Beginning next week, I’ll be coaching a group of about 115 women (and one guy 🙂 ) through Metabolic Prime, which consists of short (15-20 minute), intense workouts done three times a week only. The days in between consist of leisure walking.
It’s a cool thing because these girls come from all different fitness backgrounds. Some are new to exercise, some are getting back into it after a longish hiatus, and still others are seasoned pros. And then there are the ones like me. Or at least like I used to be. 🙂
These are the ones who are struggling with the “more is better” mindset. They’re having a hard time letting go of the thought that they can actually get results with doing less exercise.
But here’s the thing – just like me, what they’re doing now isn’t getting results either. The hour or more long sessions on their cardio equipment of choice is leaving them feeling hungry, tired and super frustrated.
Yet, I am still getting the question, “Tara, can I do more than what the schedule calls for?”
I remember exactly how they’re feeling. I knew my way wasn’t working, but I hadn’t fully opened my mind to the possibilities that doing something different and LESS than what I was currently doing could work.
As I was thinking about how I was able to break this mindset, it really came down to the following 5 things:
- The first, and probably most important, step is the desire to change. You’ve gotten to the point where you realize that what you’re doing isn’t working; and even though you’re still doing it, you’ve started to question why and you’ve started to talk back to that little negative voice in your head that tells you you need to do more more more.
- Enlist the services of someone who has experience in working with people who have dealt with similar struggles as you. Ideally, they will be able to not only help you with the exercise and nutrition components, but also mindset. As you can probably guess, it helps to have someone in your corner who gets what you’re going through because it’s inevitable that #3 will happen, and when it does, you’ll want the right person on your side :-).
- Expect setbacks and don’t self-bash. The mind is a tricky thing. It doesn’t like change, especially when it is used to thinking in a certain way for a long time. So, while you’ve decided to change and feel good about it, there will be times when doubt sets in. It certainly did with me, and I would “sneak” and do more exercise than what was on my plan at the time. This exercise did nothing to help my results and if anything, just led me down the path of self-loathing because I knew deep down that doing more wasn’t helping.Luckily, Jill helped coach me through this – one thing she always reminded me of when I had doubts was that I could always go back to my old ways if the new way didn’t work. If I hadn’t had such a strong voice of reason in my corner, I may have just gone back to those 3 and 4 hour days of exercise.
- Celebrate small wins along the way. I used to celebrate each time I did a short workout and no more. I celebrated each week that went by that I cut something out – like cutting back on teaching group exercise. I celebrated as the months went by and change gradually turned into new habits.
- Stay the course. Change doesn’t happen overnight. You didn’t get to this place overnight, nor will you get to your new place overnight. Trust the process. This is SO difficult sometimes, but trust me when I say, you will get to a point when you look back at your old ways and say to yourself, “WTH was I thinking??”.Seriously, when I look back at the old workout schedule I sent to Jill before we started working together, it actually makes me laugh and also makes me sad at the same time. I wasted SO much time back then. Time I could have been out doing things that really mattered. But, all we have is here and now, so I refuse to dwell on that and instead focus on being grateful for where I am now.
Breaking the “more is better” mindset is tough, but certainly not impossible! And trust me, it is SO liberating when you get there!
xoxo,
Tara