The Secret Fitness “Pill”

We’ve all see the advertisements for the secret pill, a magic cream, a “ground breaking” new supplement, and a fancy new machine that promises to be your fitness “fix”. The one thing all these pills, potions, lotions, and machines have in common is they excel at playing on insecurities, make you think there must be something “wrong” with you that needs to be “fixed, and that they hold the key to fixing it.

The truth to magic fitness “pill”…there is only one that actually works. Are you thinking, wait what?! First off, I promise there is no sculpting belt, supplement, or equipment that can guarantee results. But here is the good news, that magic fitness “pill” that actually works, you already have, you don’t need to purchase any fancy devices, supplements, or lotions.

Get ready, drum roll please….that magic fitness “pill” is….CONSISTENCY.

Are you thinking, really Brenna, consistency…that’s kind of a let down. Listen, I get that. It’s not fancy, sexy, or enticing. And that’s exactly why know advertises it. If you saw a commercial advertising a new machine that promised consistency, you’d be like big whoop who cares right. We want to hear about the abs, the fat burners, and toned bodies. Unfortunately, all that marketing plays on our insecurities and the companies already know that its not going to work. And the truth, they don’t want it to. Because if it worked, we wouldn’t need their help. We wouldn’t feel the need to purchase their fat burners, ab toners, and potions.

But the real truth to tackling any goal is consistency. If you are trying to improve your nutrition but you pick out a diet that you can’t to adhere to, you’re not going to be consistent, therefore its never going to work. If you’re trying to improve your fitness regime but you choose a routine that you hate or can’t stick with, it’s not going to work because there is no consistency. If you want to see improvement, we need to be consistent.

Now with everything there is always a catch right? And to an extent this is no different. The catch is, for most of us, our brain doesn’t like to do things that are difficult for us. Basically, our brain and our bodies are trying to keep us alive as comfortably and as efficiently as possible. Do you know what is not comfortable or efficient….change.

Change is going to require a certain amount of uncomfortable, and that is hard. There is no way around that. Your brain is naturally going to be resistant and say “hey, we don’t really need to be doing this right?” Or maybe your brain says “this hard, we are bad at this, lets stop while were ahead.” Or maybe your brain is saying “but yo'u’ve been trying to hard and this isn’t working, lets just quit.”

I want to focus on that, the trying part. It’s important not to confuse consistency with “trying.” Those are different. You can be trying your absolute hardest and still not seeing results. If this is you I want to take a step back and look at your patterns. Is there actually a pattern of consistency? Or is what you see more of spikes up and down? If you are seeing a pattern of consistency and not seeing the results then remember that what your working on might not actually be the best choice for you. For example, lets say your goal is to be able to run a 5k. You’ve been consistently implementing a new fitness routine but your not getting any faster. This is a time to ask a few questions, is the fitness routine you’re implementing helping you achieve your goal? Is there a different plan that might be a better choice for you? Remember there is perfect solution for every person and like anything, it does require some trial and error. Remember that coaches are a great tool that can help you with your fitness program.

On the flip side, if you see a pattern of spikes up and down, then you my friend are lacking consistency. For example, lets say you want to be able to run, so you start to run. You do this for a few days in a row and then stop and try again a few weeks later. That is not being consistent. It is really hard to allow change to happen when consistency is missing.

It’s important to recognize that when implementing a new habit, learning a new routine or skill, or chasing a new goal that it is going to be hard at times and you can expect to fail at times. Failure, is not a bad thing, failure is a good thing. Treat each failure as an opportunity to learn and an opportunity to grow. After all, the first step in getting better at anything, is to be somewhat “bad” at it.

To give you an example, the first time I ever tried boxing…I fainted. Yup, you read that right. I had no idea what I signed up for, was underprepared in every way, and I fainted. When this happened I had two choices. Option one was choosing to stay comfortable, I could say well I suck at this so lets walk away. Option two was choosing to get uncomfortable, to come back again, be more prepared (like bring a bottle of water) and try again. Imagine how different my life would be right now if I chose option one. I can tell you that I would not be where I am today if I had chosen that option. I chose option two. I was bad when I started, I made mistakes and it was hard. But I stayed consistent practicing multiple times a week, I learned, and I improved.

Just because something is hard for you doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. Your body is made to adapt and it will. Rarely is anyone good at anything on the first go around.

Allow yourself to be uncomfortable.

Allow something to be hard.

Allow yourself to learn.

Allow yourself to be patient.

Allow yourself to practice.

Allow yourself to improve.

Allow yourself to be consistent.

Allow yourself to change.