Adam’s Fitness Story
Adam is a 32 year old guy who had always been a little overweight, nothing serious, but enough for him to think about. He survived school being called ‘chubby’ and went well into adulthood before he finally stumbled into a situation that started the process by which he was able to do something about it.
One day one of his friends offered him a free day out at the gym. He had never been one for exercise and had certainly never been to a gym, but he decided to give it a try.
- He took action
He thought he would hate working out, but to his surprise he found he could work at his own pace and choose which machines to use. In fact he enjoyed himself, but it wasn’t until he received a promotional letter offering a discount gym membership a few months later that he decided to join. He knew he had trouble sticking to things, and he didn’t want to spend a lot of money only to not go, so he signed up for a “pay for each session” basis. He decided to set a realistic and achievable goal – he would go to the gym, twice a week, Monday and Sunday, for an hour, then he would do something he enjoyed afterwards – swimming.
- He set an achievable, attainable goal
This was a reasonable goal for Adam. He knew he could find the time to go on Monday and Sunday, and it was only twice a week, rather than setting himself an impossible goal of every day. For the first month he didn’t miss a day of his workout.
- He took consistent action
Then he found himself feeling a little unfocused, he wasn’t sure what his reason for going to the gym was – was it to build muscle? Was it to lose weight? Was it to get fit? He decided that although his weight worried him, he was more focused on being ‘fit’ than slim. So he set himself a goal to work towards, starting out using the treadmill, he would work towards half an hour of jogging.
- He drew his own bullseye, he got very clear about the target
Adam found that he actually enjoyed jogging, starting out on the treadmill, he began to jog to the shop and back as well. Soon he was jogging daily and had well surpassed his initial target of half an hour.
- He tracked his activities (in time)
Adam found he could jog for a long time and didn’t feel exhausted, and then he looked at himself in the mirror and realized just how much weight he had lost. It had only been six months, but Adam was no longer overweight and unfit, he was slim, toned and able to run for miles!
Adam now enjoys a healthy and active lifestyle. He had once thought he hated exercise, but by getting started at the gym he realized that he didn’t hate exercise at all and now he wouldn’t be without it. By setting a realistic, achievable goal to take regular, consistent action he discovered (1) he was capable of sticking to something and reaching a goal, and (2) the confidence extended into other areas of his life.
