I once read, “People complain about the “New Year’s Resolutioners” in the gym at this time of the year… well, maybe if you HELPED THEM instead of giving them a hard time, they would stay all year.”
I couldn’t agree more. In fact, it inspired me to get into this business.
Personally, whenever I have worked with people that started up after the holidays, they ended up fitting into TWO camps:
Camp 1: People that just fell off the wagon from the holidays, feel like crap and need someone to light a fire under the a$$.
Camp 2: People that have TRIED multiple times but never found the fit, AND a lot of those had admitted that they didn’t go to the gym because they were intimidated.
Do either one of those sound like you?
I feel for those people that are just starting out or starting over and I don’t care if they are labeled as “Resolutioners” or not, just the fact that they are trying to make a change is what matters.
Personally, it motivates me to work even harder to see someone trying to make a change in their life, we all know how challenging that can be.
Let’s think about Camp 2 for example, a big reason people stopped going to the gym was they never found a “fit” AND they were intimidated. $hit, those people are some bada$$es in my opinion.
These people have fallen off the wagon, more than once, but STILL CAME BACK. On top of that, they are coming to a place where over 50% of the people that work out there are pretty fit as it is, so they feel they stand out BUT are still willing to try again.
How does that NOT put you in a mindset to be better and work harder!?
BUT with that said, that brings me to a point that as a trainer I get asked, A LOT.
WHY do so many people fail these resolutions?
There isn’t one answer that’s right-everyone falls off the wagon for different reasons-but my theories were a combination of they were treating these resolutions like a diet and not a lifestyle and in addition, NOT having a SPECIFIC goal to train for that they were attached to.
Diet Vs. Lifestyle
Libraries could be written on this, so my words won’t do justice but look at it this way… dieting is just a temporary solution to your problem; its the equivalent of putting a band-aid on a broken leg.
Dieting is like trying to save for retirement but only putting money into your 401K a few months out of the year. Those that retire by the time they were 65, or earlier, made it a lifestyle to put x percent/dollars into their accounts each paycheck; it was NEVER just a one month out of 12 kind of diet.
Being fit and staying fit is the same thing, you have to create a lifestyle of habits to get where you want to be. If your not there now, its a result of the lifestyle you have now.
Specific goal and timelines
I’m about to tell you something that most trainers do NOT want you to hear. It’s a bit of an unspoken truth that we hating discussing because… well, because it sucks.
People that do NOT have a specific goal and timeline tied in with a reward will most likely fail…even with a trainer.
Four out of five people that say they just want to lose weight but not a specific number will not see the results they want AND 3 out of 5 people that have a specific goal but NOT a timeline to completed it in, will not see the results they want… even with a personal trainer.
Pretty crappy stats if you ask me. :-/
This was something that was a core component for me to correct when I started Rowlett Transformation Center. I wanted to spend more time teaching lifestyle habits in conjunction with timelines for those that had specific goals.
Through all of this, one type of goal did stand out to me: people that HAD something to get ready for ALWAYS had a higher chance of success than those that did not.
People that got ready for weddings, vacations, photo shoots, competitions, high school reunions, etc., always had the most impressive results.
The more I observed that, the better we got at helping to get our clients committed to a specific goal for a specific event in conjunction with creating LIFESTYLE changes; not just crash diets.
Starting Monday…
For this year if you want to make a change, find a reason that you WANT to change for (i.e. like a vacation) and set a time frame with a specific goal. After that, focus on changing lifestyle habits NOT dieting.
The best results that you will get always comes from some event/vacation/trip/experience that you are training for.
So tell me, what are YOU going to do?! Not just the goal, but WHERE are you going to go and why is it important to you? You can share your comments below 🙂
In Health and Awesomeness,
Travis Merritt, BS, CPT, (and other letters behind the name) is the Owner of Rowlett Transformation Center in Rowlett, TX.
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