Are You Doing Everything You Can???

As a personal trainer and strength coach I hear from a lot of people on a fairly regular basis about all of the results they want from a training.  People may want to lose 50 lbs of fat.  They may want to add 20 lbs of muscle.  They may want to remedy a host of metabolic issues such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or Type 2 Diabetes.

So the next logical point of discussion is “Well what are you doing now to fix those problems?”

Most of the time the answer is pretty straight forward – “Not much.”

So when we start discussing all of the things that they are going to need to start doing to get the results they want, I kind of see their face drop a little bit.

The time and effort to achieve a very lofty health or fitness goal is simply more than most people are willing to give.

This is compounded by the fact that there is no shortage of fitness and health related products and services that are promising “quick and easy” solutions. Quick and Easy always sells.  Long and Difficult does not.

Unfortunately nothing worth achieving in life comes quick and easy.  Success with money, marriage, sports, or your career does not come quick and easy.  It all takes a lot of hard work and a lot of time.

Have you ever heard a world champion in any sport describe their journey to the top as quick and easy?

Have you ever heard a valedictorian give a speech describing their academic success as easy?

Have you ever heard a couple describe their 50 year marriage as easy?

Have you ever heard a successful business owner describe their financial success as quick and easy?

So why do you think losing 50 pounds or fixing all of your health issues is going to be easy?

It’s a rare thing indeed to see people who successfully lose that kind of weight or get their health back on track without resorting to an overload of pharmaceuticals.  But people do it all the time.  It just isn’t that common.

And not a single one of them achieved their success with a quick and easy solution.  So why do you think you are the exception.  You aren’t.

The truth is this.  If you want to make radical change in your life the only solutions that work are long and hard.

You are going to have to exercise more often than you think you should have to.  While you are exercising you are going to have to exert more effort than what you think is needed.

When you go about fixing your nutrition you are going to have to deny yourself your favorite foods and beverages for longer than you think you should have to.  You’ll probably be hungry and you will have cravings you will have to learn to ignore.  But you won’t starve.  You are going to have to learn that not all your meals are going to taste that great.

And here is the kicker.  Everyone around you is going to tell you that you are making a mistake.  That you are crazy.  Partly because when you tell them you have to pass on Chips & Margaritas it’s going to make them feel bad about their own choices.

But average people who put out average effort get average results.  And if you look around at our society, average results are kind of terrible.  Being overweight with high blood pressure is probably average if you are over 50.

So if you want to continue to be an average person and put out average effort you will keep getting average results.

Losing 50 lbs is not average.  So you are going to have to do something different than what everybody else is doing if you expect different results.  Occasionally going to the gym and occasionally having a healthy meal aren’t going to get you anywhere.

Look around at what everyone else around you is doing and do more.  Do it harder.  Do it longer.