This morning as I was driving to and from clients, I was listening to the amazing Dr Stephen Covey who was speaking on his very insightful book, “First Things First”. (I highly recommend this book!). He discusses a number of vital concepts that must be understood in order to achieve goals in almost any aspect of life. Fortunately for all of us, health and fitness is no exception.
Achieving a particular health and fitness goal requires consistency, discipline, knowledge and commitment. I have selected two of the more common goals as examples in the title – losing weight and building muscle – however these fundamental principles reign true for all fitness goals, whether that is to prevent injury, treat injury, get in shape for a wedding or prepare for a marathon.
Coincidentally, Covey uses an example of marathon preparation in his programme. He suggests that for someone planning on running a marathon, years of lazing around, eating chocolate and chips is not going to be undone by exercising vigorously the day before the big race. The reason why this ludicrous example is not viable is commonsensical.
Also ludicrous are the following examples:
- A farmer who didn’t bother planting the seeds ready for harvesting later in the year. Instead, he plants the seeds a week before prime harvesting season, whilst watering and fertilising like crazy.
- A student who has a big exam coming up that doesn’t begin studying the night before and crams everything in like crazy.
- An overweight individual who undertakes an extreme diet to lose a lot of weight really quickly, without having to worry about “healthy eating” or “exercise”.
Consider all three examples above:
The first is obvious. It is impossible under our natural laws to expect an entire field of crops to grow to their potential in such a short period of time. The farmer didn’t plan ahead and thus he will not reap the rewards of his investment.
The second is something that many of us are guilty of at one time or another. There are the select few of us who may practice information cramming on a regular basis as a student and score respectively in exams. But the question is – did you really get an education? Covey, on his audio programme, admits that he was guilty of this bad habit and whilst he obtained his undergraduate degree, spent many years re-learning much of the content.
The third is a common practice that is exhibited by many people desperate to lose weight. Quick and easy weight loss is highly desirable relative to slow, sustainable, safe, effective and planned weight loss. After all – it’s the result that you’re after right?
Well, think about the desired result in detail. Do you wish to achieve your particular health and fitness goal temporarily and then return back to your normal state? If so, short-term approaches (fad diets, skipping meals, heavy reliance on a particular supplement or other unhealthy practices) could be the answer.
But, if your goal is to accomplish this weight loss, muscle gain, or other health and fitness goal permanently, then a long-term approach must, and I repeat MUST be taken. You do need to invest the time and effort into yourself in order to develop new lifestyle habits that can be continued indefinitely.
Initially, a long-term approach to weight loss or other goal may seem expensive and require too much effort. However the irony is that short-term, “quick-fix”, “band-aid” and “fad” approaches are undoubtedly the number one cause of wasted time and money in the health and fitness industry. This is because they are only temporary measures, without treating the actual core issue at hand. Invest into yourself and you will reap the rewards in the long-term.
For further reading on this topic, I recommend you read my article entitled “How to Lose Weight“.
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