7 Aspects to See Results With Exercise
In my last post, I revisited my Fat Loss and Cardio – I call Bull$h*t post. Basically, I said that Cardio sucks for Fat Loss, but definitely still has it’s uses – so use it properly.
In the original Fat Loss and Cardio post, I said that there are 5 main components of fat loss that you should really consider when trying to lose fat most effectively:
1 – Your genetics
2 – Nutrition
3 – Exercise – Specifically Strength Training and Interval Training
4 – Supplements/Medicine
5 – Psychological Aspects (limiting beliefs, etc)
In upcoming posts, I will be talking about the best things to do in order to conquer those 5 aspects – What you should get tested for, what you should eat, exercise, the best supplements, etc.
In this post though, I’m going to talk about the other 7 components that determine whether someone will actually make the changes they need in order to see the results that they desire.
These 7 components are:
1 – Relationships – This is the biggest indicator of whether or not someone sticks to or drops fitness, in the short-term for people with weak goals and long-term for people with strong goals. Period. Nothing else has the draw of fitness, like doing it with like-minded people.
Nothing else will have a strong of an impact on our ability to justify exercise, as we can justify anything to ourselves if we are doing it with people we like. In other words, build relationships with people who enjoy the same aspects of fitness as you, will hold you accountable and that you actually like.
2 – Sleep – Some people can thrive off little sleep, but that’s not the point. The point is that most people can’t thrive off little sleep while also trying to lose body fat. It raises their cortisol levels too high and causes their ghrelin levels to increase. Unnecessary cortisol levels will typically cause muscle breakdown and encourage fat storage, while high ghrelin levels make you hungry. This ghrelin induced hunger is not a regular hunger though. Typically, it will make you crave more sweets and larger portions when ghrelin levels are high.
3 – Your Environment – This could be so many things, but the basic example is your home and workout environment. Want to know why so many people buy treadmills or weights for their houses but never use them? It’s because that “environment” is not very conducive to motivation. We have intrinsic motivation, we have extrinsic motivation and then we have group-think motivation. Sometimes, group-think motivation gets you to do things you would not have even attempted to do on your own – aka, Spin or Bootcamp classes.
4 – Money – If you want the best preventative tests, amazing food, good supplements, a nice gym, and a good trainer, you’re going to need money. Money is rarely talked about in health and fitness when it comes to adherence and I think that’s just stupid, because it obviously plays an important role in what you actually do. Money and how you spend it though, is a component of…
5 – Perceived Time and Priorities – Is your health important to you? Do you want to be a “body-builder” or just someone that belongs, not goes, to the best gym. Are you the type of person that “has no time” or the type where you know that how you spend your time shows your priorities. (There are obviously limiting beliefs also involved with these last two aspects).
6 – Current Fitness Level – If you are OUT of shape exercising is a very different experience than if you have ALWAYS been active, as it is for every shade along the spectrum in between those two extremes.
7a – Willingness To Do What It Takes for Your Desired Change – Many people want different things, but when they bitch about it, what they are saying is that they want to continue to do EXACTLY what they’re doing now, but get different results. The bottom line I guess boils down to, are you willing to do the different things that are required of you to get the things you actually say you want? As the quote goes, “The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare to win.” Therefore, not only should you want to change your desires for the things you want in the end, but how you relate to the work you have to do.
7b – Your baseline personality – Do you like being introverted and yet are trying to take group exercise classes? Probably not the smartest idea. What about your diet? Do you despise keeping track of details and numbers and are a “just wing it” type of individual trying to track calories of everything that goes into your mouth? That will definitely not work and vice versa is almost just as bad.
The bottom line is that although the first 5 components of “what to do” is important for results with exercise, you will never get off the ground without factoring in these 7 aspects.
Hopefully, not all 7 aspects are holding you back. The question then, is what are the 1 or 2 aspects that are holding you back and what can you do to work around them? Figure that out and should be well on your way to seeing more results from exercise.
