My three year old son likes to play with Duplo blocks (the giant version of Legos). He'll ask "do you want to build with me?" He likes to build tall towers. Inevitably he'll stack the blocks on top of one another until the stack can no longer support itself and it falls over. He hasn't quite figured out the importance of having a strong foundation. Believe it or not, a lot of people are the same way when it comes to fitness and nutrition. I've had a lot of clients who've started training with me that I've had to slow down at the beginning. This one guy came in for his second session and announced that he wanted to start intermittent fasting. This was a guy who didn't have complete control over his schedule (he was an on call ER doctor) but he somehow thought he would be able to control when he would be able to eat. He skipped building the foundation.
Before I get into what, I think, are the foundational blocks, let's talk about why I think they're important. When it comes to exercise/fitness you have to work on the basics for no other reason than preventing injury. You can't do a barbell snatch if can't do a squat. If you try to do so, you will get hurt. The same goes for cardio. If you try to run a marathon without building a base of cardiovascular training first you will get hurt.
On the nutrition side it comes down to longevity. The majority of diets work...while you're on them. The problem with diets is that end at some point. If you don't know how to eat when you're not dieting then there really is no point in going on a diet. At best you'll just yo-yo around the same weight. I'd even go so far to say that if you knew how to eat when you weren't dieting then you wouldn't need to diet at all.
So what are the foundational blocks?
- Consistency: whether it's fitness or nutrition, this is going to play the biggest role in whether you are successful or not. For fitness I tell clients they should be aiming for a consistent 3-4 workouts per week. Getting those workouts in every week is going to go much further than worrying about the types of workouts you're doing in the beginning.
For nutrition, I work with clients to eat "balanced" meals at least 80% of the time. Doing this will act as your "diet" in the beginning and be home base when/if you do try different diets.
- Patience: I know you want results and I know you want them now. That being said, I'll tell you the quicker you make progress you're likely to lose it just as fast if not faster. On the other hand, long-lasting progress takes a long time. You need to know and understand this going in.
- Mindfulness: this is about enjoying the process. As you're consistently and patiently going through your plan (whatever it is) take the time to figure out what you like about it. Or more importantly, what you don't like about it. How can you do it better? Are there workouts/exercises that you love/hate? Are there times or situations that you turn to food to feel better?
Being able to ask and answer these questions will keep you in the moment. Staying in the moment will help you to stay patient and take your progress as it comes.
These are the things that I work on with all of my clients. When they can master these things it is only a matter of time before progress starts. Then the best part about this progress is it is progress that stays with you. The other thing about progress built from foundational blocks is that it's repeatable. So it becomes the progress that continues to build on itself.
