Don't Compare Your Chapter 1 To Someone's Chapter 20
There is someone right now who woke up today and decided that they're sick and tired of being unfit and unhealthy and need to do something about it. He decides that from this point on he is going to join a gym and start training to change his life forever. Once he gets to the gym, and starts training he notices that he is huffing and puffing out of breath while everyone else is doing double of what he is doing and they haven't even broken a sweat yet. At that moment all that drive and motivation that person had in the morning to change their whole life around instantly went down the drain. That person at that moment leaves goes back home, sits on the couch with some chips, turns on the tv and continues his old, unfit and unhealthy habits. This scenario happens to countless people on an everyday basis and definitely back tracks their progress and in home cases halt it altogether. How can someone who is trying to get fit for the first time overcome discouragement and follow through with thier fitness goal?
I was their myself, when I first started training I remember doing like 5 lb dumbbells for most of my exercises. and feeling embarassed seeing other's lift so much more weight than me. Now I'm on the other side, I'm the one lifting the big weights but when I first started I thought that would be impossible. Whenever you start something new, you have to realize that you will always suck at it when you first begin. Think about the first time you ever tried to walk as a baby, I'm pretty sure you fell just like everyone else. Now look at you going up and down stairs, jogging, walking all over the place. What about the first time you hoped in a car and started driving? You had to focus so much to get to where you were going. I remember there was no way I could hold a conversation and drive at the same time on my first day of driving. I had to keep my eyes on the road while still looking at my side mirrors, rear view mirros, and the speedometer. Now I can drive on automatic and not even worry about all of that, it just come natural to me. This is the same for fitness, when we first begin some of us might get discouraged because we can't do what others at a higher fitness level are doing. These same people started just like you, they could't do what they are doing before either. When you are first starting a fitness program you need to go in with the mindset of giving yourself 2-4 weeks to get comfortable with the exercises. You are asking your body to perform movements it's not accustomed to doing. With every workout your body will recover and get stronger for the next workout. If you go on your first trip to the gym with a cocky attitude thinking that you will be able to hang with everyone else, the weights will humble you very quickly.
Think of the gym as your own personal time to self develop. Focus on things you can control like having the consistency and discipline of doing all of your training and following your diet. That will be the key in getting to your fitness goal quicker. When wanting to compare yourself try to remember that you can only do what you can do for the level that you are in. Instead of comparing yourself in a negative way try comparing yourself more as motivation to where you would like to get in the future.
-FitnessWithFlex