How to stick with Your Fitness Goals

Before we get to far there are two questions to start with:

Are you looking to get or stay motivated, but can’t seem to find the enjoyment of working out?
Do you like beer? (Or coffee? Or wine?)

If so, I have an important distinction for you to consider:

Fitness is just like beer; it’s an acquired taste.

Now I realize some of you have ALWAYS enjoyed working up a sweat. You are one of the lucky people happy to work out and push your body. And that’s fabulous.

But like most, perhaps you don’t find yourself naturally drawn to the joys of exercise?

Maybe you didn’t have fun exercising as a teenager?

Perhaps the thought of getting your heart rate up makes you sweat.

Well if you’re like me, I have GREAT news. You can learn to actually enjoy — or sufficiently tolerate — your weekly servings of fitness. I promise!

I know this is true.

Because you like beer.

Or 99% dark chocolate.

Or wine.

Or coffee.

You see, these are all acquired tastes. No child that immediately loves these items.

In fact, you may have NEVER come to enjoy some of these flavours.

For instance, I am still not a big fan of most kinds of beer.

While beer and I never did become great friends, I have come to acquire many tastes. Dark chocolate is one of my very best friends.

And here we arrive at the takeaway for you…

Even if you truly don’t like to workout now, you would be amazed at how you can grow to love something with repeated exposure.

Sure, maybe you and I will never have trouble sleeping because we’re SO excited about an athletic event the next day.

But when you focus on the process…

When you commit to consistently showing up for your workouts…

You may find yourself starting to crave some activity. At the very least, you won’t quite feel yourself if you DON’T make time each week to get your sweat on.

The key is doing it long enough to really develop a habit.

And when you’re learning to drink coffee, you may need lots of sugar and cream. Similarly when you’re starting a fitness journey, the MOST important thing is finding modalities you actually like.

The LAST thing you want to do is grind through fitness that’s not fun for you.

The annoying part: you will have to try different stuff to find out what you like. And that means stepping into the discomfort of not being great while you try it out.

For instance, some of our Members LOVE the individualized training of our in-person small group personal training. They get lots of interaction with a coach, and a small group of like-minded people to banter with as they train.

But SGPTs are just not everyone’s jam.

Now here’s the trick:

You have to give different types of exercise enough tries to see if it’s actually a fit for you. Because until you get the hang of it, it’s going to feel a bit awkward at first.

Furthermore, most of the benefits of exercise — more energy, improved mood, increased strength, more strength, better sleep — take several weeks to become noticeable.

While I can’t guarantee that any given fitness choice will be the right fit for your preferences, I CAN promise you two things:

There ARE fitness activities out there that you’ll come to enjoy (or sufficiently tolerate) over time.
95% of the time, they’ll be an acquired taste and require at least several sessions for you to get a feel if a given modality is a love match.