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The Psychology of Getting in Shape · SOTA Personal Training Podcast

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the SODA Personal Training
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Podcast. We help busy adults get strong
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and fit and stay that way for a really long time.
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I'm coach Sean here with coach Phil.
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How we doing, Phil? I'm good, man.
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Good, good. Today we are talking about the
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psychology of getting in shape. OK.
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And I realized when I was prepping for this for a couple
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minutes, Phil, that this is going to be what are the most
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fun episodes we've done so far. I think so feels that way.
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See. But you don't know why though.
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I don't. Well, I I have my own reasons.
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Here's my reason. Yeah.
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We're gonna be talking to two different people, two different
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types of people, OK? Two different archetypes.
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OK, 'cause I, I know how this is gonna go.
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Yeah, I know some of the things you're gonna say, and I know
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some of the things I'm gonna say.
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And one type of person is gonna listen to this.
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They're gonna listen to the things that I say.
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And they're gonna say I can't stand that dude, but they're
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gonna listen to you. And then some of the other
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people are gonna listen to all your stuff and say I cannot
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stand this dude, but they're gonna like what I say.
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Exactly. That's a very good point.
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This is gonna be great fun. Do you want to start which?
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Which archetype should we should we make happy 1st?
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Oh. Let's make everyone happy, Sean.
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All the time, you know, I think things will probably come out of
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the works as we talk kind of through them.
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There's there's, you know, an outline to have different,
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different things about the psychology of, well, what gets
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us to start it, What keeps us in it?
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What has us fall off all that? The cycles, the yo yoing, what
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actually keeps us anchored? So I don't have a great way to
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start. I think it's going to just come
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through naturally. But I know what you're saying.
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Then I'll say it this way. You got to get your mind right
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before you get your body, right, Right.
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OK, so it's mindset, right? We have to somehow adjust our
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mindset because it's all about, it's about habit change
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ultimately, right? We want to change our bodies.
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We want to get into great shape. We have to change little habits.
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And those habits start with the mind first, OK?
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You have to decide. I'm going to do this differently
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each day than I've been doing before.
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And it's tough to change those habits as we know right now.
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I think that, you know, 'cause from your perspective, it's
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like, OK, you do have the background in psychology, right?
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And you've worked with thousands of people as a personal trainer,
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right? So what's like the biggest, you
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know, if if it's about the psychology of getting into
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shape, what is the biggest roadblock for people or why do
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people not start on the journey, if that makes sense?
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Well, when I first when I first started it, Jim, I thought,
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well, I like I like Physiology, like how the body works.
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I came from a background of pain and I was like, I want to help
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people kind of get pain free and feel better and you know, unlock
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that that more kind of that that body, that healthier body and
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mind, right, look good, feel good, all that.
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And after I trained, after a few years being very apparent that
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no, no, this is, this is a psychology job.
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How do we get people to do things they don't want to do
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because they're uncomfortable, It's inconvenient.
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Every system in our body tells us not to.
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So it really does boil down to, you know, getting in shape isn't
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a fitness problem. It's not even a time problem.
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It's, it's, it's a behavior and psychology problem for a lot of
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people. They just can't stick with it in
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a lot of cases, even if they're doing it regularly, even working
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with us, it's still really tough.
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So at the end of the day, it does come back to like, yeah,
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setting the right goals, like taking time to think about it,
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because, man, we don't rise to our goals.
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We fall to our systems, right? So we don't want to rely on
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motivation because we know what that does, right?
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It's seasonal it. Pumps you up, it pumps you up
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and then inevitably it fades away and you're like, I don't
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want to do it. So you have to have a system in
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place that you just do every day or every week or whatever, like
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regardless. Like brushing your teeth, You
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know, filling your gas up at the gas station, right?
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Whatever it is, your fitness habits have to be the same way
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as brushing your teeth. Basically.
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They do. Basically, they should be that
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simple. They should be that, like, just
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rinse and repeat, right. And so like, that's a big
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overarching take away that, you know, for most people, Like, if
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you learn one thing from this episode, probably learn the fact
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that you just need to get, you know, repeatable, sustainable
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habits that make you a little bit better than you previously
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were all the time, you know, in terms of getting stronger, maybe
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burning somebody fat, moving better, moving more in general
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for most people. But yeah.
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It really boils down to like really one question, right?
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The behaviors throughout the day, all the things we, we do or
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don't do, if we can just ask yourself, is this thing I'm
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about to do? Is this going to get me closer
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or take me further away from what I want to ultimately do?
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And if the answer to that is closer, more often than not,
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that's traction right there. Like you're getting there.
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But if we don't even ask ourselves that question, right,
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come back to awareness. It's we're just never going to
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get our our feet to dig enough into the ground to move forward.
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It's my ice Mountain metaphor, really.
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OK, this is metaphor number. What's the eyes?
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Sorry, sorry. I gotta get some some studs in
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your tires to get up Ice Mountain or you're gonna slide
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down. That's fair.
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That's no one day when when maybe I'll just do it myself.
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I'll, I'll walk the whole metaphor 'cause I think it helps
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articulate like what we're trying to do and why we have to
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do something if we don't want to backslide.
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So we got to think about a little bit.
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Yep. If I may, I want to just throw
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it out. OK?
