WS#52 - Are your expectations important?
Week of 4/15/24
What should you expect from your workouts and your workout program? Is your life going to change from going through a full three-month program? Will one workout make you feel like a new person? Can a single exercise create some unbelievable lasting changes to your body?
These questions are important to understand. The more I work in this profession the more I realize that expectations are vitally important. What you expect from an individual workout, workout program, or lifestyle change can make or break your consistency. I have seen people quit the gym, never to return due to poor expectations. As a guide for people, part of the process is on me. I need to make sure I set expectations accordingly. However, if you are working on your health and fitness, you should take full responsibility for the results you are working towards and the work you put in.
Expectation number one: INITIALLY, it will feel like the work you put in does not return an equivalent result. When just getting started on a workout program or lifestyle change the effort can feel massive. Habit forming is difficult for many, especially when the habit we are working on removes something that gives us comfort (food) and adds something that makes us uncomfortable. Many of us have heard the phrase “comfort is the enemy of progress”. That absolutely applies to our health. The magnitude of your initial results will be dependent on the changes that you make, and initially you may not have the tools to make massive changes. Therefore, the hard work you put in will absolutely yield results, but those results may feel small compared to your effort…and that is ok.
Expectations number two: The results of your cumulative effort over time, will feel worth the work you put in, plus some. Contrary to rule number one, your effort will yield the results you want, and more. The only requirement is that you keep going. You will get to a point where creating change becomes easier, the results from your cumulative effort will compound, and you will feel like a different person from when you started. If this change happened quickly, everyone would put in the work. Expect for this to happen, but make sure your timeframe is realistic.
Rule number three: Whether you work with a professional or not, take full responsibility for the results you are looking for. Accepting full responsibility for anything changes the way you view your effort and results. It makes the stakes higher and therefore you value your effort more than you would otherwise. When you hire a fitness professional to help you achieve a goal, rely on them for education, and to collaborate with you on what work you need to put in. DO NOT rely on them to do the work for you. That falls solely on you. If you put any responsibility on the professional that is an excuse that allows you to avoid putting in the work required. To be clear, when I create training programs, and lifestyle/nutrition programs that is my responsibility. The person I am helping does not have the ability at the current point in their journey to do these things themselves. I am educating and collaborating with my client. As the individual implementing the changes into their lives, the work it takes to execute these things falls on you and you alone. Whether or not the responsibility should fall on the professional, do not put that on them because it will not do you any favors and will likely inhibit your success.
Manage your expectations, take responsibility for your results, and value the time and effort that you put in. If you can do these things your chances of success, go way up.
-Matt