Why Can They Do It And I Can’t?

The pic below is part of a series of Olympic athletes who all appear different despite being in peak physical condition!

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We all get to this point and get frustrated when we see other people staying healthy, training regularly, eating well, losing weight or staying in great shape year round…

So why?

We always compare ourselves to other people. It’s human.

But often our comparisons are not done fairly and we forget about some of the important details.

We get frustrated when someone else is stronger than we are.

We often forget that they may be from a family where strength is one of their strengths.

Or they may have been training for 10 -20 years and have already build a great foundation of strength.

You compare them to you, when you’ve only just started regular strength training.

It takes time and consistent effort to build strength, and there’s no short cuts. You’ve just gotta do the work.

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We are secretly angry at that person who is lean all through the winter and even more amazing in summer.

What we often don’t know is they have amazing genetics and have that advantage up their sleeve.

But we also don’t factor in that they have also built up a set of habits that keeps their food intake in check.

Those habits may have been built over many years and even come from their family situation as they grew up.

I’m lucky enough to have grown up in a family where we ate pretty well and all of us exercised regularly.

It means I’m already ahead of the game with eating predominantly meat and vegetables, and you all know I can’t not train, even if it’s just a short walk.

We all see that person running at the same time every day, year after year.

You know, that guy who you see even if it’s raining and never even seems to be working that hard.

Or that friend of yours who gets up for a 6am class every day at the gym before work.

We want to be that consistent, but we just can’t pull it together.

What we don’t see is the series of habits behind the scenes that allow them to make that commitment.

There are likely meals planned, food prepared, a job that allows them to turn up at whatever time, perhaps no kids or a very organized partner or family and so many other possibilities.

They may have designed their work around their lifestyle. It may have taken them years to set this up.

It may have meant years dedicated to other things and just fitting exercise in before it became a priority.

It may have been a health scare that set them on this path.

While it’s easy to compare our situation with others from the outside, when we really get to know the story of that person, we often learn about a very difficult situation that helped shape their lives into what it is now.

This is what happened to me with Chronic Fatigue, but I had been looking for answers to real health since I was 21. I asked for it.

When your health becomes your highest priority, you find a way to fit in what you need and limit what you don’t really need.

So why don’t you start to design how you would like your life to be, then slowly get to work on it?

This applies not only to your health and fitness, but to everything you do.

If you decide you want something one way and work towards it every day, you’ll probably get there.

If you decide that’s not possible for your life, that’s ok too.

In my short life, I’ve made decisions on how I want to live and always been pleasantly surprised when I eventually get there after years and years of working towards it.

And looking back, I realize that it wasn’t that much different to just going with the flow.

If it was, at least it was an adventure, and I really love adventure.

So stop comparing yourself to others, and just compare you now to you 1, 3, 5 and 10 years ago or however long it is.

Around a year ago I’d just finished a 2 week juice fast and dropped down to 63kg.

A year later I’m weighing a much healthier 77kg and feeling a hundred times better, despite not being able to sleep properly.

I’m training regularly, been able to breakdance and do weapons training, eating better and feeling good before I head overseas.

If you are better now than you were 3 years ago, great. Things might be working better for you.

If you are not so good, what else is going on?

Have kids crept into the picture, or has a new job changed things for you or whatever else has changed?

Whatever it is, that’s ok.

Your health and fitness journey is uniquely your own and only you have to power to shape where it leads you.

We’ve still got half a year to go, and you can do some incredible things in that time, if you choose to.

I’m going to.

I’ve got big plans and I’m swinging for the fence, even though I’m sick.

I don’t even know if those things are possible, but if I don’t try, how will I know?

Same goes for you.

So go do what you want to do because you can, if you want to.


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