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5 Factors for Fitness Success

By Jonathan Wong

Reaching fitness goals is what training should be about. While trying to avoid getting too abstract or weird with this, I have to say that the mind really is the most powerful key to reaching these fitness goals. All the people who I have worked with who made awesome, positive changes to their bodies, had set their mind to do so. So what is going on inside the minds of these "success stories"? Here are some of the key things that I have noticed.

  1. A champion mentality

    I coach basketball as a hobby. There is a key difference between players that play late in the fourth quarter and those who sit on the bench in critical situations. It's not about skill, it's about mental stability and strength. These guys who excel in tough situations are those who have the champion mentality. They refuse to lose, they believe they will win, and they will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

    Its the same with reaching fitnes goals. It's a battle and there are times when it's easy to give up. But the is a value in the champion mindset. What does it take to reach your goal? Will you do whatever it takes to get the job done?

    Champions have a positive view of the end point.

    Part of the champion mentality is to have only a positive image of what the end result should be. I know many people who have been fat for years and only think of themselves as fat. THAT HAS TO STOP. You not only need to think of yourself as lean, healthy and strong. You have to "experience" it before the fact. That means touching your waistline and "feeling" the hard muscles below, that means speaking about your fitness goals as if you have already achieved them, that may even mean buying clothes 3 sizes too small because you WILL get there.

    The other thing is to avoid what are known as self-sabotaging thoughts. I read about them in a book about marketing or earning money or something... Very interesting. Our conscious mind wants something (money, muscles, fat loss whatever) but there are those sub conscious thoughts that get in the way. At the risk of sounding like meaningless psycho babble, here is an example.

    (Conscious thought): I need to eat well to lose some fat. I want to get lean. I know that means no starchy foods unless I just did some exercise.

    • I choose a few meat and leafy vegetable dishes from the restaurant.
    • I begin to sit down and look at my plate

    (Sub-conscious, self sabotaging thought): This is not going to make me feel full, where is the pile of rice I usually eat?...

    (to me, the most damaging thought): "What is a meal without rice/noodles/potatoes?"

    With all those self defeating thoughts, the conscious mind can only overcome for a while, and it cannot continuously overcome them. And people quickly fall off the clean eating plan.

    Some things that help: Write down you goal and read it 100 times in a row. "I want to lose 5 kg in the next 2 months". As you read it, there will likely be self sabotaging thoughts that come up. Cut these down by focusing on the image of what it will be like to have achieved your goal easily and painlessly. The Visualization of your success helps to cut out the negative nonsense. In this way both your conscious mind and sub conscious thoughts work together for success

    Champions have a desire for excellence.

    You can't live a healthy lifestyle in moderation. You need excellence. Moderation is actually a set up for failure. This probably isn't' what most people want to hear. But it's a really war out there against a world full of marketing and old habits that want us to spend our limited free time doing unfruitful activity, and spend our money on food that makes us fat and weak.

    Only a spirit of excellence will help you reach your fitness goals. We need to be clear. Moderation is not the way to win a war. We need to aggressively take massive and decisive action. No we don't need to be perfect, none of us are. As nutritionist John Berardi suggests, 90% perfect is pretty much good enough. But we do need to be perfect at adhering to this 90%. It's common to meet people who think they are meeting the 90% healthy meals requirement, but closer analysis reveals an adherence of only about 40-50%.

  2. Social support for Success

    Human beings need a community for continued success. Changing a behavior has 3 components. First is awareness. The realisation that there is a need for change and that change will bring about positive effects. The second is intervention. The actually change of behavior. In this case it may be hiring a personal trainer, or starting a good diet and exercise program. The final stage actually makes or breaks the process. It is called sustenance. It means making the change permanent - long term success is what counts when it comes to reaching your fitness goals.

    For this, a positive community is extremely important. There is a saying that "you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with." If your family and closest friends are all pizza and beer fans who's idea of excessive exercise is golf on the Nintendo wii, what do you think your chances of keeping to an exercise plan will be? Yup, close to nil.

