Why Fitness Programs Fail
Our culture has created a test for failure in fitness. We are told that we are a failure. We are reminded that as a population, we suck at fitness. Every year we hear of our dismal record with resolutions.
There is no limit to the number of people and programs waiting to help you overcome the fitness challenge. After all, they want to help. They can teach you a great deal. There is a lot of good information to learn and a lot of fluff and even a lot of bull. You may have purchased a gym membership or a three month supply of prepackaged meals. Do you actually own your fitness program? Or is the programming out of sync with who you are or where you are?
A Hero Comes to the Office
“A fitness trainer comes and presents at the office! I am totally hyped up, excited and pumped up. Wow! If I can live 7 years longer like he says, it’s well worth the time and effort. I dive in and follow the program he lays out. I’ve got to do this! No excuses. I want to be like him. I am pumped!”
When the Hero is Gone
“One or two days, maybe a few weeks… it’s over, yet again.”
“Why does it work for others, but not for me?” “I let myself down, yet again.”
What the trainer taught to your group may have been sound and useful information. If applied diligently, the promised results would come. One or two people in your group may have actually been ready and connected. They will find success as a result. Perhaps you weren’t quite ready for the jump. Or maybe the whole program does not fit who you are. You may have muttered some of the following conclusions:
- I gained it all back. I am so embarrassed.
- Every program I have tried has failed me.
- I am miserable when I diet, hungry and irritable.
- I’ll never look like him or her anyway.
- I have heard that most people don’t keep it off.
- It’s time to stop pretending. Maybe I should just accept my condition, and just live with it.
- My problem must be genetic.
We are conditioned to feel guilty. We hear criticism of our lousy level of fitness. The rhetoric shouts louder than before. “Oh how fat we are!” “We are the fattest nation on the planet!.” “We only get exercise walking from the TV to the refrigerator.”
We feel horrible or maybe angry. We grasp for reasons or excuses. We want and need validation, yet the criticism keeps coming our way. Excuses are easy to come by, but they don’t provide relief. We cover up our discouragement with jokes about what we eat, how we feel, and how we look. That hurts us even more. The discouragement over our plight is so powerful that some strive to “fix” us by legislating our solutions.
Own Your Fitness
Like in business or in science, taking ownership leads to productivity and solutions. If you own the problem and the solution, you will analyze and research. You will consult with experts. You will develop a methodology. You will find the right mix. Whether you choose to create your own original solution from scratch, take on a prepackaged program to a tee, or combine solutions, you must develop your own buy in, you must own it. As you move forward you will adapt and continue to adapt as needed.
Discover Your Own Fitness Path
- Analyze
-Life experience is your greatest teacher.
-What have you succeeded at?
-What have you dreamed of achieving?
-What are your weaknesses?
-What has failed in the past?
-Find activities that you enjoy or can learn to enjoy.
-Try out new things: body surfing, yoga, snowshoeing, anything!
-Discard what you don’t like.
-If you hate it, you will not endure it.
2. Research
-Keep it simple or go deep.
-Learn more than you know now.
-Find out what other people are doing.
-Hear what the experts are saying.
-Be inquisitive, yet skeptical.
3. Network
-Talk to people: -who are fit or who became fit, or on a similar path as you.
-Reveal your successes and disappointments.
-The only greater strength than when people support you, is when you support others.
4. Test
-Do it.
-If something is broken, you are the creator. Adjust or change your strategy.
David Owned His Solution
David, the son of Jesse, found himself in a crisis. He was assigned as a food courier before what promised to be a decisive battle. When the mighty Goliath of Gath came out and challenged the army to find a man to fight him, one on one.
By chance, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was still there when others had fled. He was not trained for this battle. He wore no armor, and had no weapons of war. Though never in battle against men, he leaned on his own experience, what he was familiar with.
His perspective revealed that he was actually in the right place at the right time.Taking courage he trusted in who he was and in his God.
His companion, Saul, dressed him in armour and provided him with weapons. But he tossed the weapons because he was not trained to use them. As he said, “I have not proved them.” He tapped into his own history and experience.
He innovated a solution. He had killed a bear and a lion with stones and a sling to protect a flock of sheep. He adapted his experience and applied his faith to his current situation. He found what worked for him. Against all odds he won the battle. He owned it.
— 1 Samuel 17
Start Here! This article by the Mayo Clinic has brilliant suggestions on how to find your fitness groove.