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You know, for for the this is the first time I'm gonna say
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this and then I'm gonna reference this multiple times
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throughout the episode. OK.
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Sometimes, in spite of all the psychological stuff that we're
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about to go through, you just need to have the Nike mentality.
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The the Nike. Oh yeah.
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Just do it. Just do it.
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Like, cause for some of you guys listen to this, that's going to
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be the whole thing. Just just shut up and just do
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it. Like just do what you have to
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do, OK? You like, you know it, OK, Lots
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of you guys listen to this. Like, yeah, we could ram a lot
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of podcasts about all the little habit changes you need to make
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and like all the little things like how much protein should I
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be eating and this? And what if I have two drinks a
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week instead of three? Should I?
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Like we could get into all the weeds and all the details, but
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like, you know what you need to do, OK?
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You need to put down the doughnuts.
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You need to put down the alcohol, OK?
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You need to drink some frickin water and have some frickin
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protein and some vegetables and go to sleep before midnight, OK?
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That's what you need to do, OK? That's how we're going to get in
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shape, OK? So you need to just do it.
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You don't need any further analysis of this whole thing,
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right? So for some of you guys, like
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that's going to be the most important psychological piece of
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this whole thing, all right, Is you need to just do it.
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You know what you need to do, OK?
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And you need to just do it every step of the way, every day.
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OK, so there we go. There's my first.
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Just do it right. That honestly, that mentality is
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exactly what a lot of people need to hear, right, is OK, OK,
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OK, fine. Like that does work in the short
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term. And sometimes I think it's
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really good to just say, no, I'm just going to like, I'm not
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going to have all the stuff that makes it so much harder to just
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stay on it, right? Like sometimes it could just be
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binary. Like I've done, I've done this
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for so long. We've done so many challenges
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where we're like, all right, only Whole Foods eat this, no
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alcohol. Do this.
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People feel amazing. But the problem is they, they
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just can't do it forever because they just, none of us have like
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the mental grit to like be so strict for so long unless
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there's something that's so important that we don't have an
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option, like there's like a health risk or something like
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that. So I think there is this
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spectrum and, and what you're, you know, what you're alluding
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to is right, There's people who need to do that to thrive.
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And there are a lot of people and everyone will do well with
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that. It's just a matter of how long
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they can actually do that for and how quickly things are going
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to happen and how permanently long term.
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Yeah, but like, yeah, I agree with that.
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But then it's also like the just do it mentality, OK, If you have
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the just do it mentality, 300 out of the 365 days a year and
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the other 65 you didn't do exactly what you're supposed to
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do, you're still going to do pretty good.
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That's true, right. Yeah, 'cause most people walk
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around, they go 365 days a year without the Nike mentality.
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You know, there's there's no Nike.
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They're like I'm. Kind of doing it.
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They're like I'm. Not a hate on Reeboks, I don't
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freaking know. It's an OK shoe.
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It's a good shoe. Anyway, but like.
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New Balance. But you, you can't have zero
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Nike mentality. You got to have some of that
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Nike. You got to have something.
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Just do it in you, you know? What I think then it comes down
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to is there is there not a middle ground, right, 'cause
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like, you know, 50% of the time, like that's an F, right?
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Like we, we can't, we can't try to do things half the time.
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I think we have to be fully bought in all the time.
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But the system, if it's a strict system, well then we don't have
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to do that all the time or we, you know, we have to do
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something that still meets us pretty darn close.
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They're like, I can do this for like 6 months, you know, and
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that's, that's the whole challenge about how to coach,
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especially things like nutrition, right?
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It's like we don't want anyone to feel bad for eating
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something, especially if whoa, no thank you.
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Especially if it's like that helps them stay anchored to the
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plan, right? So whether you call that 8020 or
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you call that whatever have you, right?
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There's a lot of ways to let me see 1000 ways to skin the cat,
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right? But one of them is just a I
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gotta stop, I gotta stop. I have not gotten traction.
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I am just gonna go all in and see where that takes me.
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And you might have a really surprising result.
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Yes, 'cause this is like, you know, I've worked with lots of
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people and like some people, for some people, the cold Turkey
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method, if I can call it that, I know that's more of a reference
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to specifically like drugs and alcohol, right?
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But like the cold Turkey method on whatever your your vices are,
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whatever the bad things that you consume frequently are, the cold
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Turkey method can work for some people.
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Like I get that for some people it doesn't work very well, you
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know, and they should do things in a more gradual way or more of
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an 8020 rule. But I've met some people who've
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had some great success just being like, you know what, I'm
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done drinking, right? Or I'm done smoking, I'm done
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vaping, I'm done, you know, you name it, I'm, I'm done eating
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pop Tarts, like, I'm done, done, done, period, right?
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And for other people, you know, This is why there's the two
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different archetypes, right, 'cause like for other people, it
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is more like, well, I can't, I'm not gonna totally quit doing
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something forever, right? Or I'm not gonna have like no
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wiggle room in my life, you know?
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Yeah, people come from all sorts of like different backgrounds,
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relationships with food, like disorder and eating habits like,
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you know, alcohol. It's it's there's so much to it.
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So it's really hard. There's no one size fits
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approach. All we can do is like track
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behavior, like what worked, what didn't.
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I would say if anyone listening who hasn't been like, I have
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never just not drank in for three weeks or you know, not,
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you know, or just said no to the things that I I like, I think.
