We hear it time and time again; “I am going to try it on my own.” Whether this is a through conversation during a Strategy Session or a client that has been here for a while, and life seems to be getting in their way which just makes it harder and harder for them to get to the gym. It is a common theme we constantly hear.
Now I am not saying that reaching your goals is impossible without the help of someone else, but is sure is a heck of a lot harder.
Today I want to share a story with you about how a coach helped me and how I am just like everyone else.
I failed “trying it on my own.”
Throughout my whole life I have struggled with my confidence. I was always big into sports but was never a big strong kid. I was always the small kid, or at least how I defined it. It had a huge impact on me. Like most kids growing up I played sports most of my life. Baseball was the sport I excelled in and while I was a decent player I was nowhere near the best. I could not hit the ball as far as everyone else, and I was not striking kids out with my fastball. These feelings carried over into college and I still feel them today at times. Even still I am not as strong or as big as most of my friends.
I wanted to change that and decided to take action.
While I have been working out consistently I have not been seeing the results that I want. I knew it was time to focus on my nutrition to really dial in my goals. I searched around and found a company that looked like a good fit.
I was ready to be the client for once and not the coach.
(Mini Coach Pat second one in on the top left)
I decided I was going to take the 12-week journey and focus on my nutrition.
Here is how it worked,
The way my coach ran his program was by using Myfitnesspal. I would weigh, measure, and track all of my food in the app, enter the data into a spreadsheet and send a weekly log over to my coach each week. The way the program is run is not the important part.
What is important is that I had to do specific things in order to reach my goals, I had someone telling me what to do, and I had someone checking in with me each week to make sure I was on top of things.
I know that if I did not get my log over to my coach he would be after me to see what is going on and how he could help.
While I was not “perfect” during those 12 weeks, I was pretty damn close. I tracked and logged almost all of my days. Sure life threw me a curve ball here and there but I did not miss more than a day or two.
Again, that is not the most important part of the story, what happened after my 12 weeks were done is what is important.
As the 12 weeks were coming to an end I decided that I was going to try to continue to gain weight on my own and then in a few months try to get coached for another 12 weeks and lean out.
It has only been about two weeks since I have finished my coaching and I have not logged more than a day and a half in a row.
Why?
Because honestly it doesn’t matter as much if I do or do not. I have no one asking me each week what I am doing, no one to check in on me, no one to let down.
My goals are still important to me; I just am not held accountable to my actions.
The other thing that impacted me to really focus on my nutrition was the fact that I had money invested in it. I was spending money to help me reach my goals. I would be very upset with myself if I wasted my money and did not take action.
I am just like everyone else in the world, I know what needs to be done, I know that I can do those things to help me reach my goals. However, I need help following through with my actions.
Again this is not intended to imply that no one can reach their goals on their own, it is possible, just a whole lot harder.
I know personally I will fail if I don’t have some extra support.
My two biggest tips to everyone,.
Asking for help is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of strength.
-Coach Pat
