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Author: Tim Barnby

We’ve all had it done to us.
Heck, I’d bet we’ve all done it to someone else. We meet someone, start dating them and start doing those nice “little” things, those little extras. Oh sure, there are good intentions behind this. Nobody is “trying” to mislead the person they are dating. The resulting disappointment cannot be avoided. It’s the courtship period, that period of time when we do things to impress a perspective partner. We’re not going to have to do it forever. After all, after we land him or her, why should we pretend? They should love us for who we are, right? The same is true for fitness programs.

The Courtship Period is alive and well in fitness programs. Many programs fail because people give up things they are not willing to do without for the rest of their lives. People do things they have no intention of doing forever. Anyone can pretend to be an athlete for 12 weeks. We can eat 100% clean, quit smoking and quit drinking. We can hit the weights hard every other day; we may even try HIIT for a couple months. Rest assured, if you are giving up things you are unwilling to live without, or making Herculean efforts, that do not fit past the Holiday season, your success can be described with two words: Short Lived. You should NEVER build a training program around temporary situations. To do so is a lie, which ultimately results in failure.

Fitness, like everything else, is best when it is a “part” of your day-to-day life, rather than the focal point of your life. When you start to plan your first program, I want you to ask yourself whether or not you are willing to sustain this lifestyle indefinitely.

Here was part of my list with the answers:

1. Are you willing to quit smoking forever? YES
2. Are you willing to give up drinking forever? NO
3. Are you willing to give up Pizza, Hamburgers, Doughnuts and other wonderfully greasy foods forever? NO
4. Are you willing to lift weights 3 days per week? YES

As you can see, I had some problems. No way could I see myself not drinking once in awhile. That IS okay, though. I limit myself to a glass of wine with my wonderful wife, Amy, once in awhile. I was also not willing to give up my favorite greasy, cheesy foods and Flame-Broiled Goodness forever. That’s okay as well. I have what we call “Meals of Opportunity”. I have one per week while cutting, and two per week in maintenance and bulking. We have established a strict set of rules around the Meal of Opportunity, but that’s another story, for another article.

Build your program around your current limitations
If you are unwilling to give up hamburgers forever, you’ll have to take one for the team and eat the darned things once in awhile. As your program progresses, you’ll be amazed how unimportant those things you once were unwilling to do without become. You can adjust your program at will. Simply eliminate those things as the desire disappears.

My idea here is adherence. If you have a program you can live with, you’re more likely to stick with it. Here is an example of how I use this technique designing programs: I often recommend deadlifts to a client seeking fat loss and muscle gain instead of squats. Squats are clearly the better exercise and burn more calories. Why choose deadlifts? I have found I have a lot better adherence rate with deadlifts than with squats. “Writing down” that you did 5 sets of 12 squats burns about 3 calories. Actually doing 5 sets of 12 deadlifts is another story altogether. Later on in the program, after the client has a few triumphs, I can introduce him/her to squats. The client adheres to the program because deadlifts can be fun. Squats, while being a superior exercise, offer a higher risk of non-compliance.

You deserve to give yourself the best chance to succeed, right? Of course you do! Build a program you can live with. Remember, you may not be willing to drink 2 gallons of water per day, you may not be willing to eat 5 servings of vegetables per day, you may not even be willing to run 20 minutes, 3 times per week. If you replace just ONE Coke with a glass of water, you have improved two things that day: You didn’t drink as much Coke, and you drank more water than you did the day before. If you eat 1 cup of steamed vegetables today, you may avert the hunger pangs that have you screaming for the vending machine, AND you’ve eaten a truckload of micronutrients. If you agree to park in the back of the parking lot, and take the stairs for a week, you will burn more calories than taking the elevator and parking closer. You see where I am going? It’s about life in the gray areas of fitness. Don’t rope yourself into a short-lived success. Give yourself the opportunity to change forever.

For more great information regarding fat loss, please visit: No Nonsense Fitness

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Weight Loss Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.