The State of Temporary
It’s happened to every human on the planet, including myself. Here’s what normally happened to me. I would get on a fitness kick and it would be awesome for a little while, and then, something in my mind would change and I could no longer sustain the healthy habit I achieved. I would typically feel like I was falling behind at work and so I then replaced my fitness craze with longer work hours.
Of course, I would tell myself this was only “temporary” until I got caught up. After all, I reached my latest fitness goal. Not a time went by where this state of “temporary” didn’t turn into something more long-term.
Think about all the New Years Resolutions out there. Why do we quit our resolutions we so proudly make? Time is a major cause of failure. We no longer have time anymore. Rather, we no longer want to make the time.
So, if not having enough time is the problem. How do we stand to correct it? How do we sustain a life of good health?
How to Sustain
First, it’s important to define what it means to sustain or keep up. The definition of sustainability is to persist or persevere in. I like the term persevere. Think about it.
To persevere through something means there is a challenge we have to work through. In the case of getting in a workout, making time is the challenge. How do we make time to keep a fit and healthy body when everything in life is telling us there are more important things to do right now?
Finding Balance
There are people out there who don’t believe in the word balance but you’ve got to have some sort of life balance. Even when you go all into something like a new business venture, you still must achieve some sort of work/life balance. Now, the scale may be skewed more to your work but you still have a family and you still have your health to worry about. So the question becomes, “How do you achieve balance?”
Years ago, I had no balance. I had a number one goal and that was to get in shape. Going to the gym and eating right is all I could think about. Fitness was the goal and everything else came 2nd. That’s how bad I wanted it.
There was no balance. Going to the gym was all or nothing. I didn’t make a plan. I didn’t try cutting back to 3 days per week when work became hectic. I just quit.
I went all in at work, and guess what? My fitness took the back seat and everything I worked so hard to achieve in the gym went away. Have you been there?
I know you have. I see it all the time as a gym owner. People come in, excited knowing they’re about to get in the best shape of their life. I mean, these folks are all in. But then, life happens.
Something triggers them to change their priority. Work, family, life…something happens. Where they used to attend 5 days per week, it’s now 2 days per week and soon…not at all.
If balance is the key to ensure we maintain a healthy lifestyle, then we need a sure-fire way to achieve it.
5 Tips to Sustain a Healthy Body
1) Build the Momentum – One of my favorite books is “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy. Though Darren is a bit soft for me, (I like someone who is a little bit more hard-nosed) he is on the money when he talks about building new habits with momentum.
He takes the analogy of kids on a merry-go-round and how you and all your friends go running and pile on top of it. You begin to push with all your might to get the merry-go-round off to a start and it’s very difficult to move.
But slowly, the merry-go-round begins to spin as it gains momentum and soon even with all the weight piled on top of it starts to move fast and is much easier to keep going with only an occasional push.
That’s what momentum does for us and why new habits are so hard to maintain when we’re first implementing them in our lives. Habits start out slow and we occasionally come to a stall but over time we’ve gained momentum on the habit and that habit we had so much trouble implementing now becomes second-nature.
2) Think Small – When you haven’t incorporated exercise into your life in quite a while, you better be realistic with what you can initially achieve. This is why I mentioned building momentum first.
It’s easy to think that you’re going to come to the gym 5 days per week but a whole lot harder to have the self-discipline to follow-through with it when your body aches and you’re tired and you know by staying home you can actually get another hour of sleep.
Start small. Get in the habit of coming 3 days per week. Set yourself a goal and do whatever it takes to hit it. Once you’ve got your 3 days in this week, you’ll have a few choices. You can stay in and get that extra hour of sleep, head to the gym for an extra workout or if you’re one of our CF Jacked athletes stay home and hit one of the bodyweight workouts we give you when you can’t make it to the gym.
3) Set A Goal – I just mentioned setting a goal to come in the gym 3 days per week and if you aren’t setting goals in life, you need to start. I just finished reading a quick and awesome book on goal setting and it inspired me in my own life.
It’s by Craig Ballantyne and you can pick it up on Amazon for .99 cents, “How to Set Goals: Ultimate Goal Setting Guide to Having Your Best Year Ever” Here are some of my goals when it comes to Wealth, Health, Social Self and Personal Development.
Wealth – “I have paid off my credit card for business expenses by year-end 2017. (Writing in past tense helps you envision your goal completed.)
Health – “I have achieved a fitness level of 80% on BTWB by year-end 2017. I have this as a goal because it forces me to work on the fitness areas that need improvement. Those areas are “Speed”, “Endurance” and “Bodyweight”.
Social Self – I work with my son Brodie a minimum of 30 minutes each day on basketball drills. He loves playing basketball and I want to help him get better so he can enjoy it even more. This 30 minutes each day is now marked on my calendar as a standing appointment, no exceptions.
Personal Development – “I read one book every week.”
4) Reward Yourself – Yeah, you want to reward yourself when it comes to hitting your goals, we’ve all heard that before. However, this is especially important when it comes to your nutrition. The reward is the awesome cheat meal.
Losing weight takes time. A lot of time. If your mindset isn’t in it for the long haul you are not going to succeed. This is why the weekly cheat meal can help you, for two reasons.
First, the cheat meal will act as a calorie bomb and ignite your metabolism. Think about it, your body has gotten used to the calorie restriction and the healthy meals you’re putting into it. Now you just had a big ole’ dose of calorie-induced pizza and your body is shocked by what you just did to it.
I know there were times when I was losing weight that I would have a cheat meal on a Saturday and I would wake up Sunday morning and have lost weight. What the….
Second, the cheat meal acts as a reward helping you maintain the self-discipline to get you through the week. Let’s say you have 20 pounds to lose and on average you lose 2 lbs per week. It’s going to take you 2 1/2 months to lose all 20 pounds. That’s a long time to not treat yourself.
If you’re making strides in your weight loss for the week, have a cheat meal. Not two cheat meals, one. If you’re not getting anywhere in your weight loss and you believe you’re following a good diet, do two things. First, don’t have a cheat meal. Second, call me and let us help you get this figured out.
5) Bring Intensity – WOD (Workout of the Day) that’s what we call a high-intensity workout in CrossFit. And that’s what you need each and every workout. High intensity causes your heart rate to increase and kicks your metabolism into overdrive as your body recovers.
If you’re having trouble staying motivated with the same workout routine, if you’re looking for that extra push, if you need the coaching and accountability and if you want to make going to the gym fun again, then stop what you’re doing and contact me right now.
Let’s get you on a path to better health. There’s no better time than getting started today.
Until next time…Stay Jacked, Stay Strong!