Latest / Fit for Hiking / Ep. 87 Why Personalized Fitness Plans are the Key to Success
Transcript
- Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a longtime fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict and combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking. I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for Hiking podcast. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the fit for Hiking podcast. This is your host, Brady. And today we're going to be talking about why personalized fitness plans are the key to your success. If you are hitting plateaus, if you are kind of stuck in the exact same cycles and you find yourself kind of still just unhappy with your progress despite putting in an effort, you know, maybe you are someone who, like, really works hard. And you show up to your workouts and you, you do the things that you feel like you're supposed to be doing, yet you're not seeing results, or you're someone who just can't seem to get going and actually stay in motion, right? Like, you start something, do it for a few days, then something comes up in your schedule or something unplanned happens, throws you off your game, and you completely just get off track and cannot get yourself on for another few weeks. And then it's like this cycle of I'm on, then I'm off, I'm on, then I'm off. So if you kind of fall into either of those categories of just struggling to get the results on your own or get momentum going on your own, then I strongly recommend listening to this episode, and we're going to talk about why personalized fitness is an absolute game changer for at least a season of your life. This doesn't have to be something that you do forever, but how much more effective would it be to actually do something for six months? That changes the trajectory for you, actually gets you the results you want. Gives you the habits and tools to keep doing it on your own versus just spending. Year after year in this vicious cycle because you refuse to do something different. Okay, so I'm definitely going to give you a little bit of real talk today a little. Bit of tough love because I think sometimes we get so caught up in our patterns, um, that we. Just refuse to be open to anything else because we don't want to spend the money or. We're just not sure about doing something that we haven't done before or. It's scary to think about getting outside of our comfort zone and really like investing the time and energy into something. But ultimately, if something is worth it to you and you are not getting the results you want. Doing the same thing over and over again is actually the definition of insanity. If you're expecting a different result and you're just still doing the same things that you were doing in 2024, in 2023, and you're like, no, it'll be different this time. That is incorrect thinking. So let's dive into why personalized fitness plans are the key to success. So they definitely tend to get the best results because they're tailored to an individual's unique needs, goals, and circumstances. So let's go over eight reasons why this is the most effective approach. If you're if you're serious about making changes, actually reaching your goals, and not just kind of being wishy washy anymore, right? So one is they're actually targeted to your goals. And this might sound very cliche, but a personalized program is going to be designed with your specific goals in mind, whether that's weight loss, muscle gain, improving endurance and enhancing mobility. And your approach to workouts, nutrition, non exercise activity, etc. is going to be entirely different. If your goal is building muscle versus fat loss versus improving your hormone health, versus training for an endurance event like a big hike or a race. We can't just approach everything the exact same because that's when we get suboptimal results. For any of those, like if we're just kind of following a generic thing that we found on on TikTok or Pinterest or a blog or whatever, but it's not actually customized towards your specific goals, then what are we doing here? Then we're just going to get kind of these ambiguous results, right? You might see initial results right away if you've been doing absolutely nothing, but over time, that's just going to kind of taper off because you're not specifying what you're trying to achieve. Right. So we have to make sure that. The amount of exercise we're doing, the type of exercise we're doing, the sets, the reps, the stimuli that we're working on are aerobic versus anaerobic energy systems. All of these things we have to take into consideration what is the end goal, because some of these goals can be conflicting. Like I've talked about this before, where if you're training for a marathon, but you also have this goal of fat loss, those goals are actually kind of at odds. I know a lot of people associate running with with weight loss, but oftentimes when we're striving for performance related goals like a marathon or a strength competition or whatever that might be, that's very performance driven. You're going to have to eat to fuel for that event. So you're not only will your training be different than if you're just working on body composition, because you're going to be having to do a certain amount of runs per week, you're going to have to build up your volume to build your aerobic capacity and endurance, but also your nutrition is going to look completely different because you're going to have to eat a way more carb focused, and you're going to be having to eat a lot more than if you're eating in a calorie deficit for fat loss. So those two goals really don't complement each other well, because you're not going to be able to perform in a race or a marathon or something like that. Well, if you're in a calorie deficit, which is necessary for fat loss. Okay. So you see what I'm saying here. You have to be specific with your goals, because you got to actually tailor what you're trying to do with your nutrition, your non exercise activity, your workout training program or even just other lifestyle components like your recovery, your sleep, your stress management. Um, all of these different things are going to matter when we're looking at what are your what's your end game goal. Like what are you trying to actually achieve here. So just following a vague program is going to lead to vague