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But what would happen if I didn't, right?
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And a lot of things happen again.
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We've done challenges. We don't do these really anymore
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just because they don't, they're just true restrictive and people
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by the end of it, they just burnout.
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Like we've seen this, like the six week challenge, the four
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week challenge, like have nothing like, you know, chicken
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and vegetables, right? And it works really well and
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people feel more energized. But that next chapter, usually
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people just fall off. It's like the whole problem with
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like the whole 30, right? It's like that's 100% all in
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super strict, huge time commitment and people's lives
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just don't allow for that all the time if there's kids and
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jobs and stuff. So I think something just a hair
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below that is like where most people should strive for in my
11:40
personal opinion. Right.
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Yeah, exactly. And then like, to your point,
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like, OK, there's, there's parts of like that situation, you
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know, where you're busy parent, kids, whatever, like where you
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can apply the just do it mentality.
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I I should be like getting paid by Nike for this.
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But like you should apply the just do it mentality to certain
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aspects of your life. Say, OK, I'm going to make sure
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that every day my breakfast and my lunch is dialed right,
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Because I know that dinner with the family, it's going to be
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hard to eat exactly what I'm supposed to eat, right?
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But and then, OK, if, if it's if the just do it thing is I'm
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going to take a 10 minute walk every day during work to get a
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little extra steps. Like then I'm going to just do
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it and I don't care hell or high water.
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Like I don't care if my boss put a meeting up there at 1:00 PM
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and I'm supposed to do my walk. Well then freaking take the
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meeting while you're walking. Like find a way to make it
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happen, you know, like just just do it.
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Just do it. OK?
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Doesn't mean you have to live a perfect life, but it's like you
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commit to little habit changes, then just do them.
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Rain, snow, sleet or shine, Just do it.
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And that's why you have to be smart when you set, you know,
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you, you, you, you set your commitments, right?
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You make your habits OK. Don't set a commitment saying
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that I'm going to get 14,000 steps every day and do a 90
12:46
minute workout every day. It's not going to happen.
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OK, Say I'm going to work out three times a week for 30
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minutes strength training and then I'm going to walk 6000
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steps a day or something realistic.
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Right, like. Like, you know, realistic habits
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and then stick to them, OK, because you're going to build
13:02
confidence that way, OK? You're going to build confidence
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by saying, OK, I made these the these reasonable habits that but
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they're a shift in the right direction.
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And then I stuck to them for a month or two months or three
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months, right? Rain, snow, sleet or shine or
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bad emotional day, whatever. OK.
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Like just did it the whole time. That's the only place we get
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confidence from. If you think about it is
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something that it was uncomfortable that you
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surrounded, right? And the more challenging or or
13:29
uncomfortable things are, the greater it feels on the back
13:32
end. That's like a workout in like a
13:34
in a much larger scale, right? It's like I didn't want to come
13:37
into the workout. I did the workout as soon as I
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got started, it was easier. And at the end I was like, oh
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man, that was really tough. But I'm done.
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And I'm, I'm so I'm proud of myself.
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Like, there's such a sense of pride there.
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Everybody feels better after workout.
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Like one of my one of my mentors used to tell me this and this
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cliche. But like, have you ever seen
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somebody walking out of the gym looking all mad and sad?
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Like, I don't like myself. It rarely happens.
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OK? They're always a little bit more
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like, yeah, maybe they're like, Oh my God, I hated doing that.
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Rower. You know, whatever.
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They're just being cheap, those lunges, right?
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But like, they feel better. They're like smiling, right?
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Like they come in low, low energy.
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We see this all the time. You come into the gym, low
14:13
energy, your week sucks and you come out, you're like, Oh my
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God, that was hard. But I feel pretty good about
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myself now, right? Yes, exactly.
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Exactly. So you have to remember in
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general that every aspect of fitness that you do like, it's
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going to be hard and you're going to feel better afterwards.
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Yes, exactly. You know, and I I think you
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know, just coming back to like that like restriction or saying
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like just none of this or whatever.
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I think if if I think I was getting here, I never said it,
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but if you haven't tried, right, not doing something for a while
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and you haven't been like, let me let me really push.
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It's like a good week. Now.
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It's not good to start on a week where your kids are starting
14:47
back in school or five tournaments or whatever.
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Like you could argue maybe it is, but you know, just like try
14:54
it and just see what happens. Like just think about it.
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Be like, I'm not going to do it. Let me see.
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And you might surprise yourself at at what you can do.
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Again, it all comes back to that.
15:05
Do challenging things and you know, you don't have to be
15:07
perfect. The point is you're trying to do
15:09
them right. That's that's a big piece of
15:13
just after the several years we've seen people try to do
15:16
things they're not used to doing and they don't want to do and
15:18
they've never done them. Yeah, go for the easy ones
15:23
first. Sure, right.
15:24
Like, like if it's easy for you to cut alcohol, like cut
15:29
alcohol, like if you want to get healthy and like you don't mind
15:33
that going away, go for it. Start there.
15:35
But that's where you can really apply that.
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Just do it mentality, 'cause it's like I can, I can do that
15:40
comfortably enough. I can say absolutely.
15:42
Yeah, like pick the low hanging fruit for you, whatever it is.
15:44
For some people it'll be easier to cut one thing.
