One thing that confuses me a lot is when someone says they get bored of exercise- after 8 weeks!!!
Or maybe it’s 2 weeks or 3 months or some other short amount of time.
Exercise is one of those thing that you cannot do without. It simply must be done on a regular basis. Whether you’re crazy busy, super stressed, currently overweight, studying hard or whatever, it still must be done if you want to maintain a decent quality of life.
And because there is such a lot time to fill with exercise throughout your lifetime there is so much opportunity to play around with different forms of training and goals.
For example, you can try:
- Powerlifting
- Kettlebell sport
- Bodyweight training
- Olympic lifting
- Strongman
- Train for a marathon
- Learn a martial art
- Do a physique transformation
- do an ironman triathlon
- Train a for a 1 arm chin up
- Train for a triple body weight deadlift
- Focus on putting on a lot of muscle
There’s just so much variety that it’s practically impossible to get bored for too long.
If someone says they’re getting bored it’s usually because they were never really interested or committed to getting fit in the first place or haven’t found the right challenge for them.
So lets say you’re not bored and that you are one of the few that has bought into the fact that exercise is for life. There’s one big factor that you need to be aware of if you are to be successful in achieving your goals and that is……….
Different goals require different approaches and some are harder than others.
Fairly simple but it’s something that a lot of people don’t fully accept and it is one of the fastest ways to derail your enthusiasm and motivation.
Here are a few examples.
Social media is plastered with some crazy physique transformations as well as some unbelievably ripped-to-the-bone people. There bodies look like an anatomy chart.
They are usually pictured with a big smile on their face, happy out posing for the camera.
What you don’t see is the crazy effort that they have put in:
- Weighing their food
- training up to twice per day
- the intensity of their training sessions
- The tiredness that comes with eating reduced calories
- and many more
Some of these people are absolute beasts when it comes to training and are able to commit the time to preparing and executing their programs for months on end and that’s not easy.
They love the insane training intensity that is required to achieve these high level goals and can blast them out day after day, week after week.
Planning out their weekly meals, weighing their food, pre-cooking and storing it twice a week and manipulating different aspects of their food is no big deal. It’s an exciting challenge more than a chore that interferes with their life.
Bottom line is they might make it look easy but it’s one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. The idea of doing it sounds great when you’re sitting down in front of the computer on a Saturday night.
NOTE: You also have the steroid use and surgical operations that help so many people look the way they do. Again, this can be really frustrating when trying to understand why your hard work isn’t making you look like the guys and gals in the pictures
It’s a different story for most people when they’re having to weigh out, prepare and store their food twice a week or when your smashing out the hardest training sessions of your life every week.
It’s not easy and some people mightn’t agree with it but that’s what it takes to get those high level physique transformations. They’re a great goal but you must understand what’s involved.
We often get people in looking for these results who tell us they can train twice a week. I even had someone who wanted a 6 pack who could commit to training once per week.
Unfortunately it’s not a case of eat a bit better and give yourself a bit of a push in the gym Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If only it were that easy.
Another common example would be people looking to put on a lot of muscle mass.
It’s a great goal until you realise what’s involved and for most people they aren’t willing or able to commit to doing what needs to be done:
- 8 hours of consistent high-quality sleep
- Eating much more than they are accustomed to- a lot harder than it sounds
- Limiting activities that don’t support your goals
- Picking the right time to do it- In the middle of the GAA championships isn’t going to work
- Training much harder than most people are used to
- Giving it enough time- building 1-2 kg of muscle a month mightn’t doesn’t like a lot
- The expense of eating more food
Again guys, it sound great until you actually have to do it. And it is great if it’s really what you want and fully commit to the program.
Take home point is this. 99% of people can get super results from eating healthier 90% of the time, cleaning up their lifestyle and exercising 4-5 times a week at a challenging intensity. The majority of people will achieve their goals and the quality of life that they want from following this approach.
The remaining 1% of people who are chasing those higher-end goals must do what the other 99% are unwilling or unable to do to achieve their goals.
If you can’t accept that then don’t set yourself up for failure by taking on a challenge that you can’t commit to. It’s going to take time and some crazy effort.
Lots of people start but few ever see it through to the end when the idea of it collides with the reality of it.
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