results. Number two is that a personalized program is adapted to your fitness level. So everyone has different a different baseline fitness level when they're coming into something, right? Personalized plan considers whether where you're starting from, whether you're a beginner, intermediate or advanced. And this program minimizes the risk of energy injury while allowing for progressive improvements and ensures the program challenges you appropriately without overwhelming you. Okay, so all of that really matters. If we take a one size fits all approach, it will only work for so long and then you start to experience diminishing returns. For example, if someone who has never worked out before or like you've been sedentary for several months to a year, maybe even longer than that starts on a body weight program or a light dumbbell program. They'll likely feel really good results. They're probably going to going to feel very challenged, and they're going to see changes pretty quickly, because that small stimulus is enough to produce a hypertrophy and muscle building response, because their body is used to nothing. Right. So that's going to be very different than if someone has been lifting heavier weights, maybe doing some challenging things for a while, and then they start on a body weight program. They're going to think this is not hard enough for me. I don't really feel like this is doing a whole lot. Or maybe that person from the first example has now been doing the program for eight weeks now. They need something more challenging because that same stimulus is no longer going to change anything for them. We have to constantly progress because our bodies adapt. So the same thing that worked for you eight weeks ago is not going to necessarily work for you today, because you should have gotten fitter and stronger with the consistency. So that's why progressive overload, which we'll talk about in a little bit, and adapting based on what your fitness level is as you get stronger is so important. So while some movement is obviously better than no movement, a program that meets you where you are is optimal for continued progress. Otherwise you're just going to hit plateaus and feel frustrated. Number three, these personalized programs are actually considering the individual strengths and weaknesses. So each person's bodies are going to have different strengths and weaknesses. You know, injuries, risks, things like that. Personalized fitness plans can focus on areas that need more attention, such as improving mobility, strength and balances, or working around injuries. This individualized attention can lead to more balanced and sustainable progress. Because you're not constantly worried about what is. What I'm going to do set me back, because it doesn't take into account this injury that I'm working around, right? So our Mountain Metabolic coaching program, for instance, is customized to each client based on a lot of things, goal related and have it related when they're coming into the program preferences. Schedule all of that, but also injuries and limitations. So if someone historically always has issues with, you know, doing something in a wrist flexion position. So like. Push up position then we're not going to program push ups and push up position into their workouts. Um that's just going to aggravate them. And then they're not going to be able to do the workout properly. So we provide alternatives and everything's going to be customized to them around that. Um, and we also have a physical therapist on staff who can provide consultations for clients if persistent injuries are causing issues during workouts. So maybe they just have like a knee that always bugs them. It has for ten years and it's really flaring up. So then we have them hop on a call with our PT and figure out some drills that they can do in their warm ups and cooldowns, what we might want to avoid in the workouts. So we're taking a deeper look into things instead of just saying, okay, well, try not to do anything to aggravate your knee, just adjust as you go. Good luck. Right? That is why having something that's customized is so much more effective. Saves you the time of just guessing and wondering if what you just did is going to wreck your knee the next day. Pushing through the pain just is not the best solution, especially if it ends up just holding you back long term or it causes you to give up because you are in pain all the time. Number four is customization based on preferences. So a personalized plan is going to take into account what exercises, activities, and types of workouts you actually enjoy. When you're engaged and having fun in your workout, at least most of the time, you're more likely to stick with it long term, leading to better adherence and therefore better results. So within our Mountain Metabolic program, we're always asking for feedback and adjusting our client programs based on what's effective, while also balancing what they enjoy and what works realistically in their life. This is hugely important because we're not going to do what we hate long term, right? You can maybe make it work for like a few weeks. If you really hate something, you can kind of push through it like someone who hates running. If you're really motivated and you think running is the only key to your success, then you might be able to mentally push through and say, okay, I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to run three days a week and you might do it for a week or 2 or 3 or maybe even four. But if you still hate it. You're gonna just stop. Like when? When the weather's poor. When things come up, when motivation fades. When you kind of forget why you even decided to do that in the first place. You're not going to continue because it's not something that you enjoy, or that really fits into your life based on your preferences. So taking into account individual preferences and lifestyle is so important and a really big positive of having something that's personalized. And this is ever changing, right? Like, I've been working with some of my clients for multiple years, and maybe what they enjoyed two years ago is a little bit different than what they enjoy now. That's going to ebb and flow. We're not static creatures. We're very dynamic. We're always changing. We're always adapting. So it's important to have a program that adapts