The past does not equal the future
I wanted to take a moment this week to recognize, and thank, the many readers that have reached out to me this year. Every week, I receive emails and phone calls from people to thank me for writing Fitness Solutions. Just yesterday, a gentleman called to tell me that it “makes his day” when he reads my articles every Wednesday. No strings attached; just a word of thanks. Well, you better believe he made my WEEK! Thank you to everyone for continuing to read and for taking the time to contact me.
This week, I’d like to address the importance of mindset and mindfulness when it comes to getting and staying in great shape. Specifically, I’d like to touch on the importance of mindset for people who feel they’ve tried “everything” with little or no positive results. To them I say — the past does not equal the future. If you’ve tried (legitimately tried), and failed, it is likely the blame doesn’t lie with you but with the approach you took. This has little to do with working “hard” or having discipline.
An example of the futility of trying to get results with a flawed approach is when someone is trying to lose body fat and body weight and has committed to an exercise and nutrition plan that severely limits calories and includes lots of “fat burning” cardio work. For most people this means that strength training becomes an afterthought. The flaw in this approach is that, while cutting calories and doing lots of aerobic training might bring about a change on the scale, it comes at the expense of lean muscle tissue and a slowed down metabolism. In time, losses cease and results hit the dreaded “plateau.” Driven, determined exercisers will diet harder at this point and do more cardio work, ultimately moving in a negative direction. The problem with this approach is that along with weight and fat loss comes lean muscle tissue loss. Less muscle means lower metabolism, making it easier for the body to store fat. The sad truth is that dieting and over (aerobic) exercising can make you fatter and the harder you work at it, the worse it gets.
If the above scenario sounds familiar, you’ll know the frustration of diminishing returns and will likely feel it’s just not worth the effort to try again. In reality, you might be closer than you think and with a few small “tweaks” to your approach might find unprecedented success. In my practice, almost everyone comes to me with a sense of frustration, feeling like they’ve tried “everything.” They are stunned when they finally get the results they’ve been looking for, albeit with a different approach. The good news is that the new approach often takes less time and effort when measured and administered in the correct way.
While I say that the past does not equal the future, the implication is that the future approach is different than what was attempted in the past. If you’ve tried and failed, try again. And again. Get some help, alter your approach and stick to it.
Once you do find a new approach that works for you, I have found that it can help immensely to become comfortable with the idea of being “in the moment.” Forget past failures and don’t fret over what may or may not transpire, focus on the only thing you can influence — your present reality. Whether that reality represents a workout, a meal or even a therapy session, when you start in on it, it is the only thing that matters. Over time, these “moments” begin to snowball and magic starts to happen as you reap the payoff of your efforts, regardless of past failures.
Medical Exercise Specialist Ernie Schramayr helps his clients manage medical conditions with exercise. You can follow him at erniesfitnessworld.com; 905-741-7532 or erniesfitnessworld@gmail.com Special to The Hamilton Spectator