If There is a Fitness Secret, This is It.
This is extremely important. Always Always Always think long term. For everything in life but especially your workouts.
I’ve had a number of people ask me “can I work out twice a day? I have this friend at a different gym and they’re going twice a day two hours a day, yada yada yada…”
That is not going to last. I guarantee you that is not going to last.
Sometimes people get a little hair up their bum and they are all motivated, crazy and go-go-go, and a month later they burn out and completely stop. My goal, what I teach and the way I live is long term. Slow and steady. You have to create habits you can do forever. I can eat good forever, not a problem, it gets easy once you get in the habit. I can workout three or four times a week forever. I’ve been doing it for over 20 years. It is going to get slow steady changes, and it is going to give you long term lasting results. You just have to know that if you stop training you’re going to lose your gains. You have to maintain it forever. Let me emphasize this. In order to maintain the strength, the look, the feel you worked so hard to achieve you have to keep training forever. Lifestyle truly means for life.
I think sometimes people think “I am going to workout hard for 8 weeks and get good and fit” that they are going to stay that way. Well as soon as you stop, it’s going to go back to how you were. You have to create habits that you can maintain forever! I really try to stress that right from the get-go.
I can’t stand all of the short term gimmicks that can never give lasting results. There are so many 21 day cleanses or 14 day challenges, short term thinking that gets people nothing other than a thinner wallet. It has to be long term thinking and planning to achieve long term results.
- I’m going to eat well forever.
- I’m going to make good food and I’m going to enjoy it.
- I’m going to start cooking.
- I am going to train 3x a week and live an active lifestyle forever.
- And that is just how I am going to live and my life is going to be awesome!
And once you get into habits and enjoy the habits, which I do, it’s fun. Cooking good meals is fun, having good food is fun. Working out with people is enjoyable. Being sore once in awhile kind of sucks, but hey, it’s part of the program.
Long term. Think long term. I am going to create habits that I can do FOREVER because as soon as you stop its goes away. I see people in their 90’s who ski every day, who workout on a regular basis and I want to be one of those people. And the only way I can do it is stay consistent with my habits and lead by example.
I hope that helps. Think long term, slow and steady. One pound a week is 52 lbs in a year, that’s pretty good! 104 lbs in two years. Keep doing it forever to maintain your gains!