with you. Otherwise you're just going to get bored and stop, right? That's kind of what we do. All right. Number five Of progressive overload and periodization personalized programs can implement. The principle of progressive overload, where intensity gradually increases to continuously challenge the body. That's all that progressive overload means. If you've heard that phrase thrown around and you're like, what the heck is that? I'm not a fitness person. It's just gradually increasing the weights that you're using, the intensity with which you're showing up to your workouts. Some component is getting gradually more challenging to meet your needs as you get stronger, right? Like we said before, our bodies are always adapting. So if you just try to do the same exact weights today versus in December, right end of year, that's that's not going to be effective by December. You're going to be like, this is super easy and I'm not challenging me at all. And that's when we hit plateaus. So progressive overload is very crucial for eliminating plateaus. So they also use periodization, which involves like cycles of training, intensity and recovery to maximize gains or avoid plateaus and burnout. So you can kind of do things physically. You can have like month long workout periods, things like that. But no matter what, there's a structure to it. And you're not just showing up doing random workouts. Like if you think about classes like general workout classes, they have different coaches for every day of the week. And so at a lot of places, not every place, but a lot of places, you're going to show up and you're just going to do a workout that the coach decided to write for you that day. And they have no idea. Maybe like what other workouts you did that week, they don't know what the coach yesterday even programmed. So they might program like a lot of the same stuff. Just maybe you did a ton of like, squats and bicep curls and lunges the day before, but they don't really know that. So they also program all that same stuff instead of focusing on anything posterior chain, hamstrings, glutes, back muscles bouncing out the body in an effective way. So that's where having a progressively overloaded periodization plan makes so much more sense if we want optimal results. And this is where most general app workouts or classes fall short. There's no progression built in. So this is why when you first start showing up for a class, you might see great results. And same thing for like a general app or something like that. You might initially feel happy with things, but that's going to diminish over time because there's no progression built in. There's just not really the structure for it. If you're showing up for a group class or within an app, unless you're pushing yourself to do that on your own, right. So that's why a lot of people do classes and things like that and end up not being happy with their results after a few months to a year. Number six accountability and motivation. This one is absolutely huge. You know, when I first started out with my fitness business, fit for hiking several years ago, I was doing self-paced guides. The fit for hiking guides. If you've been following along with me for a while, you're an OG fan. You might have done one of those guides or seen them, and I love those guys. I still sell them, and they're great for the person who is not willing to invest in a coach or doesn't really need to. Maybe they are very self-motivated and they can do a lot of this on their own. They just have goals related to getting in better shape for hiking. If that is your goal, then these programs can be really helpful for you. Um, however, what I was noticing is they can only go so far. I just felt like I was not maximizing the potential with people because there was no accountability involved. It was just a one time by 80 bucks. Here you go. And so for that rate, obviously I'm not following along with them. I'm not coaching them. I'm not customizing anything for them. There's no like real nutrition component, stress management, looking at things holistically, all these other components that really will affect results. So I just felt like I could be doing more with people I could really like, follow along with people from start to finish. And ultimately, that's why I switched to focusing on a coaching structure, because it's so much more fulfilling for me as a coach. But also it gets the clients so much better results because they actually have the accountability, the structure, the follow through and the customization that you just can't get with the self-paced guide. So, you know, most personalized fitness programs are going to come with some form of support and accountability, whether it's having a coach, regular check ins, progress tracking or all of that. And this is really important for staying motivated and consistent, which is going to be critical for your long term success. So within mountain metabolic coaching, we are very high touch with our clients, meaning we provide a lot of checkpoints, a lot of forms of accountability, zoom calls, message check ins within the app, a group chat, all of these different things. A weekly assessment form. Um, because I have found that that does make the biggest difference in long term success. And, you know, when it comes to actually staying on track, when life throws you curveballs, that that can often be the difference maker between, oh, this unexpected thing happened in February. Like, I had all these goals heading into 2025 and I'm going to crush it. I'm going to feel so different by the end of the year. And then something unexpected hits you in February. And that can be the difference between completely falling off and derailing and letting go of your health altogether versus doing what you can, sticking with it, finding some non-negotiables, and at least doing a few things to keep your health in check. Despite a lot in your life going wrong and falling apart. It makes a big difference when you have someone who is holding you accountable and you really lean into that and and communicate with your coach and let them hold you accountable, right? Um, otherwise, we're just caught in the cycle of falling off the wagon every time things get hard or we lose our motivation, which happens, right? We like can only stay motivated for so long. Then comes discipline, then comes