Is it you or the workout?
Here is the dirty little secret of the fitness industry. It is a little thing we call the “De-conditioned Athlete”. Understanding this will change the way you look at working out. at least I hope so.
Let me paint an ugly picture for you. When you are sitting there on the sofa, bag of Doritos and beer in hand, breathing hard after walking up a flight of stairs, you are de-conditioned. De-conditioned is what we call out of shape.
- Your muscles are weak and atrophied.
- You may have lower back/shoulder/knee pain because the muscles can’t support the skeleton.
- Your aerobic system is taxed doing everyday things such as walking up stairs.
You are now the ideal client for the fitness industry. Any workout you do, not matter how poorly designed will result in an improved state of health. No matter how dumb the idea is, it will work…for a while. If you just cut back from a case of beer to a 12 pack, you will see a difference. This is known as the conditioning effect and it is a wonderful thing.
All you have to do is show up and you will make some progress.
The problem is that this phase lasts 2-4 weeks then disappears. Weight loss slows down, strength gains slow down and your enthusiasm starts grinding to a halt. This is where most people get injured or they just don’t see the value in putting themselves through this pain for little to no results. And it all falls apart.
Mentally you were able to bypass your old habits with a new surge of energy and motivation. Once the “newness” wears off, the bad habits are waiting in the wings to creep back in.
Let me say this. There is nothing wrong with you. This is part of the human condition. There isn’t a day that goes by where I wouldn’t rather be eating Burger King, drinking beer and watching tv. You will never get rid of that voice in your head.
What you need to do is learn how to control it.
This is what you need to know. There are 3 phases to training.
- Initial conditioning phase. 2-4 weeks
- The training phase
- The maintenance phase
We just talked about the initial conditioning phase. As a personal trainer I have to know when one phase is ending and another beginning. This is why I spend a lot of time with my clients talking about the mental game. By the end of the first phase you need to know why you are doing this. Not some off the cuff, superficial answer but the real reason this has to work for you.
The second or training phase is where we work on the goals and this is where the grind starts. You are now ready to do the hard work. All the easy gains are gone. This phase lasts until you reach your goal.
This second phase is where fear of success and fear of failure rear their ugly little heads. All of a sudden you have excuses not to work out and things can fall apart if you let them.
I think you probably know this but having a personal coach forces you to be accountable for your actions. There is no shame in needing someone for this because the end game is for you to succeed. You need to be willing to invest time and money into making this work.
The maintenance phase can be a less aggressive, simpler period of time where you just want to stay where you are at.
