I am attempting something here that I have tried to stay away from when possible over the last couple of years, weight loss. This one particular topic is the most popular of New Year’s resolutions; one of the most searched terms on the internet according to Google and too many a Unicorn that can never be caught. I really believe that because the health and wellness industry is such an ever-growing and saturated market that it really adds to the confusion that many experience while on their quest to shed the pounds. We live in a world that really drives us into information overload not just on weight loss but, with information on everything in life. In fact, in the last thirty years there has been more information put forth than the previous 5,000 years combined. One copy of The New York Times will contain more information within its pages than someone living in England during the 17th century would have come across in their entire lifetime. The amount of information that is available in the world has actually doubled in the last five years, and it will continue to keep doubling.
With statistics such as this I wanted to put together a complete work that attempts to cover everything as best as possible when it comes to weight-loss. What you are going to read is a culmination of years spent listening to the things individuals are routinely curious, frustrated and seek information about. I know that if you will keep up with this series of articles it will help to guide you to the place that you seek with your weight-loss “wants.” I am going to address all the many components that I feel carry the most weight (no pun intended) toward your weight-loss “wants” these will include:
- Planning and Approaching
- Nutrition
- Strength Training
- Cardio
- Mobility/Flexibility
- Supplementation
Getting Started: Let me first address who this article is for, this article and the time invested in this article are devoted to the moms and dads out there that are trying to juggle their 8-5, soccer practices, dinners to be cooked, laundry to be folded, the big game on Sunday night and The Bachelor on Monday night. This article is for the currently injured or previously injured that are, or have seen their bodies change negatively due to circumstances that may be out of their control. This article is for the individuals among us that have the desire to pursue their fitness “wants” however; their frustration with the process beats that desire into submission. This article is for the uninformed and ill-advised, children today are growing up in homes that are just not forcing the issue of health as strongly as the generations before. I heard an interesting statistic over the holidays that obesity is now a larger issue than starvation. Given the direction we are headed complications linked to obesity could be atop the list of annual mortalities very soon. Lastly, this article is for the many individuals out there that view themselves in the wrong light. We all know the 113lb teenager and early adult girl that believe they “NEED to lose 14lb’s, because weighing over 100lb’s is just EWW.” I guess these folks could be seen as uninformed as well but, I think that the bigger issue to address here is that they need to view themselves and their weight-loss/fitness “wants” as unrealistic and truly undesirable in most cases.
The Plan and The Approach – Up until this point I have strayed away from using the term goals. It was my hope that I could entice you to keep reading and that by now you would have enough interest in what I am saying to overlook it and not throw your hands up while muttering “oh boy, another set goals” spill from a health guy. It’s important to me that you didn’t do that because what you are reading is so much more than that. However, I do value the importance of having a target and with that said I feel it necessary to speak on goal-setting briefly. Besides as the late great Zig Ziglar said “if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” If it really bothers you though, none of us will mind if when you get to the word goal that you take a deep breath and replace it with “wants.”
As much as it appears that those terms are synonymous, I really have to disagree though. In my mind and why I believe the idea of goals has been so highly diluted in its power toward health, wellness and fitness is that when we view goals simply just as wants we are lacklusterly hoping to push ourselves toward something, when in reality we need to be consistently pulled toward something. Wants are never enough, you must have whys. The whys get results, the why’s help you withstand the tough times. If you tell me that you want to lose 40lb’s and I ask why and you can’t vividly tell me then I can almost assure you that it’s probably not going to happen. Now, if someone tells you that they want to lose 40lb’s and when asked why they can tell you “because I can’t get up and down from the floor to play with kids or grandkids, two-thirds of my family has died of heart disease or has diabetes and the thought of leaving my spouse and kids alone is hard to think about” these are usually the types of whys that help people make it. I really don’t think it’s a simple matter of semantics, I know there is a true power to painting the picture of why? By doing so we have now linked our “wants” with emotion and when coupled together we have a solidified goal that can actually pull us in a desired direction. We now have something that is truly inspiring and something that has the power to get us up and out of bed 2 hours before everyone else in the house to workout or prepare food for the day. Find the why and I promise you that your chances of success dramatically increase.
