Reasons or
Results!
Fitness Nutrition Training
Sovereign Michael Valentine
SPN, CFT, Eft, Yft, Cft, SSc, GFI, CMCht, CERT, Reiki Master
206.225.9647
email: sovereignmv@gmail.com
web: bnbbs.myshaklee.com
Special Report #28
Part of the
“I see you to succeeding"
series
Fast Results?
Focus On The Fundamentals!
Focus On The Fundamentals!
Want to get amazing results?
Often I'm asked why I got such amazing results when I first started working out in my 20s. I often refer back to those first 3 or 4 months when I first had a personal trainer and good instruction.
My personality tends to be that if I seek any kind of professional guidance (MD, DC, ND, AC, RD, trainer, massage therapist, etc.), I simply do exactly what they instruct me to do...TO MEASURE HOW WELL THEIR SUGGESTIONS & GUIDANCE WORKS in real time.
I think that was one of the greatest surprises to me when I began doing clinical massage professionally in 1992 (that people spend time, energy and money seeking professional help and then not follow through) [wanting help, but not actively participating in their own health].
When I started working out, my personal trainer at that time was earning about $8 / hour and no commission. She was making significantly more money doing landscape maintenance, on the side, but she was passionate about working out. It never occurred to me to do anything other than what she suggested! (Days per week, amount of time for each workout as well as a brief warm up and followed by a cardio workout).
I wanted to improve how I looked and felt! It never occurred to not pay attention...to not follow through! (coachable and the learning mindset). During the first six weeks my strength improved dramatically...during the subsequent eight weeks my lean mass improved so much that guys who had previously bullied me in high school seemed small. Once I ran into a guy who have stood over me, bullying me in high school in great satisfaction, yet now he had a scared look on his face...my how the tables turn! The muscular definition improved so much that people couldn't believe it. The point being I simply stuck to being consistent with a very basic resistance and cardio program (3 workouts each week with a day of rest in between each workout).
Even to this day it's surprising to me when people seek professional guidance but then make up reasons why they can't follow through and yet complain that they aren't getting results! Wait, huh?
In the early years helping people get their own program started I thought it was because I wasn't educated enough or didn't hold a certification, you know, "not real". Then I became a licensed massage practitioner and thought it was because I was "only" a massage therapist. Then I went on to get nine more certifications and learned that people behave that way even with their doctors and specialists. People wait months to get an appointment with a professional, then argue why they can't do the healthy thing (most often complaining of how the professional suggestions interfere with their lifestyle, yet complaining how the effects of their lifestyle get them more of what they don't want?). Wait, huh?
People considered extreme or fitness evangelists simply being the people who consistently follow through with the basics!
SO! To this day, it's surprising to me when people don't follow through with what they say with apparent conviction they want. The people who do follow through get seemingly amazing results and become one of the weirdos who set their social crutches aside long enough to get the results they invested time, energy and money into.
As my career progressed and my circle of influence increased I learned that regardless of how much education a professional has, the numbers aren't much better. Physicians have as much as 11-15 years of training yet patients seek them out, spend the majority of their appt talking instead of listening and then give reasons why they can't eat better and exercise...why they are the exception.
If you attend any medical lecture or continuing education seminar, you'll likely hear some stats on "patient compliance" (whether or not the patient followed through). As noted in previous blurbs, endocrinologists [hormone specialist] (about 13 years of training) routinely counsel patients who go "doctor shopping" simply to find the doctor who will tell them they don't have to exercise or eat healthy because their thyroid is so dysfunctional it won't help to live healthy.
Once the physician tells them they will likely be quite responsive to diet and exercise, they "fire" the doctor and go to the next one.
(The education simply gives you the OPPORTUNITY to help people...who truly want your help!) 😄
In my experience, I simply followed through, got remarkable results and continued to refine my healthy lifestyle as I went on. That's not to say everything ever suggested helped, but without giving it a fully committed attempt, I wouldn't have found a standard for what does work! Is that strange? I did receive suggestions which were, um...less mature than where I was at the time... meaning I had already put a concept to use and it didn't work.
As time went on, I learned about the 4 stages of behavioral change:
1) Precontemplation,
2) Contemplation,
3) Preparation and
4) Action
In some models there is consideration for a 5th stage being the Maintenance mode.
In other words, the phases people go through before actually doing behaviors to get then what they complain they want. Ultimately, even when one works through these stages they then have to make the new thing a habit! [motivation seems to be a biggie].
SO! People can go from precontemplation (Stage 1) to action (Stage 4) in one day or the process can never reach the action stage. Awareness of self seems to be one of the greatest influences on how quickly the five stages progress for each person. One of the tricks of awareness though is that we might not be aware of that which we aren't aware. So, even if a person says they "want" to lose "weight", they might not be ready to walk away from a negative environment and circle of influence which offers the "feeling" of support, to a new environment which offers support of the new, healthy self (co-dependency).
Awareness that there IS "choice" involved and the choice is yours can be freeing yet scary at the same time.
Exercise and nutrition is a clear example of cause and effect. In other words, every exercise and every nutrition habit elicits a certain physiological response in the body...either it improves the situation, makes it worse or does nothing. (An example of "does nothing" would be supplements which don't get absorbed or an exercise which is too advanced for a beginner to benefit from).
Take running for example; it's free and relatively easy to begin and we see people doing it...so it must be for me, right? Unfortunately, running requires a healthy core muscle group, so if you haven't developed a healthy core, you're likely to strengthen your stronger muscles and injure your core muscles. (Just because we can, doesn't mean we should).
Ultimately, with or without a trainer, I suggest learning a basic resistance training routine and a basic cardio routine which is likely to improve your fitness and unlikely to injure you. Stick to the basics for 6-8 weeks. Do the same program for 6-8 weeks.
Monitor your body fat level before beginning and every 30 days as you go (so you know if it's working). If you don't check it every 30 days you won't really know if the program you're doing is working or not (discernment).
80% of the results that you achieve (or miss out on) are related to how good your nutrition status is (how much nutrition density you have inside your body each day).
To gain access to the supplements I use, go to this link on my website. I've used them since September 1993.
And most of all, nobody is going to do your workouts for you! It's up to you.
People are often surprised that paying for personal training is different than actually working out...yes, people thinking working out means hiring a trainer! (Knowing vs doing).
Do it now, do it consistently!
"I see you succeeding"
No comments:
Post a Comment