15:46
Like, and once again, like I want people to understand who
15:49
listen to me like 'cause I always use the example of like
15:51
cut the alcohol, right? But like that, OK, that doesn't
15:54
mean I'm unwilling to work with you if you drink alcohol.
15:56
Like almost every one of my clients drinks to a certain
15:59
extent, right? So for some clients, you might
16:01
tell me like, hey, you know, I, I drink on a relatively regular
16:06
basis. You might say this to me.
16:07
You might say like, I drink on a relatively regular basis.
16:10
Maybe it's a beer every night, or maybe it's every weekend I go
16:12
out and I have, you know, 3 or 4 with friends, whatever, right?
16:15
And for me, it would be highly inconvenient.
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My life would suck, I think, if I completely cut out alcohol.
16:21
I wouldn't know how to live my social life.
16:23
Whatever. In that case, I'll work with you
16:24
and say like, OK, well, then let's make a strategy.
16:27
Let's say maybe we're gonna just limit it a little bit.
16:29
Maybe we're going to say I'm going to limit to two drinks per
16:31
night when I go out, Right. And, you know, make choices like
16:34
choose some drinks that are a little lower in calories,
16:36
whatever. But like, and, and maybe we
16:38
could cut elsewhere. You know, like Phil just says
16:40
like, it's like the low hanging fruit.
16:41
What is your low hanging fruit? Right.
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It's like, OK, I eat too many like peanut butter crackers and
16:46
pop Tarts, but I love my alcohol.
16:48
OK well then cut your peanut butter crackers and your pop
16:50
Tarts and keep a little alcohol. Yeah, no, it's like the only
16:53
time you're ever going to hear me indoors, people still
16:55
drinking. Yeah, peanut butter and alcohol.
16:58
Yeah, yeah. But.
16:59
Yeah, I think. And no, I think it's perfect.
17:03
We just had a guy come in the other day and, you know, he's
17:06
just like, yeah, I'm having, you know, 6-7 drinks throughout the
17:09
week. And usually it's like just the
17:10
nights out, we go to restaurants and I'm like, yeah, I totally
17:13
get it. I just asked like, do you think
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instead of having like four or five, you'd be doable?
17:18
You could still enjoy yourself if you had one or two, right?
17:21
And absolutely right. So we don't have to say all or
17:25
nothing, right? And then last on that is a
17:29
little hack in your head because it always feels like when we
17:32
restrict things or take them out, it's like we'll call
17:35
negative framing, right? It's like, don't have this,
17:36
don't do this. Don't, don't, don't.
17:39
Sometimes it's good to say, well, I'm just going to have
17:40
more of this in lieu of something else.
17:43
But you don't have to mention it, right?
17:45
Yeah, yeah. And I do think that works for a
17:47
lot of people. I think me I'm a negative framer
17:50
and I like you. Are a negative framer.
17:52
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I like it better that way,
17:54
you know, because I get that for most people, it's like the
17:56
positive psychology is like the better way to do it, you know,
17:59
they'll be like, you know, instead of, you know, don't
18:02
drink soda anymore. It's like drink more water to
18:05
well. Exactly.
18:06
There's a lot more power in saying no.
18:08
There's a psychology to this. Yeah, I've read a few different
18:11
books and it's like sometimes it's good to get to be able to
18:15
say no. It's like the whole motivational
18:16
interviewing thing. It's empowering to say no to
18:18
something. So there's definitely something
18:20
to that. Again, we just don't want to
18:23
like self deprecate but like I don't know.
18:26
I've done that too. Yeah.
18:29
Well, if I may sorry, did you have?
18:31
Something no no, no go for this in the.
18:32
Outline. I'm never sure what's on Like
18:33
you guys when we do these. I'm never sure what's on Phil's
18:35
outline. And I can't read what Chon has.
18:37
Exactly. That's right, 'cause mine's all
18:39
chicken scratch on a whiteboard like Phil.
18:41
Phil makes up like a relatively organized good outline.
18:44
And then I just like go outside and stand in the sun for a
18:47
second, like write some stuff like chicken scratch on this
18:49
board. And on my board right now it
18:50
says like, it's like Nike mentality.
18:53
Couple other things. Nike mentality, couple other
18:55
things. Nike mentality.
18:56
Hit him with that Nike mentality hit him without my Nike
18:59
mentality Just do it just do it 5 things you need to know about
19:03
how to get stronger Do another Rep, do another Rep, do another
19:06
Rep, do another Rep and do another Rep That's the five
19:08
things you need to do. But like, see, sometimes it can
19:11
be simplified to this, you know, to this, to this just do it
19:15
mentality because and like even, OK, like even if you're like,
19:22
let's say you're like, you're really committed, you're like,
19:24
OK, I'm going to, I'm going to get in shape.
19:25
I'm going to go super, super hard.
19:27
One of the common quote UN quote mistakes that you can make is
19:30
you can try to jump in too far and you can try to do too much,
19:34
right? You can overdo it.
19:35
It's it is very easy to overdo exercise.
19:38
OK, I still see people do this all the time.
19:40
I used to do this all the time, right?
