When You’re Your Own Biggest Enemy. And What To Do About It.

If you’ve been to a number of different gyms and aren’t happy with the results, then the problem probably isn’t the gyms. 

Sure, you can piss and moan about how they don’t get your unique needs, or that the program wasn’t right for you because of XYZ reason. But, chances are, if you’re moaning about that, you’re probably moaning about other things in your life too.

So, as someone who’s looking to get in shape (that’s why you’re reading this blog post right?) there’s a number of things you need to agree to…

1. I’ll find someone I trust to tell me what to do in the gym, and I won’t try to out think or second guess that trained professional or suggest we try the latest flavour of the internet month.
2. I’ll accept who I am now. I won’t try recreate the same level of intensity and effort as I did when I was a teenager with no job, no worries and no stress. I realise life is different now
3. I get that no matter how many times I train during the week, if I’m eating shit and taking piss the other 96% of the day, I won’t make progress. I agree I’ll try to overcome a lousy lifestyle and improve everything about myself
4. I know there’ll be days where I don’t feel like training, but I’ll show up and get it done anyway. Because I know that doing something is far far superior to doing nothing. During these sessions, I’ll be present for the hour, punch the clock and pat myself on the back afterwards for showing up
5. A trainer can lead me thru the workout, but I need to do the work. There’s no magic trick, and even if I have the best program in the world, a sub par effort will lead to sub par results
6. I’m not a fitness model or professional athlete. I want to look good but know that feeling healthy, and being able to live my life is more important. Even if it means I don’t get an 8 pack
7. Almost everything I see on facebook and instagram is bullshit. I won’t pester my coach to try “new fancy training methodology”. Instead I will continue to show up and work my ass off to get results.
8. I won’t lie about what I ate. I won’t leave out the beers and pizza at the weekend. I won’t deceive my coach by telling him I haven’t had chocolate this week when I obviously have. Why Obviously?  Because i’m wearing the consequences of my actions under my skin so there’s no point in lying about them
9. I want to be all around fit, and I know just smashing weights in the gym won’t do that. I also need to do some longer walks, some high intensity circuit training and pay attention to my mobility and flexibility work. But that’s cool, cos I know if I just ask my trainer what to do, he’ll tell me
10. I understand that my coach is a professional. That he has invested time and money to get where he is today. And while reading about fitness might be a hobby for me, it’s a serious business for him. I won’t moan about how much it costs because I know that fast food and doctors bills are more expensive

Finally, I promise I’ll show up with a smile on my face (or at least try to) no matter how bad my day’s been because you’re not my punching bag. I won’t be a dick to other members, and I’ll treat everyone with respect. I’ll put my gear away when I’m done and I’ll bring the thunder for 60 minutes each day 3-4x per week before thanking my coaching and walking out with a smile on my face.
Why all these conditions? Because we’re all in it together.

Your coach / personal trainer is like your sat nav. They can lay down the route and tell you where to go – but its up to you to follow them. If you’re having trouble following the advice, ask for a reroute – maybe you need a simpler approach to nutrition, or some modifications to your program. Any good trainer will have experience dealing with a large variety of clients and will probably have a solution for you.

But ya gotta ask for it first. Don’t throw your toys out of your pram and blame your trainer. Blame yourself for failing to communicate and stick to the advice given. If the advice is no good, or if after talking to your trainer they haven’t attempted to change things to make the program and nutrition better for you, drop them faster than a hot snot. But until then, look at the mirror before you look anywhere else.

Curious to see how we do stuff like this for our clients? You can book a free personal training session with us where we’ll have a chat about your goals, discuss your background and problems, go thru some mobility drills and fixes to any problems you have, before taking 30 minutes to run thru the basics of squat, bench press and deadlifting too.

** Hat tip to Thomas Plummer for inspiring this blog post