Do You Have To Give Up Your Life To Get In Shape?
It’s easy to compare ourselves to others with enviable physical capabilities and despair at the thought of never being able to attain a similar level ourselves.
Have you ever found yourself thinking ‘I wish I looked like (insert well known individual here)’?
Thing is, once we compare ourselves it’s very easy to fall into making assumptions. Assumptions can turn into beliefs which are often irrelevant or even limiting.
This process rarely leaves us feeling better about ourselves and almost never helps on the journey towards our goals.
So before we move on, what are your beliefs about getting in shape?
You’ve got to live in the gym?
You need to eat salads every meal?
You have to sweat until you feel sick?
You need to slam a protein shake every few hours?
Most of the above probably would contribute towards getting in shape.
The good news is you don’t have to do any of them if you don’t want to.
So what?
Let’s say someone you admire does live in the gym, they do eat a lot of salad and they enjoy gruelling sweaty workouts. So what?
There are thousands of examples of people using different approaches to get in shape. Your job isn’t to copy them all, it’s to find out which one suits your lifestyle so you can stick at it long enough to get the result you want.
Mo Farah is in phenomenal shape, but running fast for hours on end is going to be near impossible for almost anyone to sustain.
Serena Williams is in incredible shape, but hitting tennis balls hard for hours each day might not fit with your schedule.
Jennifer Lopz is renowned for her muscle definition, but I’d bet she has more time and money to prioritise her fitness than most.
The point is, it doesn’t really matter how someone else got in shape. You need to find a method you can stick with.
Train for your goal
It should go without saying, that the plan you put in place actually moves you towards where you want to be.
Something is almost always better than nothing, but there will come a point in your fitness journey where you may want to hone in on your exercise and make it more specific.
For example, if you want to get leaner and look a bit more athletic, then only performing cardio will help get you moving in that direction. But there will come a point when you’ll have to start resistance training if you want to progress further.
Last thing to remember is consistency, because nothing works without it.
Consistency is often misunderstood: it doesn’t mean doing something as often as possible, that’s perfection. It means doing the best you can on any given day and accepting that stuff will interrupt your efforts which is ok.
Nutrition Habits
Getting in shape is a lot easier if you have a basic appreciation of how what you eat influences your progress. It takes a lot less effort and a lot less time to reduce a few calories from your diet than it does to go out and burn them. And because we’re talking about getting in shape without giving up your life, this is an important one.
In as simple a format as possible, this means you need to focus on:
1. Eating in a calorie range that allows for some flexibility that gives you enough energy to function but also gets you into a calorie deficit to burn fat.
2. Eating enough protein to stimulate muscle recovery and help keep you feeling full throughout the day.
There is a trade off
The leaner, more toned and fitter you get, the more difficult it becomes to improve. Think of it like a ladder - at the bottom you can do a little and get a lot, but at the top you must do a lot to get a little.
There will come a point where the behaviours and changes required to progress further than where you’re currently at, outweigh the benefits that being in better shape brings.
This settling point is impacted by a large number of factors (friends, family, genetics, culture etc) but it is different for everyone. Learning to appreciate where this point is for you will be invaluable and help when those pesky comparisons come knocking.
Some people love pushing the boundaries and seeing how far they can go, but that doesn’t mean you have to, too.
Summary
Hopefully, you can see, getting in shape doesn’t require you to give up your life. It does require some thought and planning, but I think it’s a very small price to pay for what you get back in improved self-confidence and general life satisfaction.
Try not to concern yourself with what others are doing, and instead focus on what you can make a part of your life. If it isn’t optimal, that's ok because you can refine the process further down the line.
Lastly, remember being in impressive condition often requires impressive action. Finding your settling point where trade-off matches reward will be helpful long term.
