**Note!** This month’s trainer talk is on the realities of how to set-up the foundation of your fitness and wellness journey, with a bonus video from this last Monday on the main difference between what life looks like now vs what life will look like when you reach your goals.
This world is ALWAYS going to be full of trials; to pursue a perfect life is unrealistic and unattainable. So how do we reach success amidst the adversity? And more importantly… why?**
“No fitness goal, even if achieved, will be sustained without a shift of focus…The focus should be on increasing health with a benefit of improved aesthetics. Not the other way around.”
It comes easy to us to strive after aesthetic goals. We say we do it for ourselves, and in part we do, though often our own pleasure is derived from the approval we receive from others once our aesthetic goals are realized.
This is a common pitfall when we start chasing our fitness and wellness goals.
That said, it is important to stress that this does NOT give you permission to disregard your health simply out of an attempt to buck the system. While our reasons for pursuing an active lifestyle need to be rooted deeper than our desire for flat stomachs, it is a fact that your risk of heart disease and type-2 diabetes increase with a waist measurement of greater than 35 inches for women, or 40 inches for men (NIH).
Your aesthetic goals are great. They are often what get people started on a lifestyle change, but they are not enough when you’ve had a horrible night’s sleep, the work day kicked you in the behind, you have to get the kids to their events, or you have company visiting on the weekend and you wish to get your house/yard/man-cave ready for entertaining.
WHY do you have the aesthetic goals you do? What will achieving that goal enable you to accomplish in life that you cannot accomplish now?
If it isn’t a matter of accomplishing new tasks, what tasks will you be able to CONTINUE to perform if you maintain and sustain a regular training regimen? Do you want to continue to be able to get on the floor to play with your kids/grandkids, and get back up again? Do you want to continue to be able to go to last minute mountain hikes, or long bike rides, or kayaking with friends?
Aesthetics are the icing on the cake when it comes to fitness and wellness goals, but without the substance, the cake itself (why am I talking about cake?!) doesn’t hold up, and does very little for creating a lasting lifestyle change. So you’ve got homework this month! Sit down with a pen/cil and paper and write out some TRUE reasons for establishing a workout routine. Start with the aesthetic desires, get them out of the way. Try to find ten or more reasons, ten or more things, that establishing a healthier lifestyle will help you achieve, and ideally, continue to achieve. Keep them in your wallet, in your car, on your bathroom mirror – keep them where they can be seen. Review them daily. That way, when the going DOES get rough (because it will – it always does; it’s what we call “life”), you have your REASONS to keep going, not excuses to abandon ship.
Jess did a video on this during 2020’s lockdown, too! Check it out.