In the health and fitness industry, people are always looking for this quick fix to their problem. This results in skipping vital steps in the process and often overlooking the very things that will indeed help you achieve those desired outcomes.
In both cases, you will get people who either resemble the turtle or the hare. The hares will race ahead, overlooking many steps and hoping to achieve everything in 1/4 of the time. When they realise it doesn't happen for them, they often get frustrated and lose interest and motivation.
The turtles, these are the people who understand what has to happen and are a lot more realistic about what's involved to achieve their goal. They know that they didn't get to where they are in 2 weeks, so it won't take 2 weeks to get back there. These people are a lot more reasonable when we work with them, and know that training and eating well is not a 4 week change. It's a lifetime change and often requires a lifestyle shift to sustain it.
As a turtle, I can relate to others who believe that things take time, but also can see all the hares who often attend multiple classes in the same day, train out of guilt, starve themselves, and are constantly over training because they believe it's the only way.
I train 3-4 times per week, but make more progress than others in commercial gyms and other studios who train 5-6 days per week with little to no guidance and knowledge to support their choices. Group fitness instructors who see the same people come to their morning and evening class every day should know by now that they're not achieving any results.
If something is unsustainable, then that should tell you straight away that you won't be able to stick to it long term, so therefore it's only short term.
By making some simple changes to what they're doing, they can often rapidly change how quickly they achieve something.
When a new client comes to me and asks "How often should I be training?", I reply with "I don't want to see you more than 3 times in the first few weeks." This is even more so when they are a parent with a child or children at home, with a working partner or are a working parent themselves. With an already hectic lifestyle, adding in 5-6 extra training sessions per week is a quick way to burn out and drop off anyway. If you genuinely want to make progress and implement training into your new lifestyle, then you need to be realistic, set goals, focus on the small details and concentrate on being the healthiest version of yourself you can be.
Does all of this make sense?
Which one are you? The turtle or the hare?
Which one would you prefer to be? Someone who achieves what they want and can sustain it over many years to come? Or someone who either doesn't achieve anything or achieves something so short term and unsustainable, they put it all back on, plus some extra kilos for their trouble?
I know which one I am.
Thanks for reading!
Liam