19:41
But like in my case, for example, one of my examples of
19:46
taking the Nike mentality to the extreme basically was it was
19:50
during the pandemic, right? So it was like the time where we
19:52
were like, you know, you can't go to a gym for a little while,
19:54
whatever. And like, I'm like, OK, well,
19:56
whatever, life sucks right now. So I'm just going to like, try
19:58
to like get really, really strong or whatever, right?
20:00
And so all I was doing was like, there's this park right next to
20:03
it where I lived at the time, right?
20:04
So it's pull ups and crappy form.
20:07
You know, pull ups and push ups and then air squats like every
20:10
day at this park on a repeat out in the sun in the middle of the
20:14
summer, just like. Like 2020 summer on repeat.
20:17
Bad form, not full extension. Coach Blake would be puking.
20:20
If you watch my pull ups and back then push ups probably not
20:22
that good either. Definitely not a slow eccentric.
20:24
Air squats. What kind of muscle building are
20:26
we going to get out of that from a £200 man just doing air squats
20:29
all day long? Probably not that much.
20:30
ANYWAYS. It's a terrible workout program
20:32
right now. We're dehydrated out in the sun
20:34
of course and just doing it until I almost pass out right?
20:37
And like, so it's the just do it mentality to the extreme right
20:40
now. Is it the best exercise program?
20:42
No. OK.
20:43
But when you do something like that, like when you dive into
20:46
something and you say I'm just going to go all out and I'm
20:48
going to do it, then finally you can you can like start to
20:52
actually like study the thing a little bit more.
20:55
Like at least that's the way I am.
20:56
Like I like to just jump into something and just do it, even
20:59
if my strategy sucks to start. And then like kind of learn as I
21:02
go, you know, which is why for me like, OK, start off because
21:06
that was when I really started getting serious about fitness.
21:08
Like really serious. Like I of course have done
21:10
exercise before and played sports, but like getting really
21:13
serious about wanting to put on some muscle in like 2020, right?
21:17
And you know, so I'm like, all right, I'm all in, let's
21:19
freaking go. So you start off with just just
21:21
push ups, pull ups, push ups, pull ups, air squats until you
21:24
can't breathe no more, whatever, right?
21:26
And then like as I go, it's like, OK, yeah, there's
21:29
definitely smarter ways to go about this.
21:31
There's a lot more that I can learn about exercise, science,
21:33
etcetera, etcetera. Right.
21:35
And so then like, that's why probably by maybe 2022, I had
21:40
really figured out, particularly in my own training and with some
21:44
of the people I was working with at the time, but particularly
21:46
for myself, like the the 80% intensity mentality most days,
21:55
rather than just do push ups till you collapse is the better
21:58
way to approach it, you know, And then of course, there's like
22:01
a system and a structure to like, OK, how should I actually
22:03
program a workout? How should my weak look?
22:06
How should I recover? You know, how much protein do I
22:08
need? How much sleep do I do like all
22:10
these things, right? So I figured it out along the
22:12
way, right? But it started off with just do
22:15
it till you can't do it anymore. Yeah, it's.
22:18
Not a bad attitude. No.
22:19
And that's kind of the whole build the plane, you know, jump
22:22
by the plane, build the plane and weigh down mentality, right?
22:25
Which is like a little grim, right?
22:27
But second metaphor, sometimes you do just have to be like,
22:29
I'll figure it out. Like, you know, I always equate
22:32
fitness to like learning a language, right?
22:34
It's like you have to pick up these skills over time.
22:37
And it'd be awfully scary just to move to some, you know, move
22:41
to a country in South America where you don't speak the
22:43
language and just figure it out, right?
22:45
And that's kind of what fitness can feel like.
22:47
He's like, well, I'm just going in.
22:48
I don't know anything about this.
22:50
I'm uncomfortable, scared, I'm tired, I'm hungry.
22:56
That sounds horrible, right? But that's sometimes what it is
23:00
for a lot of people. So yeah, that's, those are
23:04
absolutely good points. It's like sometimes you just got
23:06
to at least start. Just say yes to it.
23:08
The hardest thing people do is come and sit down with me for
23:11
the first time. It's the hardest, most pivotal
23:14
step, just being like I'm ready to.
23:16
I'm ready to learn more and like just dip my toe in.
23:19
Yeah, it's like, like that's the furthest outside of their
23:21
comfort zone that most people. Get right.
23:23
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, because they're way
23:24
outside of their comfort zone coming in for the first time.
23:27
Yeah, God, what the heck was I going to add?
23:31
I'll let you take it away here. I was getting distracted because
23:33
we got a few a few folks out there in the gym I was going to
23:35
say hi to. So I lost my train of thought
23:37
here, but. Anybody tell them just to do it?
23:38
Yeah, yeah. Just do it now.
23:39
They're already. Doing it, they're not doing.
23:41
It no, they're doing it they're. Doing it.
23:42
OK, good. Yeah.
23:43
They are. They're doing it.
23:43
They don't. They don't need it.
23:44
OK? They're on the team.
23:45
Nike, right? Now they're these guys are
23:47
great. I think it might be worth kind
23:51
of talking about. Well, you know, we've talked
23:56
about the all or nothing kind of mentality before, which again,
23:59
this is it's kind of what we're coming back to is this whole
24:02
like, well, how much is enough? But you know, not too little and
24:05
not all out, right? What typically happens is when
24:10
people start, there's like kind of four cycles.
24:13
I've mapped this out. I have a whole presentation.
