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"What is Your Weakest Fitness Link?"

By Boyd Myers

We’ve all heard the saying that you’re only as strong as your weakest link - I believe this holds true in just about everything in life, including fitness. Sports teams can simply crumble with just one weak link. Fortune 500 businesses have crumbled with weak accounting practices. Fitness and health are no different.

I know people that put in the effort of training, yet don’t have the discipline at the dinner table to avoid making bad choices that set their progress back weeks at a time. On the same token, there are many people that could live off of boiled chicken and whole grain rice (yuck), yet they can’t MAKE time to give their body the stimulus to change, which is exercise. I believe that an intelligent person knows their strengths and weaknesses, however, if you want to be successful in anything, it is absolutely imperative that you focus on correcting those weaknesses so over time, they are no longer weaknesses at all.

When it comes down to nutrition, remember that whether you eat the healthy meal or the pizza, you’re going to be full EITHER WAY. However, the excitement of the fat, starch and grease will wear off quite quick, and you’ll not only have a bit of extra fat, you’ll also have feelings of guilt. I am, of course, talking about falling off track - everyone knows I advocate a cheat day once per week to keep you sane. Use the cheat day! It makes it a lot easier to bypass potential diet pitfalls when you know that in just a few days, you can have whatever you want.

If you realize that you're eating too many refined carbohydrates, not eating often enough, missing meals, or just flat out eating the wrong food, modify your nutritional plan. Nothing will provide you with greater progress more quickly than the synergystic effects of a nutritonal program that supports your weight training efforts. Determine your caloric needs and apply the discipline necessary to stick with your meal plan.

Training is no different. You can walk in any gym in America on any five days and you’ll see, in many cases, the same people doing the same things. Now, I realize that much of this is because they don’t know any better, but more times than not, people choose to do things that they are GOOD at and avoid that of which they aren’t so good at. If you’re wanting to change your body, gain muscle and lose fat, that is the absolute worst thing you can do!

You MUST focus on strengthening your weakest link. If your cardiovascular condition is limiting you, give it special attention. If squatting is absolutely terrible to you, make it easy by becoming great at it! On a more macro-scale, many people workout hard and are diverse in their training, but are guilty of missing two to three training sessions per month. Those two to three sessions here and there add up - that's a difference of missing 24-36 sessions per year; I guarantee had you trained those 36 sessions you would be in better shape than you are right now.

Of course, as you progress, weaknesses change and will evolve, so it’s important that your training does the same. This is one of many reasons why one exercise program that you may read in a magazine or on a message board does not fit all. Due to different lifestyles, habits and exercise histories, what is a weakness for one person could be a strength for another. You must identify what it is that is holding you back while not worrying about what Lee Priest or Jay Cutler is doing.

In summary - find out what it is that is holding you back from reaching your goals and don’t use it as a crutch or an excuse; make it motivation and overcome that obstacle.

About the Author:

Boyd Myers is a certified personal trainer and performance nutrition specialist located in San Antonio, TX. He is well-known for his work with elite athletes and magazine cover models. His website is www.the-personal-trainer.com