New years is one of the biggest times for gyms and personal trainers, as many people are making that year the year they really become the best version of themselves they can be! Four weeks later and it is back to the same core members putting in work and many others have all but abandoned their fitness or health goals for the year.
Is it all your fault? Absolutely not. The fitness industry is built around this time of year and that 70% of commercial gym users only check in maybe twelve times per year. You are also bombarded everyday with quick fixes and fads, being told how it will be the next greatest thing to get you fit and healthy in a very short time.
We as humans, like to be healthy, however, it is hard work so the possibility to make it easier is very enticing given the age we live in. We can order anything online and our social media is a constant highlight reel of super fit and rich people. With this in our direct view, it seems that the rest of us are the odd ones out.
As a 12-year veteran of the industry, I will tell you this is far from the actual case. Everyone struggles with their health and fitness, and no one is perfect or immune from adversity. I would say about 80% of the North American population need some help improving their health and fitness.
Is there a faster way to get my results?
There are a few ways that one can speed up their results when trying to get fit.
But by and large, the absolute best way is to hire a professional, client-centered coach that will work with you and build you up towards your goals!
Accountability when starting out is huge and a coach will provide that. They will also provide you with tools and ways to overcome plateaus and stay motivated to achieve your goals.
Along with this accountability, they will also guide you on what is realistic and attainable in the time frames you set out. Throughout the process, this comes with adjusting your goals to fit a proper time frame and lay out how that will look like.
Everyone can and will benefit from a coach that is client-centered. Even a seasoned or very fit gym goer can improve a lot with a coach.
How to gauge a realistic fitness goal
This is where, in my opinion, many set themselves up for instant failure. They set crazy goals and have some very unrealistic expectations for them. This is not at all your fault as we talked about at the start of the blog. There are a lot of factors that are causing one to set goals like this. All good trainers or coaches are taught how to help set and achieve fitness goals.
The acronym SMART is a great way to start a goal-setting process, however, we find many need some coaching on what is realistic and achievable for weight loss or strength gain in a short time frame, or even long term for that matter. SMART goals are a great way to set goals once you get realistic on how long this will take to completely change your health and fitness. We will cover goal setting more in depth in a blog later this month.
For most people that stand to lose some fat or weight but are not overweight or obese, .5 pound to 1 pound weight loss per week is realistic. If you are someone that for sure needs to lose 50lbs or more, for the first 3 months 1-2 pounds of weight loss is very doable. After that, it will be next to impossible, especially if you want to keep off the weight lost. Many follow something too aggressive that they will not maintain long term or go right to it. With this approach, the body at a certain point will adapt and require even more effort to lose any weight, so eventually you will stall and go back to old habits.
Fat loss and weight loss is quite simple in theory, however not the easiest to do. A big part of it is making smart and small changes to work towards the big end goal. The big end goal is that ultimate, new version of you that is super fit, strong and healthy.
Habit stacking to a new you
As alluded to in the section above, making small changes and progressions towards your goals is the best approach to achieve and maintain your fitness and health goals.
Habit stacking is a very well-known way to improve one’s nutrition and health in the industry.
At Primal, we start very easy and try to add to things at the start, let us say for example, a client that wants to lose fat.
We start with the habit of logging food and working out 3-4 times a week, along with taking fish oil daily. Sounds super easy, right? A lot easier than following a rigid bodybuilding meal plan and starving from day one!
After that, we simply look at the habits a client would need to master to achieve their goals and work back. It is super simple, and anyone can do it, this way it will just take a long-term outlook towards things as opposed to trying to make the change in the first month.
New years can be a great way to hit some big, new goals when done right. For those that need more help, stay tuned as we will put out a blog on goal setting and habit stacking before the new year.