Please enjoy the fifth in a new article series from the Franchise himself currently running as a blog on Broadwayworld.com.
And this, my friends, is the magic question.
At Mark Fisher Fitness, we often talk about the difference between the “knowledge gap” and the “behavior gap.”
The knowledge gap is certainly part of the equation for many people. When someone is starting a fitness journey, they’re not always sure just what to do. After all, the media sends a lot of mixed messages. Should you do cardio for fat loss? Will lifting weights make me bulky? Is it ok to eat carbs? I heard meat was bad for you? Are supplements good or bad for me? It’s enough to make even professionals confused!
Happily, in the grand scheme of things, there’s a lot of stuff that most serious fitness professionals agree on. And if you work with a good coach, you’ll easily get the knowledge you need to achieve success with your fitness goals.
However, sometimes the issue isn’t that we don’t know what to do. Sometimes the issue is we can’t get ourselves to consistently take the actions we need. And this is what we call the “behavior gap.”
It can be frustrating and disheartening when it seems like you just can’t get yourself to do what you know need to do to achieve your fitness goals. This is TOTALLY normal. To some extent, all human beings struggle with this in at least some part of our lives.
While each of us is different, there are three strategies that will usually be helpful.
First of all, choosing exercises and food choices you actually enjoy is a big part of the equation. With so many options, there’s no reason to settle for what you think you “should” eat or the type of training you “should” do. Your best bet is to find something you actually enjoy!
Secondly, we all benefit from social support. Whether it’s to keep you accountable to take action, or to be there to celebrate your wins, community is a crucial part of most long term fitness successes. We’ve seen over and over that people get the best results as part of a community.
Lastly, being realistic about the journey and avoiding trying to be “perfect.” In reality, none of us will ever be perfect. But it’s very common to fall into what’s called “all or nothing” thinking. Once we make a poor food choice, we decide to just eat poorly the rest of the day. We don’t get in our three workouts for the week, and we feel like we’re falling off the wagon and skip the next few weeks.
While this is normal, we can certainly see it isn’t helpful. Being on top of our fitness 90% of the time will still lead to some amazing results. So be easy on yourself and don’t beat yourself up. The journey to your health and hotness dreams isn’t something that happens overnight, nor can it be lost in a single meal or missed workout!
Do stuff you like, embrace community, and don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good!
Want to learn more? Click here to get our free report, The 5 Most Common Fitness Mistakes Performers Make. (HINT: Many of these apply to non-performers too!)