Watching Usain Bolt run has been a highlight of the Olympics for me. In fact watching all the Jamaicans run has been both entertaining and inspirational.
You can just tell they love running and love life! Yohan Blake is known as ‘The Beast’ because he loves training and trains harder than anyone.
These guys spend 4 years training for a race that lasts less than 10 seconds, and their incredible physiques are just a byproduct of their strict training and nutrition. Could you imagine being on a strict diet for 4 years?
‘It’s not a sprint it’s a marathon.’
I’m sure you’ve heard that expression before. Even for sprinters this holds true. The sprint is the last 10 seconds that takes place after a marathon 4 years of training! When it comes to your health, trying to change a lifetime of poor lifestyle habits can’t happen overnight.
Want to lose 10 kilos in a month? That’d be nice but it’s not a very realistic goal.
Someone may start their mission to lose 10 kilos and not reach their goal for a couple of years. Many people who try will inevitably give up after a few months because it’s too hard.
The people who win the weight loss battle are the ones who are persistent and consistent.
This is not just regarding weight loss. I have a bunch of clients who come to me wanting to gain weight. Once again they have to change their eating habits, change their exercise habits, stay focused on the goal and learn to eat more of the right things. And it can take a long time.
When I started as a Personal Trainer in 2003 I weighed 65kg. I’ve been up to 86kg and back down to 66kg since then due to various health issues that have arrisen due to random events outside my control as well as experiments in dieting (i went vegetarian for a year and think that didn’t help me at all. I’m currently around 73kg and unable to train much, plus I’m on a strict diet to restore my health.
However, the habits I’m working on now and the diet I’m on now is the healthiest I’ve ever eaten and once I’m feeling good again it’ll be easy for me to gain the weight back that I’ve lost…as long as I’m persistent and relentless in working towards my goal.
A Client’s Story On Persistence & Results
I know I’m not the only one. One of my clients was going through all sorts of health issues when she started training with me. I won’t name her because I want you to see her for yourself. She is a new woman!
Her goal to lose 10kg was a reasonable one and she was prepared to work through it. But it became a mission with weight loss being very slow. She lost a kilo every few months and sometimes there was very little loss if any.
But she was persistent with her training, her diet has improved and her other health supplements were helping her feel better. Yet after a year she had only lost around 6 kilos. Not the result she was hoping for.
Fast forward to the middle of this year when I went away for my holiday. She had already dropped a little more weight before then. When I came back she had dropped over 6 kilos in 6 weeks and another kilo and a half a week later!
How is it possible? Why did it happen? Persistence and consistency.
The dramatic weight loss was a result of all the hard work she had put in over the last 18 months, not the last 2 months.
She is now down 18 kilos since she started!
If you want the magic to happen you’ve got to get out of your comfort zone. It’s not easy at first but you will find it gets easier. Making a new habit apparently takes about 3 weeks and you may have a lifetime of bad habits to replace. Or maybe you just have some new ones you wish to try.
If you want to transform your body you have to get a little out of your comfort zone and try some different things.
What worked in your twenties won’t necessarily work in your thirties or forties. If you have health issues, they are clues to something not working quite right.
The more time I spend in the fitness industry the more I see health being the most important factor in fat loss. Focus your attention on fixing the health issues and the body will get better and weight loss will become easier.
Be Persistent and Consistent and you will definitely reach your goals.
1 Response to "Slow & Steady Wins The Race, Except Against Usain Bolt"
When I was born the doctor told my mum that I was going to be obese, just like the some people in my family. My mum did a great job when I was small, like not giving me cookies and lollies, and that stuff, plus some super healthy juices, like spinach, which she told me it smelled like mowned grass :P, as I grew older I got fatter and fatter, didn’t get to the obeses state, but roundish…, The change started to happened after an AH-Ha moment, whatever it is for you, perhaps health, a chick you’ve got your eyes on, or whatever… After my ah-ha moment I didn’t lose tons of weight at first, Yes I did lose more in the beggining but after was a bit slower. It definetely was a result of being active, making smarter meal choices, and getting to know what’s good and what’s not. With all that now I can say that I rule my body, to some extent, If I want to lose weight I know how, if I want to put on muscle I know how. My tip would be get smarter about your food and body and carry on. Even if you lose only a kg or two a year, think what a difference it will make 10 or 20 years down the road! But of course, you’re able to lose much more. Don’t OVER estimate what you can do in a year or month, and don’t UNDER estimate what can be achieved in the LONG run.