Any time you log on to Instagram these days, it’s extremely easy (and normal) to feel terrible about yourself almost immediately. From people who appear to live way better lives than you to assholes like me who post pictures of their egg white omelettes in the morning — there’s a lot of content out there that’ll make you feel like an inadequate POS. Trust me, if you can identify with this (and I’m sure you can), just know that you aren’t the only one who deals with self esteem blows by simply scrolling the Gram.
Take it from someone who 🚨*gigantic douchebag brag alert*🚨 considers themselves fit — yes, it also happens to me. Quite frequently, actually. But here’s the thing I often forget whenever I get down about my own flaws by way of comparing myself to others who are fitter (or, quite frankly, pretty much better at anything) than me— it took me a LOOOOOOONG time to transform my body (and mindset) into what it is today. And even though I often get caught up in the comparison game of who has a better looking body, a better looking hairline, or a better looking whatever than me, I often have to remind myself of two things:
- Comparing myself to others can be toxic and self-defeating.
- Comparing myself to my former self is how I can tell whether or not I’ve made true progress (or lack thereof) in whatever aspect of my life I’m trying to improve.
So, for the sake of this blog, let’s focus on getting into better physical shape.
Physical fitness is something I’ve worked on (both intentionally and unintentionally) for the better part of 15 years.
Let me repeat that — FIFTEEN years.
And let me fill you in on a little secret — fitness, just like pretty much anything else worth striving to improve in life, doesn’t just happen overnight (even though I’m sure A LOT of people out there have cracked the code much sooner than 15 years). Hence, why the fitness industry is saturated with endless amounts of bullshit exercise equipment and supplements, workout routines that take all of 15 minutes to complete, and whatever flavor of the month diet that promises immediate weight loss results while still allowing you to uphold the same bad habits. At the end of the day, anything you see that promises results fast when it comes to fitness (or weight loss) is bullshit.
Let me repeat — BULLSHIT.
Here’s what isn’t bs, though — Consistency and Hard Work.
These two words are by no means sexy. However, if your goal is to get into better physical shape (and I don’t care what method of physical training you’re interested in doing), it’s going to take hours and hours and hours of consistency and hard work to see real progress. Trust me, there are no shortcuts (unless you take steroids, of course — on a side note, please don’t do this).
Seriously, if someone plopped me down back whenever I was a young, naive 15-year old high school freshman with prepubescent leg hair and told me this, I probably would’ve hit my stride sooner. But you know what I did, instead? The same thing pretty much everyone else does when it comes to fitness — I looked for the shortcuts.
You know, the whey proteins and weight gainers, the pre-workout supplements that did nothing more than make me feel anxious and jittery, the workout routines that were incredibly easy yet promised “fast” muscle gains, the lack of intensity in training, one too many rest days, weekends off to facilitate my binge drinking habits that trickled into hangovers that required even more time off to rest, and on and on.
Why wasn’t I seeing any real results? It’s simple — I wasn’t putting in the time and effort. In other words, I was trying to excel by taking the path of least resistance.
Now, I don’t want to beat a dead horse at this point, but if you’ve read this far, I think you get the point. Fitness improvements aren’t just going to happen by half-assing it. Instead, they require two important sacrifices out of you:
1. Showing up (i.e. Consistency).
I don’t care if it’s in your garage, the local trail, a gym, or wherever. Oftentimes, the biggest hurdle to any new journey in life is literally dedicating the time and energy to physically show up. Fitness is no different. And, like anything else you want to get better at in life, you can’t just do it once. You can’t just do it every now and then. It has to be frequent. I’m talking multiple days per week (i.e. four minimum). Week after week after week. Which brings us to point #2:
2. Doing the work (i.e. Hard Work).
Hell, once you’ve showed up, you’re halfway there. At this point, the least you can do is give yourself whatever time domain or modality (i.e. fancy talk for “doing different stuff”) you have programmed at your disposal to kick your ass for a limited amount of time (at least 30–60 minutes). And don’t just go through the motions! Remember that there’s a purpose for WHY you’re there in the first place — to get into better shape (or whatever that “why” eventually evolves into after your fitness ultimately improves).
Trust me, combined, these two will suck. But just like anything worth attaining in life, you’re gonna have to go through a bit of pain and suffering if you want to the reap the reward that’s up at stake — a better, healthier, and more physically fit (and, let’s be honest, likely more attractive) version of you.
And, before you know it, who knows — you might even think it’s a good idea to take a mirror selfie with your shirt off.
Talk soon.
-Peep
P.S. — On a second thought, it’s literally impossible to strive to this level of greatness and beauty. Sorry for the lack of forewarning, ladies (and gentlemen).
💦💦💦
