Fitness is the Medium, Not the Mission
Who doesn’t love fitness.
The gym…the grind…the nutrition…the progression.
It’s freakin’ addicting.
We all know how it feels to get that surge of excitement before hitting the weights. Hell, I spend most of my waking time thinking about and researching fitness topics. Just for fun.
But every once in a while we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
Fitness is the medium, not the mission. It opens many doors and enables us to live life to the fullest, but we can’t let it become our sole focus. We need to keep things in perspective.
Why are you lifting in the first place?
Many of my clients are competitors, but just as many of them aren’t and simply use fitness as a way to improve themselves and take their life to the fullest.
Why are you in the gym?
Be 100% honest with yourself.
- Do you just want to be healthy and active?
- Do you want to be the sexiest version of yourself as humanly possible and reap all of the juicy benefits that that entails?
- Do you want to snag first place at a competition and make your physique your career?
Knowing your goal is the vital first step to everything you do in life and will determine everything you do.
We all pick up the iron for one reason or another.
Why did you?
Most of the people reading this blog are going to fall into category #2. And even those who are in category #3 spend most of their year in category #2 anyways.
Realizing this is highly impactful in its own right.
Does the Investment Level Match?
Once you have determined why you’re in the iron game, you’ve got to look at whether your investment levels match that.
As much as we like to think otherwise, fitness success is a long term endeavor that is best handled by routine and habit, and pouring ourselves into it is no guarantee of better results.
Think about it.
You’ve just got to put in the proper inputs and let Father Time do his thing.
What inputs?
As I wrote in my book, Architect of Aesthetics, fitness success can be generally broken down into the following:
TRAINING
- Structured workout routine for your goals at least 3x/week for an hour
- Proper warm-ups
- Workout the entire body
- Focus on progression
NUTRITION
- Keep calories in check
- Ensure adequate protein, EFA, hydration, and micronutrient intake
- Meal times and foods you enjoy and can stick to
LIFESTYLE
- Proper and sufficient sleep each and every night
- Active every day to some extent
- Minimize stress
- Properly chosen Mental Input Material (MIM) – article coming soon
- Posture and movement quality
The particulars of each of these will change based on you as an individual and your goal, but when all is said and done, those factors above are going to be there in one way or another.
Does that look clean and simple to you?
You bet your ass it does.
Fitness is a lifestyle.
It’s far from easy, but it is simple.
How Perfect?
“That’s all true, but I want the best results! If you work harder and be more strict, then you’ll get better results!”
Not necessarily.
There are two things you must consider when raising that objection:
- The Law of Diminishing Returns
- Averages
The Law of Diminishing Returns
The more work and tighter you are, the better the results…up to a POINT.
Those basics I outlined above are the majority of the battle when set up properly. More is not more.
Do you really have to be super strict and balls to the wall with everything at the expense of other areas of your life? Probably not.
A high level competitor in their final weeks of contest prep will have more effort and stringency than your average gym-goer, but both of them will not make their entire existence revolve around their body composition. There’s simply no need.
Averages
There are countless people out there who become obsessive compulsive with their training and nutrition.
Everything has to be spot on to the gram and they can never miss a day.
- They can’t eat out or have a day of indulgence.
- They don’t ever drink and let loose a little.
- They freak out when they miss out on time from the gym.
This is silly.
Your body doesn’t operate via an on-off switch. It’s the accumulation small victories over years.
It’s the averages that matter.
It simply doesn’t make sense to dedicate your entire life to something that occupies 1 hour a day. Especially when you don’t even have to or it isn’t congruent with your goal.
As I also wrote in the book:
The gym will always be there, but that moment might not be.
Fitness success is all about the long term. Adherence and sustainability are key, and if you approach fitness with this “all or nothing” attitude, you’re sure to drop out from burnout, and that’s the biggest way to fail your goals.
What other areas can I cultivate?
So you’ve got the training, nutrition, and lifestyle factors down. You’ve got it on autopilot and have ingrained those habits with proper forethought and discipline.
Now what?
You’ve got a life to live. That’s what.
You’ll make the vast majority of your physique gains within the first 3-5 years of training.
And as a little secret, keeping yourself busy and progressing in all areas of your life will help out your physique progress as well. A watched pot never boils, and growth all over tends to reinforce each other.
What are you going to do with that body of yours?
APPEARANCE
Your physique falls under the broad, general life category of your appearance.
And your appearance extends to much more than just your physique.
- Grooming/Styling
- Fashion
- Body Language
Are you fine tuning these to complement your newfound physique?
You better be.
What a shame to have a great physique but look sloppy and carry yourself like a loser. You may as well just stay at home and do Pilates.
THE SELF
What about who are you inside? That’s always going to be a work-in-progress, even long after your muscles shrink.
- Learn yourself
- Train your mind
- Further your knowledge and skillsets
- Cultivate your personality and mindsets
A great body without a great person wielding it is a tragedy. It’s like giving a Lambo to a 5 year old. They’re just gonna crash it.
LIFE
Then of course, the big stuff.
- What do you want to do with your life?
- What legacy do you want to leave?
- What do you want to accomplish?
Life. You only get one. Make it count.
Fitness is the medium, not the mission.
At the end of the day, no matter whether you are an Olympian to be or just looking to elevate your life…
Fitness is the medium, not the mission.
Everything is a means to an end.
And the ultimate end that we’re all looking for is this:
Happiness.
Whether you’re a high-level or competitor or a busy business executive looking to add that polish to their life by developing an aesthetic physique and the mental fortitude that brings, it’s all serving a greater goal: happiness in life.
Never lose sight of that.
Conclusion
To recap, ask yourself the following questions and really meditate on them:
- Why am I lifting in the first place?
- How much time, effort, and mental energy am I dedicating to my fitness endeavors? Is it justified?
- What else can I focus on to complement my fitness success and make my life awesome?
Now go out and have yourself a killer weekend. Have a drink or two for me.
For more on the art, science, and philosophy of constructing the ideal aesthetic physique, check out my book: Architect of Aesthetics.
For personalized evidence-based coaching to optimize your approach and achieve your goals, hire me here.
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