Excuses – Is That The Best You Can Do?

As a coach, I get many questions from you the folks I coach as well as from people who I don’t coach but are “thinking about” or “planning on” starting. I’ve been doing this for a while so I can generally group some of these questions into the EXCUSES category. So giving excuses – is that the best you can do?

The Common Excuses

Remember the kids in school who said “The dog ate my homework“? What makes you think that the sugar-coated excuses from the grown-ups aren’t just as irresponsible?

Coach Al, I was excited about the program in the beginning but I find it boring now. How do I stay excited?

Coach Al, I have a busy schedule. Is it okay to not follow the workout schedule?

Coach Al, my body is still sore. Can I skip the next workout?

Coach Al, I just don’t feel like working out today. What should I do?

Okay, boys and girls if you have asked me these questions before or have thought about these “excuses” as a way to skip your workout or to get out of your new diet, you need to suck it up. Most of these questions are about your “feeling” – how you feel. If we only workout and eat right when we “feel like it”, guess how we will end up? Yep! Just like we started!

Ask Yourself Why

The first question that I always ask when someone joined my team is “what pains you so much so that you’re now deciding to start your fitness journey?”

Ask yourself “why”. Why do it in the first place? Would you rather spend the next 60 – 90 days of your life to get in a great shape and adopt a much healthier and sustainable lifestyle OR do whatever you’ve been doing and lose control of your body and mind in a compounding manner? You knew it was going to get worse if you didn’t do anything about it. You knew you would end up regretting years or even months down the road. You knew it was time to start.

If I Can Do It, So Can You

Like tens of thousands of people who have succeeded, I’m just a human being who had been in the same situation as you are but I dug myself out of the hole. With what? COMMITMENT, of course! I had and still have tons of duties outside of the workouts — running errands, picking up/dropping off the kids at their many activities, volunteering at local community centers, and at least 8 hours at work. From time to time there were problems in life that I didn’t expect but just happened. I had to deal with those like anyone else.

Commitment is the Key

It’s not about staying excited.  It’s not really about getting or staying motivated. It’s about making a commitment, and then promising yourself that no matter what, you’ll Just do it!  Period!  Excitement is good.  Motivation is good.  But if that’s all that has you working out and eating right, as soon as it fades you will fall right off the wagon.  NEVER!  Decide, COMMIT, Succeed!

You don’t want to look back in a few months and regret that you didn’t try harder because you didn’t feel like it, or because you sort of did it to “test it out” and see if miracle would happen. I can tell you right now that if you’re just sort of do it now and expect good results, you can just forget about it. You’ll just be wasting the next couple of months of your time and getting frustrated in the end because the lack of results. Some people even blamed that the workout didn’t work while tons of others have succeeded 🙂 I’ve seen it way too many times.

The difference between success and failure boils down to COMMITMENT. The commitment of some is like fire while that of others is like river. When the former relies on external motivation and excitement to get going, their passion flares up like fire, but as time goes on, they tend to fade. To have commitment like flowing river means to do it continuously without ever regressing. Your commitment should be like the river, which might seem slow but steady and accountable.

Let’s Hear Your Excuse Again

There is no substitute for setting goals, and committing to doing the right thing.  Confessing to me won’t do it. Trying to work twice as hard the next day won’t do it.  Doing extra cardio to make up for it won’t do it.  You are better than coming up with excuses. DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME, EVERY TIME!

Excuses? Let’s hear yours again!