The New Year. Another chance to start fresh, start over, begin again…whatever you want to call it. This is it, this is the year you’re going to do it, by God!! You are GOING. TO. GET. FIT. Period (a lot of periods). Ahem…sorry to bust your balloon buddy-boy (or gal), but it’s probably going to end the same exact way it did last year. Failure.
Resolutions don’t work. Just as much as “I’m going to start on Monday” doesn’t work. Fact is, without a plan most long term goals/resolutions end up in the garbage. And let’s face, “getting fit” is (or should be) a long-term goal. Fitness doesn’t have an end point. There’s no conclusion. It’s not like running a 5K and crossing the finish line. BOOM! Check that off the list. Nope, achieving fitness is an on-going battle and it only gets harder the more fit you get. Yes, you read that right – it GETS HARDER. Truth be told, it NEVER gets “easy”, you just get better doing it.
So how does one start down the path to better fitness? Well, first and foremost it takes commitment, and a desire to make a change – a LIFESTYLE change. And you need to have a PLAN.
Follow these steps and I bet you’ll make it past February:
1. Be realistic with yourself. Set a small, attainable goal of going to the gym 3x per week, and make sure you go, no matter what – no excuses (because really, it’s not a REASON it’s an EXCUSE). FACT – there’s no way in hell you’re going to go from ZERO gym time to sweating to the oldies 5 days/week. It’s just not going to happen. 3x per week will provide enough of a stimulus to make a change and will allow you to develop a habit. Kick it up to 4, even 5 once you’re in the groove of going regularly.
2. Bring your gym clothes with you. Don’t go home to change because I guarantee once you’re in the door you’re not leaving.
3. Find yourself a workout buddy. If there’s someone else relying on you to be there chances are you’re going to go (this is called accountability). This person should not be your wife, girlfriend, lover, or someone who will allow you to sweet talk your way out of going to the gym.
4. Hire a trainer. Seriously. Make the investment and find someone who knows what the hell they’re doing so they can tell you what you should be doing.
5. Better yet, come see us. No, you’re not going to DIE doing CrossFit. Nor will you get injured (unless you’re an idiot). There are SO MANY good reasons to do CrossFit, I’m not going to list them because it will be a whole lot easier for you to come in and talk to us.
6. Your mouth is not a garbage disposal, so pay attention to what you’re putting in it. If you have no idea how many calories you’re eating daily then that’s a problem.
Adhering to the “plan” above does not guarantee success. Like anything else in this world, if you just go through the motions you’re not going to see change, make any progress, or improve anything. Avoid the following 5 pitfalls and you’ll increase your chances of reaching your goals:
1. Doing the same thing over and over again.
Isn’t this the definition of insanity? I know I would go insane if every time I walked into the gym I got on the treadmill, then did some push-ups, maybe some squats, a couple of crunches and then walked out. A majority of you don’t have a clue as to what to do in the gym, and what you’re doing is based off of something you read in a magazine. Fact is, you’re not going to get results, you’ll get frustrated and you’ll stop going. Get yourself a notebook and start writing down all the stuff you do in the gym.
2. Doing sit-ups to get “abs”.
Listen, I don’t WHO told you WHAT or what you read – performing sit-ups, crunches, planks, or any other ab exercise to GET ABs is NOT GOING TO WORK. You cannot spot reduce the fat from an area. We all have a 6-pack, the problem is we have a thick layer of fat covering it up. You want abs? Stop using your mouth as a garbage disposal.
3. The “I’ll get too big if I lift heavy” mindset.
This is for all you ladies and that statement is HOGWASH. Unless you are a genetic FREAK (highly unlikely) or use some form of “supplementation” there’s no chance you’ll develop the muscles of your male counterpart. You do not have enough testosterone running through your veins. Get over your fears and start lifting – heavy!
4. But cardio will help me lose weight.
It sure will! You’ll lose all that nice lean muscle tissue. That’s what we refer to as “skinny fat” – yeah you look skinny, but you also have absolutely zero muscle. Look, your body doesn’t know that what you’re trying to do is lose weight – all it knows is that for some godforsaken reason it is running for 30 minutes straight. Keep doing that and it will figure out how to make it “easier” to run 30 minutes – by getting rid of MUSCLE. Muscle is more costly than fat for your body to maintain, and fat has more energy – so you end up burning muscle for fuel, and saving your fat for future energy use. Brilliant (actually, it is – your body is supah smaht). You wanna lose weight? Lift. Lift HEAVY. And oh yeah, put the fork down.
5. I worked out so I can…
Listen buddy, you can watch what you eat is what you can do. The easy part is doing the work in the gym (as long as you know what your doing). The hardest part is the other 23 hours. Just because you expended a little energy doesn’t ENTITLE you to indulge. Your body is a machine, a very smart, adaptive machine. Feed it right and you’ll get what you want. Feed it like crap and well…you’ll get crap. It’s like the saying goes – you get what you pay for.
Come in and talk to us. Try one of our free intro classes. Seriously, you will not be sorry…
