1. Listen less to people who look how you want to look and more to people who like how you want to live.

   There’s a lot of really bad fitness advice online. It feels impossible to escape. Even as a trainer, I’m consistently surprised at how far we still have to go to make good information the standard of knowledge and understanding. I think a great place to start is for people to start paying attention to how anyone they get advice from lives. Look at how they walk versus how they talk. You may look at an influencer and see that they have the exact body you want but do you know how they live to maintain that body? And if you do, is that something you want? If not, then stop listening to their advice. Remember, more often than not, however you get there (the results) is a pretty close representation of what you’re going to have to do to stay there. Don’t take this lightly.

2. Gamify your fitness routine.

   If you feel like you struggle to be consistent in the gym, with a routine, or with pursuing your fitness goals, consider gamifying it. This is pretty much what I did with basl. Three daily tasks I have to complete no matter what. How many steps do you have to hit daily? How many workouts do you need before you can buy a new gym fit? You make the rules. I know some people aren’t a fan of this way of thinking, but I think if we’re all being honest, this the way we’ve been taught to operate, and there’s comfort in it. If you studied x amount of hours you’d get an A on your test. If you get 128 credits, you graduate from college. If you reach out to enough people, you get clients. Life already is a game, why not apply the same thought process to fitness.

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3. Front load your daily activity.

   Laziness, inverse to willpower, seems to increase substantially throughout the day. I’m sure you notice that as the day drags on, you’re more likely to come up with convincing excuses as to why you shouldn’t go for that walk/run or go to the gym. The best way to combat this, is to respect it as a truth. No need to rely on willpower as the day goes on. Front load your activity, wake up a little earlier and get it done. On those days your motivation is extra high, take advantage and go for another walk, do an additional workout, but create a standard for yourself where you get it done as early as possible.

This week’s idea:

I was training a client/friend the other day and we got to the topic of dieting. How we think about it, approach it, mistakes we’ve made in the past, and so on. She asked about a diet she watched me go through a few years ago where a colleague wrote out a program and diet plan for me to follow. During this time I was going through some personal trials and needed to pour my energy into something. Unironically, I settled on a physical transformation haha!

During this time I really enjoyed having someone else write a program for me, especially a training program. Even as a trainer, I don’t always love programming for myself or even working out. Surprise, surprise. I also counted calories during this program, which worked (for course) but didn’t love. That wasn’t the first time I counted calories/macros but it was definitely the last. It’s an incredibly tedious way to approach food. It works for many, but for me it’s incredibly unsustainable. I digress.

This client went on to share some of her experiences with dieting, calorie counting, cleansing, and so on, but then she said something that really stuck with me. She credited a “last supper mentality” as one major reason for the binge/restrict cycle many people find themselves in when dieting.

A “last supper mentality” is the idea you should overindulge before you go “all-in” on your diet. Have that final meal, snack, dessert (or all three) before you restrict for the foreseeable future. The problem with this mentality is that it’s pervasive. It’s the other side of the same coin as the “I’ll start on Monday” mentality. Both of these mentalities fuel the fire that is the binge/restrict cycle and it’s incredibly unhealthy.

Correcting this mindset is definitely easier said than done, but in my experience, bringing awareness (and language) to the issue is more than half the battle.