Another vital part of the plan and approach phase is anticipating obstacles. Will there be obstacles that come out of nowhere in an attempt to completely throw you off of your path? Of course there will be! Sadly, what you will find is that you will make some people uncomfortable and they will try to divert you from your course. I have literally seen a person’s spouse go out of their way to fill the house with great tasting, horrible for you type foods to halt this person’s fitness goals. In addition to anticipating obstacles we have to be smart with our planning, set your workouts up so that they can be done in a time in which it suits your schedule. Now, I know what you are thinking “well you just don’t know how my schedule is and sometimes I just don’t know what is going to come up.” You’re right, I don’t know your schedule but, I know that you like everyone else has 24 hours in their day. Having an adequate backup plan is always a good idea for when life throws the curve and you were expecting the fastball. If your goals are in place, when life happens the goal will settle you in and you will find a way to get it done. If your plan is to go and workout after work at 5:30 but, something happens and you have to pickup a sick kiddo and now your workout has to be at 6:30 the goal will get you back to they gym. Let me just tell you the norm in this situation, people with impotent goals will pick the kid up, take them home and then that’s where they’ll stay. It usually happens something like this: You get home and then you immediately start to think about the traffic to get back over to the gym and how if you get there at 5:30 like you are supposed to you beat the crowds to your favorite exercises, and now the crowd is going to be so bad that you are going to have to wait around. So to avoid that you’re just not going to go today because, of course there’s some work that you can get done too if you stay at home. This one act of procrastination and lapse in goal minded judgment in most cases has the power to throw the whole ship off course, ESPECIALLY if there are not well established goals and whys to get you back on track.
The next section on The Planning and Approaching phase has to do with getting informed. If you are subscribed and reading these blog posts than you are taking the right steps on becoming better informed. I am not here to try and get you to buy any product or any service from anyone but, I will quickly tell you that one of the best investments that you can make is working with a qualified trainer. You will not ever work harder than you will with a trainer. Having the fortune of working in this field for several years now I can tell you that I myself enjoy having someone else run my personal workouts from time to time. Not only is there an encouraging voice to help push through the pain but, many times I learn things in the process as well. As I said in the opener there is so much information available to us that having a knowledgeable person to help us decipher through it is a good idea. Are personal trainers expensive? Yes, anyway you look at it; to most people hiring a trainer will be tough to fit into the monthly budget. Your average training session is going to cost you between $35-$65/hour. Depending on certain circumstances I have actually charged $90/hour for training sessions in the past. If you worked with a trainer twice a week you are looking at approximately $280-$520/month. Again, I know how steep this can be as a monthly expense to most families, so a very effective trick for you to consider coming from a guy that used to make a living off such arrangements is finding discounted rates for group training. For me in most instances training 1 person was no different than training a group of 4 and training a group of 5 wasn’t much different than training a group of 10. So if we look at it in the first scenario of 4 people for $280/month then each person would be paying approximately $70/month or $8.75/training session. There are countless opportunities out there to have access to a trainer if you truly desire, the key is putting in the effort to find them. There’s an old saying that relates to this very thing that states “pay now, or pay later but, either way you are going to pay.” What that means is spend your money proactively investing in your health now, or spend your money on medical expenses later the choice is yours. But, let’s say that right now a trainer is just not an option, anyway you try to swing it it’s just not going to financially happen right now, to you I say spend your time educating yourself with credible sources. Find factual sites such as this that can provide you with information and no ulterior motives. You will still be paying with something though.
Lastly speaking about The Planning and Approaching phase, it’s almost a cliche’ to say at this point but obtaining health/wellness/fitness goals is more about a lifestyle change then it is anything else. There are no shortcuts to anywhere worthwhile, sorry. All of the things that have been discussed and are going to be discussed are about you taking ownership of the things that you desire. This path might lead you toward or away from certain people, through this ordeal you might find that you have some truly negative and miserable people around you that are bringing you down. Keep good company that will lift you up when it gets tough, because IT WILL GET TOUGH AND YOU WILL GET DOWN. Try becoming a part of community groups that share similar intentions as yourself, become a subscriber to sites such as this while commenting on content and asking questions, share your story and the journey you are on with others. All of these things are critical to not just your immediate success but, to the success that you hope to sustain over time.
Make sure you are subscribed to receive the next portion of this article in which we are going to discuss the most important element when considering health, fitness and performance…..Nutrition. All attempts at where you want to be physically will come up short if you do not have this one component properly aligned. We will go into depth on why nutrition is important and also the what, why and how of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. I am going to give you a great trick towards nutrition that will help to keep you on your path while simultaneously allowing you to keep your sanity. We will also talk about the natural foods vs. processed foods debate and how important it really is.
Be sure to stay tuned because there is a lot of great information still to come!
See ya next week,
SC
Callahan Strong 