What Does Fitness Do for You? Part 1

There’s so much more to fitness than losing 10 pounds. Many of the most powerful rewards of regular exercise manifest in small, daily improvements in your quality of life.

What is Your “Why?”

I encourage all of my clients to complete an exercise to help them get in touch with why they are coming to see me. Sometimes clients come in with specific goals and we talk through this process together. Other times, especially if someone is new to exercise and doesn’t really know what they want, their motivations reveal themselves over time as the client starts to reap the rewards of a regular exercise routine.

Ask yourself what you want out of exercise. Some common reasons include improved health, increased strength, and weight loss or other physique goals. These are broad, surface-level statements that need to be explored further. What exactly does this goal mean to you? Why is it important? If you accomplished this goal in a year, what would your life look like? How would things be better? How would life be worse if you stayed where you are at now or moved farther away from your goal?

I find people often know deep down inside what they want to accomplish and why, but they feel embarrassed or worried their reasons aren’t the “right” reasons. They then express goals they don’t really care about but they think I or other people want to hear. Don’t let anyone tell you your goals are bad or wrong. Furthermore, remember your initial goals don’t have to remain your goals forever. You will almost certainly have new goals arise as you progress further along your fitness journey. As you age, your priorities will also shift. This is all totally fine.

After you identify some possible motivators, you have two final steps. First, establish metrics for success. How will you know you’re doing a good job or moving forward? I like habit goals because they encourage you to take things one day at a time and focus on the process rather than the outcome. For example, instead of measuring success only in pounds lost, focus on making healthy food choices and monitoring portion sizes every day. Ultimately we cannot control our outcomes, only our behaviors. I encourage you to look for ways to measure success aside from hard data and numbers.

Finally, set realistic expectations and commit to the long haul. This is an area where many new exercisers set themselves up for failure. If you plan to do ALL OF THE THINGS right away, you will almost certainly fail. Start small and build on your initial successes. Avoid setting hard deadlines for your goals (there are exceptions of course, such as getting in shape for a wedding or training for some kind of event). Instead, get comfortable with the idea of building a lifelong practice of regular movement. Be open to experimentation and shifts in priorities.

In part 2 of this post, I will dig a bit deeper into the most common goals I hear from new clients. I explore why these goals are valuable, what they may mean on a deeper level, and some unexpected benefits you get from focusing on each.