If you're training and eating healthy JUST to achieve a certain physical look, you are missing out on the true impact that lifting weights and eating nutritiously has to offer.
I've always believed that you should train in a way to improve physical performance – more strength, more endurance, better conditioning, more power/speed.
But, I don't aim to maximize any of these qualities. That would require specialization that would lead to decreases in my ability to do the qualities other than the one that I'm specializing in.
So I'm not doing 1 rep sets or going out and partaking in astronomical feats of physical endurance.
I believe a moderate approach where I get stronger with compound and isolation exercises in a moderate rep range.
I train to increase power and endurance by doing exercises like kettlebell swings, snatches, or clean & jerks (explosive, yet cyclical exercises) for moderate to high reps.
I walk, ride bikes, and play sports recreationally for general health and aerobic exercise.
I eat and sleep to support my training goals.
All this makes up an example (there are many such examples) of a fitness lifestyle.
When one prioritizes a fitness lifestyle for long enough, body composition changes and aesthetics should happen as a byproduct.
But (and this is an important, 'but'), you must embrace – or dare I say – fall in love with the process of building this lifestyle.
You must embrace the way getting a good workout feels.
You must embrace the process of taking 30 minutes out of your day to go on that walk.
You must embrace and trust that eating healthy, nutritious foods benefits your mood and your ability to progress in the gym.
If you're only "living a fitness lifestyle" to achieve the end goal of looking a certain way, you're going to be very frustrated and you'll likely be much less consistent with the lifestyle.
If I were to have focused all my attention on looking like a fitness model, I would have quit within the first 4 years of lifting weights and eating healthy. I would have become incredibly frustrated with the ratio of my results versus the investment and effort I was putting in to this lifestyle.
Because even though I made good progress during my first 4 years in the gym, I still didn't look like a fitness model, or even like a gym rat. Sure, I gained 25 pounds of mostly muscle during those first 4 years, but, when you're 6'2 and still just 165 pounds, people still don't even realize that you take lifting and eating to support your lifting goals, seriously.
Was my training perfect during those first 4 years?
Of course NOT. But, I was enjoying the journey of figuring it out. I enjoyed the discipline I developed. I enjoyed the feelings I got as a result of training and eating well. I enjoyed the confidence it gave me. And, I enjoyed the fact that while my progress may have not been as good as others' in that time, I was still progressing and having fun. And that motivated me to keep going because I knew progress would continue to come along as long as I kept showing up and remaining disciplined to my sleep and nutrition (sleep is sometimes hard to come by in the military, though).
If I had quit, I would have never experienced the pride of my friends, family, and acquaintances complimenting me and asking me for advice 1-2 years later.
Because I fell in love with the process, I continued to improve the way I did things, honed in on what worked for me (and, as a result, what was enjoyable for me), and I got over that threshold of "you really take lifting weights seriously?" and crossed into the territory of, "man, I can't believe how BIG you've gotten! What are you doing?! Can you help me do that?" Those things happen when you go from 140 pounds - 165 pounds, but then continue to build up until you're regularly walking around in the 200 - 220 pound range, while remaining relatively lean.
Had I quit 4 years into the journey, I would have never seen that point of progress.
I'm still constantly evolving the way I do things to maximize my results and my enjoyment when it comes to training and eating.
Now I've been lifting weights and eating to support my athletic lifestyle for my entire adult life (18-33 years old at this point) and I continue to make progress. Contrary to popular belief, you don't hit some magic peaking point of muscle & strength gains and plateau for the rest of your life. If you keep working you'll keep improving, even if the rate of progress slows.
I've managed to stay this disciplined because I fell in love with the process. I didn't tie all my motivation for living this lifestyle to some external image I wanted to accomplish.
I associate this lifestyle with improvement. And by improving my function (performance), I'm able to improve my form (appearance).
Like Pavel Tstastouline says in his book, "Beyond Bodybuilding" —
"If it flies right, it looks right."
Focus on building healthy habits.
Focus on improving physical performance qualities.
You'll see positive gains in your life and in your performance quite quickly.
The appearance of your body may change more slowly in comparison. It will often take years before you're at that point where you look like what you originally dreamed of. But by the time you get there, you'll love the process so much that the way you look will just be a consolation prize – which is fitting, because, again, the way you look is a byproduct of the way you live (the way you eat, sleep, and train/exercise).
Comments