goal that pushes you but doesn’t kill you. Pick a workout that leaves you excited and thrilled with pride for achieving what you set out to do and excited to come back to the gym next time to step it up a little bit more. Winning those little battles builds your confidence and makes the WAR to get into shape winnable. Remember, you biggest muscle in your body is your MIND.
If you are strong minded and tell yourself you are going to give the gym at least 6 months before you judge it, it’s not a matter of ‘IF’ just ‘WHEN’ your body becomes your dream in reality when staring back at you in the mirror.
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