just showing up anyways and doing what we can, even in less than ideal circumstances. We're much more likely to continue caring about showing up for ourselves once that motivation fades, when we know someone else is invested too, and when we've invested in ourselves in a big way. Right. If you have nothing on the line, if you haven't invested in anything, maybe your program or your app costs $5 a month or something like that, you're not going to really care about losing out on that money because you're like, man, whatever. If you're paying $400 a month or something like that, you're gonna care. You're gonna show up when I have invested in things for myself. I'm not going to just fall off the radar with that. Like I'm gonna give it everything I have. Because otherwise, it's a waste of my investment and a waste of my time and money. Right? So having accountability really does make such a big difference when life happens and it will happen. There's never a perfect time to start something. And, you know, just finish it out. And without any obstacles, there's always going to be obstacles. Like we have to figure out how to work around those things. And a lot of that comes down to having someone who's checking in with you, who cares who you can say, like, hey, this week sucks. Like my mental state is terrible. Here's everything that's happened. I need to just, like, break it down. Back to the basics. What can I do here? Having someone who actually is a real person talking with you, and instead of it just being like an automated thing or a self-paced program. All right, number seven. This one is so big. I love this one. Adaptability and feedback. Biofeedback. Okay, so as you progress, a personalized program can evolve with you. And so if you're hitting plateaus or struggling in certain with certain exercises, the program can be adjusted in real time, making sure you're always moving forward. That is really important because like we've said, our lives are not static. We're always changing. Variables in our life are always changing. So what worked for you six months ago may be different now based on factors like changes in stress levels, your schedule, your workload, your location. Maybe you moved your mental state. Like how are you doing emotionally, mentally? Maybe you became a parent or maybe you had a relationship status change. All of these things are going to affect your mental state around your health and your motivation with fitness. So paying attention to all of those factors as well as our biofeedback is crucial. So biofeedback is kind of like the signals that our body sends us through different symptoms, how we're feeling, how we're showing up on a day to day basis. So for example, if you're doing all of the fundamental things consistently, like you're working out 3 to 4 times a week in a progressive manner, um, you're getting your daily steps in. You're hitting nutrition targets that you've set with your coach. You're prioritizing seven plus hours of sleep a night, etc. yet you're still experiencing symptoms like constant fatigue, weight gain, inflammation, puffiness, regular cycles, gut discomfort after eating, bloating, irregular bowel movements, things like that. It's crucial to get to the root of this biofeedback and dig deeper, okay? We can't just slide all of that under the rug and say, well, let's just keep tracking those calories. Let's just keep up with those workouts. If there's clearly something going wrong here? Yes. We need to take an honest look at. Are you actually being consistent? Are you actually hitting the markers that you think you are? Because sometimes, or we're not really keeping accurate track of things, that can be the reason why we're not seeing progress. But for some of our clients and some people, it really is that there's a root issue going on that we need to figure out. So this can be done through things like adding proper supplementation based on the symptoms that you're experiencing, taking labs, adjusting lifestyle and diet components accordingly, adjusting workout intensity to eliminate stress for a certain season, nervous system work, which kind of goes along with the latter gut work, liver flushes, etc. so depending on what the biofeedback is saying, that can kind of indicate what body like, what system of our body is experiencing something that's causing these symptoms. And then what do we do with that information. And these are things that we can do within mountain metabolic coaching. It's been so exciting to. Just gradually increase what we can offer our clients. Um, and heading into 2025, we're adding the ability to do what's called a liver flush protocol. Um, which I'm so excited about and can have so many benefits. Kind of thinking of it like a oil changing for your body that we need to do to flush out the liver when it becomes sluggish with just buildup of environmental toxins, excess hormones, things that just kind of are slowing our liver function down. And our liver actually accounts for about 15% of our basal metabolic rate. So if that's not functioning well, then we're going to have a sluggish metabolism too. Um, and it can also show up in gut issues, adrenal issues. So many different things. So this is something that we're going to be able to implement starting in 2025 within Mountain Metabolic Coaching, which I'm very, very excited about. Um, so anyways, all of these all of these different protocols are important in addition to just the fundamentals. And that's why having a personalized program and a coach who's paying attention to your biofeedback and actually adapting things as you go and as you're seeing these symptoms is so important. If you're just following a basic program or going to a group fitness gym, that's not going to be an option. You're going to have to go to other practitioners, other people, and you're going to have like all these different areas, and they're not going to be cohesive at all. It's all going to be compartmentalized, like, here's my workouts, here's my nutrition. Over here is my holistic health, my menstrual health, my hormone health, my gut health. And nothing is going to be working together as a unit to actually achieve the results that you want, which is so important when we're addressing things like hormone health, adrenal health, gut health, liver health. Um, so it's really important to have someone who knows what