This post is about the out of the gym wrongs of the resolutioner. Every year, between Christmas and New Year's it begins - the all out blitz of media campaigns swearing you need a new you in the new year. Gyms, weight loss programs, home workout systems all bombard us with advertising designed to do no more than separate people from their money. They convince you now is the time for change.
What makes January 1 so special? Why is it the day for millions of people to drastically change their eating habits and start working out? Because the advertisers tell us it is while raking in the cash. That is it. There is nothing special about January 1.
I couldn't tell you what day I started lifting in a commercial gym. I can tell you it was in 1992, maybe 1993, could have even been 1994 but I know it was the fall. I remember this because I discovered shortly after joining Bethlehem Racquetball Club that they didn't bother to de-ice the huge set of stairs going up to the front door. And I guarantee no marketing had anything to do with it. I was 90 pounds (maybe) and strong for my size, needed something to do at 2am and didn't want to be skinny anymore. I found more than that. I found mental clarity when life sucked, a way to relieve stress, someplace to go to to think. In those days I hauled around a big ass walkman and mix tapes, today it's an iPod. What has stayed the same is the gym is where I go to be alone with the metal - the kind you lift and the kind you listen to.
Most resolutioners don't have a reason, an internal drive, to change their habits. They have peer pressure via advertising and other resolutioners. They don't know why they need to get on the treadmill or give up carbs but they know "everyone is doing it" and "its healthy". This lasts a month. Maybe. They sign up for boot camp, 5 days a week for six weeks at 6 am despite never working out a day or getting up before 7am. They go a few times and quit.
I have never met a resolutioner with a plan, specific goals they want to achieve, personal reasons why they are doing this. They don't think about what is right for them. If you don't like 5am, early morning bootcamps aren't going to get it done. If you are like guidance, wandering lost at a big box gym is a bad idea. If all your meals revolve around bread, pasta and rice perhaps going zero carb is not the best plan for success. All they seem to know is that they must do something and that it must start on January 1. The weight loss / fitness industry takes complete advantage of this and appreciates your paying for 12 months of membership after using only 1.
Most people I know already have some sort of workout / nutrition plan they like. We talk about more serious things like Cube vs. Smolov. But I can think of at least a dozen people that will ask me how to get started in the next week - what should they do, what should they eat. They are all getting the same answer - come back to me when you have a list of reasons why you are making these changes. Then we can talk about a plan.
Except one. He gets this. Everyone should know who this guy is ;)
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