You know the story.

You open up social media on a Friday night, feeling a little sorry for yourself as you hit that tub of ice cream or fourth beer.

You see a post that seems almost made for you

It’s a stunningly, ridiculously, amazing story of transformation, from fat to the cover of XXXX Health (there’s no mention yet of how long or what sacrifices have been made – that stuff doesn’t sell copy!).

There’s a majorly attractive presenter extolling the benefits of their super simple, super effective, super quick programme

All you have to do is sign up and your success is guaranteed!

The best thing is, you know deep down that it’s bullsh*t.

If you’re as old as me, you’ll have been burned by multiple, false promise programmes

Programmes that told you:

One exercise will solve all your problems

– That food is bad

– Don’t eat after 7pm

– Detox is for you

– Skinny tea will set you free

– HIIT 6 days a week is just what you need

The list is endless

Why?

Our health and fitness decision are driven by our emotions.

And you know that when your emotions make decisions for you, rational thought takes a well-earned vacation.

We’re like magpies, attracted to anything shiny. The snake-oil social media promises are as attractive to you as a glint of metal is to the magpie.

We want to believe this time it’s true, that this time will be our big success.

So we pay our money and we download the ebook, the training app or whatever hook was used to entice us in.

We have great success for the first day or two, we’re up early, we stay off the food we really like and employ a radical calorie-cutting plan destined to help us achieve our goals.

We get into the HIIT session, and funnily enough, 35 other people have had the same idea as you, but that’s cool, avoiding them while you jump over the bench or onto that bosu ball is just another way that you’re going to burn extra calories. You get plenty of encouragement, the exercises look easy on the tv, so you must be doing them right.

You’ve got it nailed. Success and happiness are just over the horizon. You knew you’d made the right decision all along.

Then a couple of weeks pass, and you’re starting to feel sore, and it’s increasingly difficult to get out of bed in the am. Heck, it’s a challenge just to put your clothes on and make it to the bus/car/train.

Your attention levels at work are slipping, you’re grumpier than usual with your partner/kids/friends and just the thought of another meal replacement shake makes you feel sick.

You notice you’re not the only one who doesn’t make it to every class, and even then, there’s no extra coaching, in fact, there’s no real coaching at all. Just a lot of shouting and cheerleading.

As your energy levels crash due to insufficient caloric intake coupled with overly aggressive training, your motivation tanks.

Getting fit and healthy isn’t for me after all!

It doesn’t have to be that way

The first step to success is doing things differently to the way you previously failed.

That means looking for a different way of achieving your goals

If you treated your health and fitness goals like you treat your professional development, like your education, or like the way you parent, you’d rarely have a problem.

You’d research your options, and then go and find out more about your potential provider.

If the programme you’re considering doesn’t have the option to

– sit down for a chat first, it’s probably not going to be the place for you.

– take Personal Training first to identify where you need to focus on first

– have adjustable workouts to match your current fitness/strength levels

– take a program you don’t have to plan yourself

– take long term, meaningful nutritional coaching

and doesn’t have coaches who care and check in on you if you miss a few days

it’s not the programme that’s going to help you become successful where it matters most, the long term.

It takes time

You’re not going to achieve your goals in 6 weeks. If you’re anything like me, you’ll have only just started understanding whats going on at the 6-week mark.

You’re probably not going to achieve your goals in 6 months. You didn’t get your degree in 6 months, so why do you think you’re going to be able to fundamentally change your life in that period of time.

The fitness industry preys on your short-termism. It wants you to think that’s true so it can get cash off of you quickly.

How then…

Two supplements we prescribe to every client we work with:

Patience

Consistency

You don’t need to do everything at 100 mph, you don’t need to change everything in one day.

You need to earmark 8-16 months, accept that you need guidance and mentorship more than you need cheerleading and calorie-cutting

We have three main ways of helping people do exactly that:

1 – The optimum option to goal achievement involves accountability

Personal training 2-3 times per week.

Nutrition coaching with monthly check-ins, programme adjustments and nutritional education

Mindset and sleep tracking and management

2 – The middle ground

Some personal training and some group coaching

A slower approach than option 1, but still with the personal focus to help you

3 – The easy start

Small group coaching with 3 monthly goal setting

Easy to get started with, especially if you enjoy the team/social setting for your training environment.

 

But it all starts with your first contact. A chance to sit down with a coach who’ll talk to you and you.

If it doesn’t…..well, you know the story as well as I do.

 

To find out what your personal prescription should be, click here for your free 1-1 with me

 

Cheers

Coach Paul

Owner/Head coach

Ignite Fitness and Nutrition