Really Emotional for me…

This week’s podcast episode is really emotional for me, personally. A little while ago, I got a text message that changed my life in an instant. And it really helped to put all this into perspective.

It was a good wake-up call for me, even as a coach, where I’m often in the weeds with muscles and fat and teaching healthy habits. And it remember about what it’s all about - the impact all of this health stuff really has.

Sometimes you look up and realize, whoa - this all has far greater impact than even I realize.

I want these stories and this episode to be encouraging for you, but also motivating. I know how fleeting motivation is for exercising and eating healthy - it can be such a chore. But this is probably exactly what you need to hear today.

Tim’s Story: A Wake-Up Call

About a month ago, I got a text message that kind of rocked my world for a few days.

• Introduction to Tim: Who he is and his fitness journey.
  • He’s a doctor, in his early 60’s
  • I’ve been his personal trainer for 14 years. I’ve been designing workout programs for him through so many seasons of his life - he’s a hardcore skiier in the winters, and backpacks (10 day hiking trips) through the summers
  • Meniscus tears, severe acid reflux, hip flexor issues, we’ve worked through it all together
  • I just give him 3 workouts to do each week - usually two with weights and other equipment, and one that’s bodyweight-only and has some more mobility
• The Incident: Tim’s massive heart attack and how his fitness level played a crucial role in his recovery. “You saved my life”.

Personal Reflection as a Coach

This was really emotional for me. Of course, my first thought was “WOW - did we do anything wrong? Was there anything else I could have been doing for him to prevent this from happening at all?”

But I had to step back and recognize that what we did worked. And ultimately, it doesn’t matter how much we try to do everything by the book and try to play God, we’re not God. Our bodies are in His hands.

But we do have a personal responsibility to take care of our bodies, and when we don’t do that, the outcomes in these scenarios are so much more disastrous. I know dozens of people right now that are in poor health, and if a similar scenario happened to them, I don’t know if they would have made it. And that breaks my heart.

The exact same week of Tim’s heart attack, other totally unrelated stories started coming to the surface. I heard from another client of mine, Kelly - who got in a terrible car accident, and she was stuck in her car with smoke starting to billow around her. She had to rely on her physical strength to shove her door open, and she told me if she had not been doing all the strength training work that we had been doing over the past few months, she probably would not have been able to get out.

And then the next day, two separate women - Brenda and Sally, both were in a falling situations.

• One tripped on a curb and fell to the ground, but the only injury was a small scrape on her knee. Her husband said, “Good thing you’ve been training, because you probably would have pulled or broken something.”
• The other was walking on a rainy sidewalk in flip flops and her foot suddenly slipped, and a few months ago, she would have hit the deck. But because of her strength and the fact that we had been diligently working on her balance and quick reflexes, she was totally fine.

These are all horrible scenarios, but I keep thinking "What if they hadn't been training?"

I keep asking myself “What’s The Biggest Lesson Here?”

Don’t take your body and health for granted - Take this seriously. I don’t want you to just hope and pray that an accident doesn’t happen, or assume that when you encounter one, you’re going to be fine.

Do what you can today, whatever is within your control, which is a lot, to improve your health and reduce those risk

• Yes, of course, when you improve your habits and exercise and eat well you get to experience a lot of those little everyday benefits, where your days just feel better:
  • Better energy,
  • Improved posture and less pain,
  • Improved body composition so your clothes fit better,
  • Increased physical strength and visible muscles that you can be proud of,
  • And less joint pain and stiffness, that improves how active you can be throughout the day and even how you sleep at night
• But it’s really the Long-Term Benefits that are the most important, and those you might not experience TODAY.
  • Making sure that you have a strong, healthy cardiovascular system, healthy lungs, great blood pressure, good cholesterol, good blood glucose control
  • Having strong, resilient bones that aren’t brittle and having muscles that allow you to be active well into your elderly years.

One client of mine put it great, she said, “I want to do what I can do today so that I’m not spending the last 10 years of my life in a hospital bed.”

• Yeah, me too!

How Can YOU Get Started with a good routine?

Let’s say you have NOT been taking your health seriously and you know that if you don’t make some changes now, things might not go so well.

• First, Have a Routine that Starts Slow & Builds Gradually:
  • I always coach using the habit stacking approach: A couple simple exercises that eventually lead to a full workout routine over time. A couple simple eating shifts that lead to dramatically improved eating habits.
• Second, Make Sure You Have Guidance & Accountability:
  • You will be far more successful in the long run - and let’s face it, less overwhelmed and frustrated - if you follow a structured plan, you have a coach, and you have daily check-ins and multiple layers of accountability and support.
• Finally, Remember that Your Goal is Consistency NOT Perfection:
  • A year from now, the thing that will have impacted your health the most was not having perfect days randomly here and there, but rather a whole handful of days that weren’t perfect, but you showed up anyway.
  • Every day just keep asking yourself, what CAN I still do today? It’s not going to be perfect, but that doesn’t matter.
  • And then celebrate that you still showed up - celebrate your victories, because celebrations (big or small) are EXTREMELY motivating.

Addressing Common Objections

Even though all this sounds great and motivating, I know there are probably a few reasons why you might feel like you can’t start something right now.

• One of the biggest reasons doing something right now might not work is just Time Constraints:
  • I totally get that. If you have workout plan that requires you to completely upend your life, drive across town to a gym at a time that’s not the most convenient for you, spend the time figuring out new equipment (that’s daunting) and feeling the pressure to have to do an hour-long workout to make a difference, yeah -there’s no way!
  • But you don’t have to do that - let’s go about it differently. Start really small with something that you can easily fit into your normal routine, you can do it at home, and build from there. See if that gathers momentum.
• I think another reason why you might be hesitant to get started is that it all feels so Overwhelming:
  • Story of Linda: Overcoming knee and wrist pain, weight issues, and pre-diabetes with gradual steps.
  • Emphasis on starting small and building gradually.

Try not to let this negative mental chatter get in the way of making some small shifts that will have a HUGE impact on your long-term health. Remember, perfection is NOT the goal.

The Big Takeaway

The big lesson here is don’t take your body and health for granted - Take this seriously. Do what you can today to improve your health and reduce the risk of something catastrophic happening. I would love for you to be another one of those success stories that I hear, where you say “I can’t believe this happened to me, but boy am I thankful that I started training, eating better and taking care of my health. What a difference it made.”

And friend, there is no better time to start than right now.

If you need a structured plan, something that’s low impact and gradually builds, has tons of accountability and me as your coach, I want to invite you to join me for Jumpstart 30. It’s the first program in my Jumpstart series, and it is the very best place to start. I’m running a really great special on the Jumpstart 30 program for this week only, so right now is an excellent time to sign up.

I’ll put all the details about the program and how to get the discounts in the show notes.

I would LOVE nothing more than to be your personal cheerleader on your road to better health. You got this.

More Resources & Links

Jumpstart 30 - ON SALE THIS WEEK ONLY! (September 4-6) Use coupon code FALL24 for 24% off!

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