My beef with the fitness industry
I have been working in the fitness industry for more than a decade. IMO it’s the best job in the world, the reward I get for helping people on a daily basis is incredible…but I have to admit I also have beef with it. To make you understand the problem I see with the fitness industry, let’s first step into the shoes of someone looking to make a change in their health & fitness.
Inside the head of someone looking for a change…part 1
Say you are looking to make a change.
You see someone on the gram that looks the way you want to look, performs in the way you want to perform, or has achieved what you want to achieve. This person seems to have their shit together in a way that you would like to have your shit together.
Behind this success are most likely years of hard work and consistency.
You see them NOW at a point that seems appealing enough that you envy their situation or feel like this would be the type of result you are looking to gain. You want that too, and you are ready for change NOW; so you seek solutions, you try to find answers, and you hope that you can find an approach that will get you there.
The first problem with the fitness industry
Some of the people who are “working” in the fitness industry are eager to take advantage of your urgency to change and are willing to sell you a solution based on the most recent (or “revolutionary”) trends. They know how to tell you what you want to hear to make you believe that this will give you what you need. There are many “trainers and gurus” ready to package you a short-term solution to the long-term problem that you want to solve. You hire them for nutrition coaching, personal training, mindset or business coaching. You follow their overly aggressive strategies that encourage you to create unsustainable changes to your current way of life. Essentially selling you a solution that meets your unrealistic expectations for growth.
Inside the head of someone looking for change…part 2
If you’re lucky enough, with the combination of an extreme approach and above-average implementation on your end, you get a quarter, halfway, or maybe all the way to your goal.
But then....
You are on the other side, and you seemingly achieved what you wanted to achieve.
But those changes are realistically only the tip of the iceberg. You have achieved some level of success but haven’t modified the underlying structure of your life in a way that supports sustaining your results for the long term.
Then, your relationship with the coach, health guru, the course, or the program is over, and you're obviously not going to keep up with what you have been implementing because it is unsustainable. Eventually, you inevitably fall back to your previously wired habits, behaviours, skills, beliefs and schedule, etc.
Now you find yourself in a place where slowly you return to your initial state (hopefully not worse off). You may look back and feel frustrated, confused and disillusioned about what it takes to make a change. Frustrated that you don’t have the willpower to live in a way that allows you to get to your goals:
“This is not for me”
“I’m not willing to make such sacrifices forever”
“I’m not willing to live like a monk in order to achieve X”
“The people who do this are extreme and don’t have any balance, I’ll never be willing to commit to this long term”
Maybe you even start justifying why, the place you were in the first place isn’t so bad or that you are just going to put your goal on hold for now. Maybe you don’t have the same short-term pressure in your environment to change anymore.
But then you are stuck with that mindset: I want to change, but I’m not willing to do the kind of work required to change. Where the changes in your habits are subtle, progressive and non-invasive. An approach that allows you to adjust so that you can find the balance between what you want and what you need to do. You don’t get to see how you can blend the different parts of your life (career, friends and family, activities, nutrition, sport, training) so that you create this new identity along with a new set of habits, and behaviours that are very specific to your situation. Nobody can really teach you to figure this out in a 3-month process because they don’t understand who you are, and they can’t get you to the point you want to be with such a unique situation, in such a short period of time.
The second problem with the fitness industry:
IS US… We set unrealistic expectations on the amount of time and effort that is required to change. We don’t accept that most of the things in life that are worth pursuing require time and effort. So we seek solutions that falsely put the responsibility on the “other” to change us.
“This course will change me”
“This 3-month program will change me”
“This book will change me”
“This coach will change me”
“I will achieve this in X time”
What you really need to change:
Patience:
The only way you are going to get there is by accepting that it will take time, having the patience necessary to change and evolve, and being ready to work at it for a really long time.
You are the only one responsible for this change, and you are the only one that can do the work to get there.
Coaching and mentorship relationships can be instrumental in getting you there, providing that you work with the right professional. But the fact of the matter is that you will have to put in the work, and you will have to do it consistently…for a very long time (maybe forever).
That’s the problem with the fitness industry: we are confused about what it takes to make a change, and how long it will take. We don’t understand what the real problems are that need fixing.
2. A new mindset, a new identity
The false assumption:
“If I want to improve my body composition, I need to eat X amount of calories and X amount of protein every day”
The reality:
Change happens underneath the surface, starting with a change to your identity and the ensuing dozens of layers of habits and behaviours that need to be implemented. WE NEED to change ourselves and the structure of our life, our behaviours and our habits, in order to create a new operating system on which we can always fall back no matter the circumstances.
The solution requires not a shift in mindset, but more importantly a shift in identity.
I am the kind of person that takes my health a priority.
Because I am this kind of person, I do X every day
The key to building lasting habits is focusing on creating a new identity first. Your current behaviours are simply a reflection of your current identity. What you do now is a mirror image of the type of person you believe that you are (either consciously or subconsciously). To change your behaviour for good, you need to start believing new things about yourself. You need to build identity-based habits. - James Clear
3. Better systems
As James Clear eloquently wrote in his book, Atomic Habits: “We don’t rise to the levels of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems”
A system is a set of beliefs, behaviours and habits that we do consciously, and automatically, that allows us to get to our goals.
These systems are built slowly, brick by brick. They are not the product of a sudden surge in motivation, but a continual effort to modify the way we go about our day-to-day.
The fitness industry sometimes feels broken from both ends. This is a very frustrating thing for someone who has the experience, knowledge and willingness to help. Having to compete with false beliefs and impossible solutions to complex problems is a real challenge. If we want to change ourselves, we have the responsibility to think about what we really want and set realistic expectations about what it takes to change, in turn, ask for long-term solutions that are more in line with reality.
Fitness is an infinite game, the only way you win at an infinite game is to keep playing. - Dr. Kelly Starrett
Rome wasn’t built in a day…If you get in the mindset that you are playing this game forever, would you do things differently? Would you take a different road if you were at peace with the fact that anything worth pursuing takes time, and that health and fitness is no different from any other journey? Last question: If you get to your goal in 12 weeks, what comes after anyways?
Putting my thoughts on paper is kind of therapeutic, nevertheless, I hope it can help others adopt the right approach on their health and fitness journey.
Talk later,
