Most people who struggle with their level of fitness, whether it is their weight, strength, endurance, etc., have tried at some point to become fit. The missing link is that they don’t place enough importance on sustaining activity most of the time. Everything we do in our life that is consistent has someone to keep us accountable for our actions. Most employed people have a supervisor to whom they report, or maybe it’s their spouse or their children that they are accountable to. Regardless, something is holding them immediately accountable for their actions. Think about something great you have achieved in your life. Was there someone holding you accountable and motivating you to achieve it?
Those aspiring for fitness are constantly seeking the “right way” to achieve it. The fitness industry has become inundated with machines and routines that claim to be the “end-all, be-all” and have a one-size-fits-all approach. This approach is like treating every different illness with the same medication. For those who have a long way to get to where they want to be, you will need a custom-fit approach designed by a certified exercise professional.
Your body is an amazing machine that will adapt to any activity you do. Exercise is a stimulus, and your body’s response to that stimulus is the adaptation or results. If the stimulus doesn’t change, neither do the results. Using one piece of equipment, it isn't easy to vary the stimulus enough to see continued results. It is all too common for people to get frustrated who spend 40 minutes on the elliptical every day for a year and plateau after the first sixty days.
The definition of insanity, but we see perfectly sane people performing the same fitness routine for years and wonder why their body isn’t changing. I applaud their persistence, but all too often, it becomes boring and feels like a waste of time. Change the routine to change the results.
By failing to plan, you are planning to fail. Every worthwhile endeavor in life requires planning. When you build a house, you design the floor plan, start laying a foundation, build walls, etc. Too often, people try to “jump in” with a friend or relative and don’t have a long-term plan of where they will be in six days, six months, or six years. If it is important, plan and prepare, then execute.