Commit..

It's that time of year again. The time of year that a lot of people give themselves a free pass on taking care of themselves because the holidays are here and there's so many get-togethers and parties to attend. We're being pulled in too many different directions trying to get the kids where they need to go and getting our Christmas shopping in. We're too busy to workout. Too busy to eat healthy. "But it's OK", we rationalize, "January 1 is coming, and with it I have another fresh start to achieve everything that I meant to achieve this year.". I know from experience that this is how it is for many people. I used to do it myself years ago. I was thinking about this last Friday as I headed out for my bike ride in 18 degree weather to do short intense intervals as "openers" for my cyclocross race on Saturday. Coming out of the house the first thing I hit is always a steep, relatively short downhill that gets me close to 40MPH. So with my eyes starting to shatter from the ice cold wind pouring in around my glasses I had two thoughts.. I should have worn ski goggles, and, what is so different about me now than 10 years ago, that I would be subjecting myself to this in the middle of December? Trust me, 10 years ago on a Friday in the middle of December I would have been wondering where we were going for a couple beers after work.

The short answer can be summed up in four words. Priorities, goals, planning, commitment. I wrote recently about priorities, and I've also written about goals. You can find those entries here and here.. With this entry, I'd like to focus on planning and commitment. Once your priorities are in order, and you've set your goals, the success of reaching those goals lies in your commitment to making it happen. Just as important, you have to have a plan in place. 

Everybody needs to understand that there are going to be many days where you just don't feel like sticking to the plan. Tough shit. These are the days where you find out what you're made of. Tough day at work? Spouse giving you a hard time? Kid got sent to the principal's office? Lose a big contract? I can list 1000 things that are going to jump out at you that can derail your commitment to your goals. "Ah, lighten up Kevin, it's just one day.". Really? Every time you give in it weakens your resolve. The path of least resistance is the logical path for people. The body likes "easy". It's human nature. Working hard at anything is a lot of effort and the mind is more than happy to convince you to just relax and do what you want. It's easy to eat fast food. Mmmm, saturated fat tastes good! It's easy to have too much to drink at a party, it makes it more fun, right? It's easy to skip that group ride or run on Sunday afternoon because the Patriots are playing the Jets. It's easy to sit down for four hours eating nachos and drinking beer while watching your favorite football team. A lot better than working hard, that's for sure! The thing is, every time you give in it makes it that much easier to give in the next time. Anybody who has tried quitting anything knows this is true.. For example, you're going along fine for 2 months, and bang, you have a bad day and you give in to watching Grey's Anatomy.. You're like, no biggie, I'll start again tomorrow. But then next week, you're thinking, "well I did it last week, it's not like I've been clean for 2 months or anything. And I think Callie is going to leave her husband for that new female doctor, Arizona. Screw it, I'm watching!"* You get my point. 

*references to Grey's Anatomy pulled from Wiki.. The author has never watched a single episode of Grey's Anatomy. Honest!

So you've got your priorities in order and you've set your goals. And please, do this now. Do it sitting down with a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning. Don't do it after a half dozen margaritas on New Year's Eve when 90% of the world's outrageous resolutions are made. Put your plan in place and commit to it. Without a plan, the commitment can be easily derailed. If you're winging it on a week to week basis, then it's going to be really easy to give in on the bad days when you really didn't have anything planned anyways. Some of us can be successful putting our own plan in place. Your own success in doing it this way will depend on what your goals are, how well you understand what's required to get there, and your level of commitment to your goals. In my own personal experience, I used to have a hard time sticking to any plan without continually tweaking it. This would lead to subpar results because I wouldn't give anything an honest chance to work. Not only that, but I would tend to work too hard too often and not do the recovery part properly. This often led to over-reaching, which sometimes advanced to overtraining which resulted in injury and/or illness. I fixed this by hiring a coach. I worked with my coach on focusing my goals and he put a plan in place to get me there. And I can honestly say I'm in better shape and racing stronger than I ever have before. Having specific goals and a training program developed for me by a professional takes all the guesswork out of it. My job was to do what he told me, work my ass off, and stick to the program. There were so many days when I had so much going on and it would have been easy to bail on a workout, or decide to do something quick and easy instead, but I didn't. I had my priorities and goals set, I had a plan in place, and I was committed to it. 

OK, so you've decided that being healthy and active is a priority for you, that getting back in shape and restoring that vitality that has eluded you since you were young is important to you, that you are going to age youthfully and not allow your health (or bank account) to be held hostage by doctors and prescriptions. I know I'm stating the obvious, of course this is what everybody wants. Then why doesn't everybody have it? Mostly, it's because they don't know how to get there on their own. Everybody has tried the big box gym route. Everybody's tried the "6 weeks to 6-pack abs blockbuster program!!!" that they've seen in magazines or on TV. Getting in shape and staying in shape is hard. Doing it on your own is harder. This is why we're in the middle of a nationwide obesity epidemic and insurance and drug companies are making record profits. Look around you at work, in restaurants, at airports. You can see it. We all desire to be healthy and fit, but most of us aren't. Priorities, goals, a plan, and commitment. If you want to be healthy and fit, then these 4 things need to be in place.

If this is what you desire, if this is a priority for you, then we're here to help you get there. We'll help you with goals. Our dynamic fitness programs are second to none in helping you get in the best shape of your life. Come to Dynamic Strength and Conditioning and the plan is dialed for you. The commitment is, in large part, going to be up to you, but the motivation and camaraderie of our group training goes a long way towards getting you through the door on days when you just don't feel like it. Ask Marc who, never ran before, but is now keeping a 6:30/mile 5k pace. Ask any number of our clients who are in completely different wardrobes because they no longer fit into their old clothes. Ask Roni who's taking up new sports and competes in about 20-30 different events per year. Ask Chris who found the fire to start competing again in long distance running and completed his first ever 100 mile ultra this year. Ask Tom who's blood pressure, cholesterol, and resting heart rate are at lower levels than they've been in 20 years. The amount of success stories we have are so inspirational. Write your own success story, it's time to make the commitment.