Friday, July 8, 2011

Comfort Kills

You're sitting in your living room.  You might be on a couch, or a recliner, or a bean bag (anyone got those anymore?), whatever.  The TV's on; Sportscenter.  There's nobody around to bother you.  The ceiling fan is on.  You've got a ton of chips, candy, beer, pizza, wings and flank steaks.  All the good shit.  Some of it's on the coffee table in front of you, rapidly disappearing while you munch away.  This is all just great, isn't it?

It's great, but it's not gonna get you any closer to the You Version 2.0 you've constructed in your head.  The issue here is comfort, and way too much of it.  You know all this right?  SO why are we going over it again?

Because most people who start any kind of exercise regime never even consider this critical problem on the path to getting bigger, stronger and faster.  Most people don't want to first examine their own environment and their interactions with that environment.  It's a natural response to avoid taking personal responsibility.  If that sounds harsh, it's just because you're gonna need a few minutes to deal with it.  And that's okay.  You aren't the only one, believe me.

Instead of jumping right to the details regarding the reasons behind doing 12 reps instead of 10 and all that highly technical bullshit, let's do it right the first time.  Always try to do it right the first time.  This is something I'd like you to remember, and it'll prove valuable in many areas of your life: work, play, relationships, sex, cooking, you name it.

So how do we do it right the first time?  Take a deep breath and start at the beginning.  Do a quick inventory.  Who are you?  How old are you?  What are some of your basic fitness goals?  Do you want to lose weight or put on muscle?  Both?  Have you achieved any previous fitness goals?  What were they?  How close are you to achieving any upcoming goals?  Finally, ask yourself:  What's stopping me right now?  What are my normal excuses for not going to the gym?  For not running?  For not eating healthy?

I don't recommend going much deeper than this, for now.  You need to get it over with, though.  Do an inventory, and be honest.  It's just your inner monologue doing the work at the moment.

I've had countless clients put up fierce resistance at this stage.  "You're a personal trainer, just tell me how much weight to lift, and how often!"  "I came here to feel better about myself, not tear myself down."  "What the hell is an inventory?" and so on.

This is where I think most personal trainers shaft their clients, too.  Would you drop an intern on his first day into a challenging teleconference without preparing him mentally for the task ahead?  Why would a personal trainer shove you in a squat rack without first creating some level of personal, mutual understanding?  Perhaps you've had a PT or are a PT who does/did indeed employ this technique.  Most likely, however, if you're reading this you haven't been so lucky.

Do it right the first time and take the first step out of your comfort zone.  I promise you won't be sore tomorrow.

8 comments:

  1. that's a big part of it. i know because i have all these plans to go run or work out, but don't want to get up because sitting in my chair is easier.

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  2. Thats good advice right there, very very good read. +1 follower

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  3. I lost arround 15kg only by running on the beach and eating 1/2 of what i was used to eat, feels great! Now i even have some muscles :D

    +follow for the good content here bro

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  4. Ha, the first paragraph pretty much completely describes me.

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  5. Excellent post man, very good content.

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  6. I want to work out and bulk up but I'm not very motivated haha, anyways great post man.

    Followed

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