While at the bank the other day opening a new bank account for a not-for-profit my wife and I are starting, the woman helping me started asking me questions about what I do for work.
I proceeded to tell her that we owned a gym down the street and that my wife owns a nutrition business in Noblesville (http://www.eatwellnutrition.net). Her next question to me was this:
“How can I get fit fast?”
The knee-jerk response I gave her was this: “Start tomorrow.” She looked at me, smiled, and laughed while nodding her head. While it was an unsuspecting answer, it’s a real one.
We all would love to start an exercise program tomorrow and see the end result we desire in 2-4 weeks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. There isn’t a quick fix.
The fix you want, in reality, will most likely take 6 months to a year. The transformations you see in magazines, on TV, as well as social media, typically are the before and afters of months and years of hard work. The transformations you see that look too good to be true, usually are. It’s fairly easy to edit pics for marketing purposes in order to sell us the outcome we seek.
We eat it up. We’re gluttons for quick fixes, aren’t we? So we search for the quickest, cheapest, easiest, program out there for a complex problem that is hard, takes a lot of time, and will cost you time and money.
Let me leave you with these thoughts:
**There is no perfect program, gym, or trainer. Do your research, read some reviews, get a consult, make some calls, and make a decision sooner rather than later. Yes, you will be hesitant and wonder if the decision you are making is the right one, but that’s ok. There is some calculated risk involved, but it’s your health. You have to start, and you can always make adjustments down the road.
**If you’re out of shape, how long did it take to get where you are currently at? Years? What are your expectations as far as how long it’s going to get back into shape? If you’ve been out of the gym for 5 years, it won’t take 5 years, but expect the change to take a few seasons:) Go into training with the expectations that it is going to take a year. If it happens sooner, that’s icing on the cake. You will see changes along the way! Enjoy the process.
**Start with personal training. Group fitness is cheaper. Planet Fitness is cheap. There are a lot of cheaper options out there. Those cheaper options are better options after you’ve developed habits and discipline. For now, you need a higher level of accountability and customization. It will cost more, but it’s temporary. If you can think of it as you would an investment that will yield long-term gains, you will be on the road to success.
Look at investing in yourself as betting on yourself. Are you worth it?
-Coach Bryan