    I beleive community is one of the reasons that fitness classes like Pilates, yoga, step aerobics and boot camps are so popular. Are their training programs better than a top end personal trainer. Certainly not. But they do have a community element that keeps people coming back. That's certainly a positive thing.

  3. A Will to change

    While this is linked to no.1 I think it bears special mention. Change is a scary thing for many people because it can be uncomfortable and it brings about uncertainty. People tend to do things which they know the outcome of because its safe.

    However there are some changes we cannot afford NOT to make if we want to reach our fitness goals. One example is a client of mine who simply loved to jog. He had knee, back and lower leg problems but just would not stop. Physically I knew exactly what he needed to do, but he just wouldn't.

    What makes a person change his/her actions? Often it is not persuasive arguments but rather experiences that make a profound impact. I challenged him to stop and trade jogging for 8 weeks of sprint cycling and weight training. If he did not absolutely love the results of these 8 weeks, I would give him a full refund of his money as well as a free session with a top physio therapist in the area. He agreed and after 8 weeks, he became pain free, stronger, more muscular, and leaner. I don't think excessive jogging will ever be a problem again for this man.

    He had the will to change, sure it took some incentives but incentives are never a real problem. There are so many definite benefits to getting fit and lean. And deep inside I believe that he knew that the painful and stagnant jogging protocol wasn't getting the job done. Similarly the TV watching and potato chip eating protocol isn't going to get the jog done either. Change is needed.

  4. A will to learn

    Desire to do something is directly co related to competence in that activity. Good personal trainers and coaches care that clients continue with a healthy lifestyle even when they are no longer employing them. That's why part of every session i coach is a review and education session as to why we just did what we just did. This builds the client's knowledge base and makes them more and more competent so that they are more and more likely to do healthy activity. Trainers who simply count reps and cheer-lead clients are just not doing their jobs.

    Even if you are not employing a trainer or fitness coach, learn all you can about fitness, nutrition, how your body works. I guarantee you that as you continue to learn how wonderfully your body is created, you will want to train and you will feel compelled not to put rubbish food into this amazing machine.

    Right now go to amazon.com and buy a book about a fitness topic. It really doesn't matter which one because you never ever get dumber by reading a book. I believe coach Mike Boyle once said "don't believe everything you read, but don't just read things you believe". It's a great attitude to learning. In fact studies show that after genetics (not much you can do about that), the next greatest determinant of IQ is the number of books a person reads (ALOT you can do about that!). Get learning, and see how it helps you reach your fitness goals. They are closely linked.

  5. A will to fight through to the finish

    Easier said than done. How long does one of my fat loss programs last? 12-16 weeks. Are the results awesome yes. But still its 16 weeks. Its actually very quick, after all, a person may spend 30 years getting fat, whats 16 weeks for fat loss? But! That's 8 times longer than what some slimming centers fad diets, exercise contraptions and diet pills promise (without any real science or guarantees to back them up). And the uninformed customer may choose based on this "promise".

    In this age of 5 minute meals, instant downloads (how long did it take for this page to load?) and quick fix fitness, the will to "finish strong" is very much overlooked.

    Sorry, fighting spirit is still in fashion. It's this kind of fight that will get you to your fitness goals.

    However take heart. You will be rewarded. Pushing hard to the finish point is very much part of the champion mindset. I have met some of my athletes who have the will to win but not all of them have the will to PREPARE to win. They love to play in games but they don't want to put in the hours and effort in training. A champion boxer once said that you can cheat on your training in the darkness of the early morning, but you will be found out in the bright lights of the stadium.

That's what this is about, the long haul, consistent will to make the choices that get you to your fitness goals. Stay strong and good luck!

About the Author:

Jonathan Wong is a certified Personal Trainer and Sports Conditioning Specialist located in Singapore. Clients from all walks of life come to him for fitness solutions. His passion is to ensure that his clients get the results they desire. His website is http://www.coachjon.com.