JUST BECAUSE YOU WANT IT

I have noticed in my years of being a Coach that many athletes and clients expect change just because they want it.  I suppose that it is human nature to want things and expect immediate results.  We do live in a ‘microwave’ society, where people have short attention spans and expect to have things delivered right away.  But fat loss doesn’t work like that, nor does muscle growth.

In fact, losing fat and gaining muscle are the two hardest things for the body to accomplish in my opinion.  The body wants to maintain homeostasis: it wants to stay as is, comfortable and within its natural set point.  But just like anything in life, it takes about 40 days to form a new habit.  With fat loss, the only secrets are consistency and patience.  I will admit that it is a bit trickier for females as their stubborn fat patterns (alpha receptors) are much trickier to free up than a man’s stubborn fat. 

But this is not a fat loss article, its more about being self-aware of your behaviors because trying to change the body in any significant way will come down to more behavioral psychology than any ‘secret’ program.  Any good Coach will tell you this and any good Coach will have no problem admitting this.  I am currently coaching a bunch of clients in a fat shredding contest and all are making great progress.  But the ones that aren’t quite living up to their own expectations will have a conversation with me that goes something like this:

Me: “So, how closely are you following the plan?”

Them: “To a ‘T’.”

Me: “So you are following the diet?”

Them: “Yes, about 80% of the time.”

Me: “Are you doing your conditioning/fat loss protocol in the mornings?”

Them: “To be honest, no.”

If you catch yourself in this type of conversation, right about the point that you say you aren’t following part of the plan a big light bulb, a-ha, moment should happen in your head.  Just because we want something, doesn’t mean it will happen.  Persistent thought must be followed up by persistent action.  If not, nothing will ever happen, in any area of life.  All great ideas first started as a thought. 

There are  no real life ‘genie in a bottles’ out there.  There is no one that can make your wish happen just because you want it.  But that’s the great thing about reaching a body composition goal, it will teach you so much about any other area of life that you can apply to have success.  I had a former Special Forces Man tell me back when I was competing that his bodybuilding years and competitions were harder than anything he had ever done in his life and they prepared him to stand out in the special forces.  What you learn in the gym and in attaining your goals will last you a lifetime.  Think, then act and be persistent.