24:15
Eventually it'll cover it. You get a seminar or something.
24:18
But it's good to dive into these things.
24:20
There's like these 4 cycles, right?
24:21
It's the motivation spike. And that can come from I'm
24:24
uncomfortable. I don't know, for some people,
24:27
it's like I saw a picture of myself.
24:28
I didn't like it or I got a bad news from the doctor or my God,
24:33
I see my kids or grandkids and I'm like, where am I going to be
24:36
in 20 years? Like something can scare us into
24:38
that or we're like sold on something like proprietary.
24:42
You're like 21 day burn, 21 LB, which I think people are are
24:47
smart enough now they kind of know it's kind of snake quietly,
24:49
but something starts it for better or worse.
24:53
Then typically what happens is the over commitment phase and
24:56
that is like the pivotal. That's the pivotal phase right
24:58
there. That either perpetuates the
25:00
cycle or it doesn't, which is, am I over committing so much
25:04
that other parts of my life are degrading or they're losing
25:08
quality or whatever? Ask anyone who's trained for
25:10
like an Iron Man or like a bodybuilding competition.
25:13
Like it's going to get really tight in your social circle.
25:16
Right. Oh yeah, it's going to get you
25:18
if you're trying to. Buy no one's going to want to be
25:19
you're not going to be fun around.
25:21
Take it from me if you're going too hard.
25:24
And and so anyway, you know, that's just we're over
25:28
committed. We say we're going to do too
25:29
much, too much, too quickly after too little for too long.
25:32
And then something pulls us out. We get sick.
25:35
I can't get sick, hurt your knee, whatever it is, it could
25:39
be a million things and it pulls us out and then the disruption
25:44
and drift where we're like, OK, you're totally off track.
25:48
We start to feel bad about it and and and that leads to the
25:51
four cycle, which is the guilty reset.
25:53
Well, now we're back in an uncomfortable place again and
25:56
the cycle perpetuates itself. So the the magic here again is
26:01
saying just do it to the plan. That's like, yeah, I'm pushing
26:05
hard to do these things, but I'm not having to be perfect.
26:09
I'm not burning myself out. And that definition.
26:12
You're saying just do it to a reasonable plan that moves you
26:15
forward, but that is reasonable within the, you know,
26:18
constraints of your life, basically, Yeah, Yeah.
26:20
Like we talked about the habit dial a little bit, right.
26:23
It's like, you know, level one through 5, right?
26:25
Five. That's like you are in a week
26:27
that's very graceful. You're like, I had tons of extra
26:31
time. Somehow.
26:32
I feel great. Sleep's been good, nutrition's
26:34
been good. I feel really good.
26:36
I'm ready to do a little bit more.
26:37
But the key here is that level 4 is actually where most weeks
26:41
should live. We're like, yes, there's going
26:44
to be a couple pop ups, but we can still stick to the plan in
26:48
the system and the plan allows for that.
26:51
So I think everyone thinks they got to go level 5 all the time
26:54
or they're failing. Sure.
26:55
Yeah. And that's where I think that
26:58
cycle gets perpetuated. So giving yourself grace, be
27:00
like, yeah, level, you know, 3, but definitely 4.
27:05
But even creating a system for level 1, what does it look like
27:08
if you get sick for two weeks? What?
27:10
What happens if, you know, you lose your job?
27:13
Like what? Whatever have you?
27:16
We got to think about those scenarios.
27:18
That's why this stuff's so hard. No one does that.
27:21
Right. Yep.
27:23
Is this the part where I do another plug for the?
27:25
Just do it. Mentality, you say?
27:27
Yes, yeah, I think it's about time.
27:28
Well, yes. Yeah, I think this is my fourth
27:31
run at the just do it mentality like, OK, but here's see, here's
27:34
another another plug for it. Right.
27:36
You guys tell I like like some of the stuff Phil said just like
27:38
went one in one ear and out the other for me.
27:40
I'm like, well, back to my just do it.
27:42
Still like, huh? Did you do it though?
27:44
I wasn't. Listening did you do it for the
27:48
but like, OK, I've phrased this in different ways before on the
27:51
podcast, like most of the time as an adult, as an adult, you
27:57
will not be feeling like you want to work out or you won't be
28:00
having like a great day and feel like you have the energy to do
28:03
the things that you're supposed to do, right.
28:05
This is going to happen for so many different reasons.
28:07
You're sleep deprived, OK, You hate your boss.
28:10
Work sucks. Your kids are driving you crazy,
28:13
right? Your knee or your low back or
28:15
your shoulder is hurting like a little bit, right?
28:17
Like all there's going to be all these different reasons that you
28:20
don't want to work out and you don't want to do the thing, OK,
28:22
But you should just do it, OK? Now, it doesn't mean do it in a
28:27
way that's going to hurt yourself, OK?
28:28
That's one of the things that we can work with you here is like,
28:30
OK, well, having some low back pain today, OK, Well, we're not
28:33
going to do any like heavy squatting or dead lifting or
28:35
anything like that. You know, we'll work around
28:36
that, right? But like there's so many ways we
28:39
can do a good workout. We can just do it regardless of
28:42
what your limitations are, OK? You can come in here with a
28:46
headache, dehydrated, 3 hours of sleep, low back pain and
28:50
shoulder pain with your kids driving you crazy and I can
28:53
still give you a good appropriate workout for that
28:55
day. OK, because that's the thing.