they're doing actually paying attention to your biofeedback. And number eight a balanced approach to wellness. So fitness and health are more than just exercise. Like I was just talking about. It's about your diet, your sleep, your stress management, your overall well-being. There's so many components that will play a role in how you're feeling on a day to day basis. Your energy, the results that you're getting in the gym from your workouts. So a personalized fitness program should take these factors into account. A good one at least. Um. And help you make lifestyle changes that support your fitness journey and enhance your overall results. So at Mountain Metabolic Coaching, we do take a holistic approach to fitness instead of just focusing on workouts or tracking calories, because there just is so much more to the picture when it comes to female health and metabolism. This is an extremely individual thing, as each lady coming into the program and listening to this episode right now has a completely different set of hormone levels based on kind of where they're at in life. If you are 20 versus if you are 40 and heading into perimenopause versus if you are 60 and post-menopausal if you've just had a baby. All these different things. Gut health, dieting, history which will really affect your metabolic rate and your metabolic health, potentially, um, your current metabolic baselines coming into the program. What has your body adapted to that you've been doing recently? Are you actually reaching your metabolic potential, or are certain things suppressed due to like a sluggish liver, as we were talking about, or suboptimal gut health or certain hormones not functioning properly, especially like your thyroid can definitely affect your your basal metabolic rate. Um, if you've been under eating for a long time, that's going to affect your basal metabolic rate, um, relationship with food and exercise, stress levels, etc. this is why having a one size fits all or black and white approach is just going to fall short, and having something that's customized to you is the way to go. Like, if you're serious about this, that's the that's the route. Um, so if you've always gravitated towards self-paced plans, generic fitness apps or classes or, or just trying to figure it out on your own, maybe you've just been winging it for years and you're still pretty unhappy with your results, whether it be body composition related or just overall fitness and strength levels. I highly recommend going the personalized route for at least a season of your life. It does not have to be forever. But even investing in yourself for six months can completely change the game and help you push through plateaus and work through some of the root causes of your lack of progress. If you're someone who says, oh, I just can't afford it, or you see the cost of coaching and you're just like, immediately you write it off, right? Ask yourself how much this is ultimately worth to you. Do you want to still feel the exact same way? January of 2026 or January of 2027 and look back and say, I wish I would have just gone for it. Then, instead of wasting all this money on just like random things that didn't actually move the needle. It's often a matter of perspective. Honestly, like we don't bat an eye at several hundred dollar dinners or nights out with friends a week, right? But that can add up to $600 plus a month even. Just like looking at the amount of money you're spending on alcohol going out or coffees or things like that. That all can really add up from anywhere from like 600 to 1000 a month. If you're someone who does that a lot. But we're unwilling to spend a couple hundred bucks a month on a coach or a personalized program. So it's honestly just a matter of priorities if you're tired of being stuck where you are. It may be time to shift your priorities, priorities, and get serious about making some changes. And I totally get it. Like, I was someone who used to try to just always find like the free version of stuff. I would just listen to podcasts or download freebies and things like that to try to get the results that I wanted, whether it was in fitness or in business development, personal development, all these areas. It wasn't until I really started investing in myself in some big and scary ways that I started really seeing the results that I wanted in my life. It took taking like scary action in that way, and investing in things and doing something different that I hadn't done before, before I actually was able to see serious differences in the outcomes. So I totally get it. I've been there. But adjusting your mindset a little bit and looking at this like a long term investment instead of a quick fix makes such a big difference. So I hope that this has been helpful and kind of laying all of this out and also providing a little bit of insight into what Mountain Metabolic coaching does. Well, we offer what it looks like, um, if this is something that has piqued your interest and you feel like this might be the change that you need, it's time to do something a little different. Then I highly recommend applying at the link in our show notes. Um. Apply there. It's just a few questions that you'll answer, and then we will reach out to you from there and schedule a discovery call. This is just our time to kind of chat through your goals here, where you're at coming into things, and then go over all of the details of the program. What we offer for our clients, what it looks like, and then see if it sounds like a good fit for you. Um, so if that's something that you're interested in, definitely check the links in the show notes and look for that application for coaching link. Thank you so much for tuning in today you guys. I love getting to do this. Honestly, it's just really cool. When I do end up on calls with those of you who listen to the podcast, it's amazing how I've been able to connect with so many people now than in real life because of this podcast. So thanks so much for listening and making this a reality. Um, I appreciate each of you. If you get value out of the show, please share. Please review. Please rate. I appreciate each and every one of those and I will chat with you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this, be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at Pony Tail on a trail. Com. Happy and healthy trails.