28:58
If, like, if we decide not to, to just do it every day that
29:02
we're not feeling perfect, well, we're never going to do it.
29:05
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I won't mention the name, but
29:09
there's a woman I've worked with for, yeah, almost like 10 years
29:13
now. You know, she is comes in, we
29:15
can't use hands, there's arthritis and there's stuff
29:17
going on. We haven't used her hands to
29:19
work out in about 5-6 years. So we work out every time she
29:26
misses one out of 25 sessions, if that, right?
29:30
And just creature habit routine. I mean, here's the here's the
29:35
thing with that. This comes back this idea that
29:37
like there's identity and then there's outcomes, right?
29:41
So we tend to do fitness stuff or eat a certain way or go to
29:46
bed at a certain time for an outcome.
29:49
But it's usually a little too short sighted, right?
29:52
Like the the I want to lose, you know, 20 lbs and and what, why,
29:59
for who, when? Back to the why?
30:01
It's, it really is though, because it's like, well, what
30:04
happens when you get there? What else is going to keep you
30:06
anchored to that process of then keeping it right and and getting
30:10
out of that yo-yo cycle of starting, stopping.
30:13
A lot of people have lost 1015 lbs and then it comes back on or
30:17
they've been their good routine and fallen off.
30:20
There's always something that's going to interject.
30:21
So my point to this is there's this idea of like identity and
30:25
this is this is the big mindset shift piece of this is like you,
30:30
even if you don't think you are or that you know, at your core
30:34
you're not. If you tell yourself I'm the,
30:36
I'm the kind of person that works out for three days a week,
30:39
That's that's who I am. That's what I do.
30:40
I go to bed on time. I do this.
30:42
There's a psychological hack to doing that that will guide
30:46
behavior without you having to actually do it as much.
30:50
It sounds kind of wonky, but this has been studied.
30:53
This is like James clears Atomic Habits.
30:56
Like you have to believe that's what the behaviors are.
30:59
If you think you're faking it, you know, and maybe this is, you
31:04
know, speaking to this certain archetype of like, yeah, I'm
31:07
going to fake it till I make it versus like, no, I'm not doing
31:11
it and I need to get on my get on my shit and do it again
31:14
different. But this is one that's helped a
31:16
lot. I think people just at their
31:18
core of who am I as a human being and what do I do and why
31:22
am I doing it? Exactly.
31:24
And you want to be able to have some dignity and authenticity
31:26
when you lace up your Nikes. That's what I'm going to be able
31:28
to say. I just did it OK.
31:30
That's right. That's just.
31:32
Do it but yeah, to your point, like we do start to identify
31:35
with certain things like, you know, yeah, once we well we just
31:39
do it enough, we work out enough like, yeah, I do work out three
31:41
days a week, rain, snow, sleet or shine, whatever, right.
31:44
Like regardless of what's going on in my life, I work out
31:46
traveling. I work out at the hotel gym.
31:48
I actually do the workouts. Oh, this one's going to bite a
31:51
little bit I actually do the workouts at the hotel gym that
31:54
that Sean and Ronan, Blake and Ben and Maddie and Claire
31:56
programmed for me. You guys, some of you guys
31:59
listening, some of you members listening all right, I got to
32:02
call you out on a little bit on something.
32:04
OK, I love you guys, but sometimes you guys say you're
32:06
going to work out when you're traveling for work or something
32:09
like that. You got a hotel gym.
32:10
We put a workout in that the trainer hook up for you and
32:13
you're like, I didn't actually do it.
32:15
You should do it. You guys should start doing it.
32:18
OK, do those hotel workouts. It could be a 10 minute workout.
32:21
You guys. OK, do one set of every
32:23
exercise. I know you got 10 minutes and I
32:25
know they have a hotel gym and I know the dumbbells go up to at
32:27
least 40 lbs. That's right, you can just step
32:29
in there and something good will happen, even if it's not the
32:31
workout that we put together. But I know I.
32:34
Think it's something? Going to happen.
32:37
Yeah. Can you put a workout?
32:38
I'm like, you want to be like, are you going to do it?
32:41
I'll start to ask you like, why will if you're going to do it?
32:43
Because I don't want to take 15 minutes, put together a good
32:46
workout and figure out what equipment you have.
32:48
If you're not going to, I'll probably still do it.
32:51
But stare at him for a SEC. Are you going to do it?
32:54
The only way I found this works if you have texted a selfie or
32:59
something afterwards, text me you drenched in sweat at the
33:02
gym, in the mirror, in the gym, Not just, you know, bottle of
33:05
water on your shirt and tell me you did it, but log it and train
33:09
aerobic because that's just too much work not to do it.
33:12
And if you're willing to go to that length and extend not to do
33:15
it, kudos to. You, if you're going to fake it,
33:18
so you're going to fake it that well.
33:19
Then I applaud to it. But but yeah, there you go.
33:23
Just do it. Travel's a tricky one, right?
33:26
It's like, oh, I got this hotel gym.
33:27
It's kind of like thinly lid and a couple dumbbells.
33:29
What do I do? Just get in there.
33:32
It's a playground. Don't even.
33:33
Don't even get me started on having to have the perfect
33:35
workout environment, guys. Guys, just do it.
33:37
Just do it. Full episodes on.
33:38
That wherever you are, OK. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly
33:45
what what other big notes like what else do you how many more
33:48
do its did you get all through your do its?
33:51
I can do plenty more. I mean, I could give examples.
33:54
We could tell anecdotal stories about times I either just did it
33:56
or maybe the times that I didn't do it and the ramifications of
33:59
not doing it. You know, I could.
34:02
Yeah, I I could. I know you.
34:04
Talk about other. Well, one thing I think it is
34:08
worth mentioning too is like God is there's not like a lack of
34:13
desire, right? Because he's like the shoes I'm
34:15
always in is like, life is like as busy as ever ever been and
34:20
it's going to probably be busier, right.
34:21
And this this idea of just do it is it's almost frustrating
34:26
because like it kills, it kills me.
34:30
Sometimes I'm like, well, yes, I want to freaking do it.
34:32
But then there's literally something that does take
34:35
precedence over my own routines and and health.
34:38
And largely it's that's kids. Sometimes that's work and that's
34:41
that's on me. But like these obligations that
34:44
pull us away from that one thing keeps us aligned.
34:47
And then there's massive guilt overdoing that too.
34:51
And it's just a mind. I'm going to say it's a mind
34:55
fuck, right? It's like, why can't we do this?
34:57
It was so easy before, right? We're comparing myself to a life
35:00
previous. And so that's where like all my
35:03
empathy comes from is like, there's so many curveballs now
35:06
in life that if I drop this one thing, these other things are
35:10
going to get dropped. Like something always has to
35:12
give. And that I think is such a
35:15
struggle of like most, you know, adults 3540 plus and it is just
35:19
the season of life in a lot of cases.
35:23
But but in any case, I don't know, I'm just kind of going
35:26
off, I'm going to tangent there, but that's I mean that we get
35:30
it, we get it. But that's also why you hire a
35:33
trainer to help you stay connected.
35:35
And like then we're not having to decide.
35:39
We are just doing it. The workout is scheduled.
35:42
All you have to do is decide to get in your car and show up
35:45
here. You don't have to decide to do
35:47
that. And then come with the workout
35:48
and decide where you're going to go and how long can you be there
35:50
and XYZ you just, you're just here.
35:53
I think that's why this works so well is it removes decision and
35:59
emotion from it to a large degree.
36:02
Correct. So just keep making sure your
36:06
sessions are booked on a recurring basis.
36:09
Honestly, you said just multiple times over the last minute and
36:13
every time you said just I'm like, he's going to say it, he's
36:15
going to do it. He's going to say just do.
36:17
It but I missed the mic. That's hilarious.
36:22
But then then do you find that happy middle of the two right?
36:24
The just do it and I mean that we know how impactful it is to
36:29
have things on your schedule. So just book it, change it, just
36:33
book it. Just book it.
36:35
Just do it. No, it's funny.
36:36
People sign up. We do it for them.
36:37
We're like, here's your schedule.
36:38
Like this is your routine now here's your system for workouts.
36:41
We've done that. It's it's done.
36:42
You don't have to do that anymore.
36:44
They're like, it's good because I don't want to think at all
36:47
about this. It's like, yeah.
36:50
And then we work on you thinking about the other things outside
36:53
of here once you're coming in more regularly.
36:55
And that's where we help you with those other systems, too.
36:58
Gentle nudges, constant gentle pressure is what moves the
37:02
needle, I think eventually for a lot of people.
37:05
Wow. Sean and Phil have been telling
37:06
me to go to bed a little bit earlier for three years now.
37:09
I think I'm going to do it. I'm willing to give a little a
37:12
little harder than a regular nudge.
37:13
I'm willing to give it a little a little harder.
37:15
Just do it OK if anybody needs it as well.
37:18
OK. So, yeah, this this all comes
37:20
back to the the archetype of different clients and what what
37:23
we all need. And it's, it's very
37:25
multifaceted, but we're, we're on board with you.
37:28
Again, if we don't care, just get in here, we'll take care of
37:31
it. We'll, we'll figure out a system
37:33
for those weeks that it does work well and for weeks that it
37:35
doesn't, you know, love it. There's, there's a whole bunch
37:40
more that I have, but I'm we're not going to be able to get into
37:42
it. I spent 25 minutes saying just
37:45
do it. I spent 25 of the 38 minutes so
37:48
far was just do it. What are you going to name this
37:50
one? Just do No, We're going to name
37:51
it the Psychology of getting in shape.
37:53
And then parentheses just do it. No, no, no.
37:55
That's not going to be no, hold on.
37:57
I have a plan for how to hook up with the outline or whatever.
38:00
OK, well. Yeah, this is 1 we'll come back
38:03
to in different ways, but it was good just to talk about it, I
38:06
think just kind of more objectively.
38:09
Phil's pissed because I took over too much of the time with
38:11
Just do it. No, no, I'm past that, Sean.
38:13
OK, He was pissed. We've done enough of these.
38:15
I know the flow. I I know what to expect.
38:18
And what? Yeah, and what not to expect.
38:21
We're good. Thanks for listening, everybody.
38:23
We'll see you on the next one. Go do it and.
38:27
Just do it. All right.
38:28
Peace. Thank you everybody.