3049: Getting Back On the Fitness Wagon by Mark Fisher on Muscle Memory and Health Goals

[00:00:00] Time for strong performance with the new Galaxy Watch Ultra. No matter if you're a sportsman, a sportsman, a sportsman or a sportsman, and no matter if you're a jogger, a marathon runner, who wants to dance through the night or go on tour in France.

[00:00:19] Get the best out of here with the new Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra with Galaxy AI. Let's go! This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 3049, Getting Back On the Fitness Wagon by Mark Fisher of markfisherfitness.com and I'm Justin Malik.

[00:00:37] On Sundays here, I think it's nice to share an extra episode from another podcast where we read to you. Today's comes from my brother's show Optimal Health Daily. It's a great episode that fits in nicely with this time of year when many people fall off the

[00:00:51] fitness wagon after getting on the wagon on January 1st. If you'd like to hear more about fitness, nutrition, diet, anything health related pretty much, you can find and follow Optimal Health Daily wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:01:06] You can even submit your own questions and have them answered on Friday editions of the show. Plus get a copy of our workbook for free if you do that. You can send a health related question to health at oldpodcast.com

[00:01:19] and then listen to that show on Fridays. Again, that's Optimal Health Daily. But without, let's get right to the bonus episode as we optimize your life. Getting Back On the Fitness Wagon by Mark Fisher of markfisherfitness.com Let's talk about shame, shall we?

[00:01:40] Specifically, I'd like to address the shame folks feel when they fall off the fitness wagon. Fitness, like most of life, is rarely a linear pursuit. When seeking to make health and hotness lifestyle into a habit, it's only natural that there will be fits and starts.

[00:01:58] Unfortunately, all too often people give in to all or nothing thinking and long delay their return due to embarrassment. This is too bad as irregular patterns are entirely normal when folks inch towards making fitness part of their life.

[00:02:14] It's rare for someone to start working out for the first time and never fall off the wagon. And I'm not even talking about the ebbs and flows of in it to win it five times a week and the barely maintaining two times a week.

[00:02:28] I'm speaking about working out consistently for two months and then taking an unexpected three month complete hiatus from fitness. Now, is this ideal? Maybe not. Is it normal and something that happens to many people? Totally.

[00:02:45] I myself have experienced much the same thing my first five years of training. From the time I picked up my first weight just before my 18th birthday and the summer of my 23rd year, my fitness adventures were sporadic at best.

[00:03:00] Due to the hectic schedule and relative poverty of my early 20s, those first five years were characterized by six months on, three months off, one year on, nine months off, six weeks on, six months off, etc. Again, is this ideal? Nope. But it happens. It's actually pretty normal.

[00:03:22] The people who are able to totally overhaul their lifestyle in one fell swoop are few and far between. All too often, I see ninjas get jazzed about working out, go all in for a few months, then start to backslide a little bit and fall off totally.

[00:03:39] This wouldn't be a problem in and of itself. Happens. Life happens. New jobs happen. We get it. Unfortunately, the ninja in question often compounds the issue with shame. Now, instead of coming back when they're ready, they push it off because they're embarrassed. What will the trainers think?

[00:04:01] They'll judge me because I'm weaker now. What will the other ninjas think? I've gained some of that weight back. I can't bear to start all over again at square one. I'm so mad at myself for throwing away all of that hard work I did.

[00:04:15] I guess I'll eat this burrito and watch Real Housewives of Guam. Ninja, you are not alone. Here are some things to keep in mind if and when you find yourself in this position. One, this is normal. The journey to optimal health and hotness isn't linear.

[00:04:33] The universe moves in spirals. Two steps forward are generally followed by one step back. Happily, one step back is often followed by two steps forward. Two, you're not as far gone as you think. You did not waste all that work. The knowledge gained is still there.

[00:04:54] The tricks and strategies for training and nutrition are just waiting for you to employ them again. Furthermore, since you've already laid the foundation once, you'll have to do less brainwork since you already have a lot of knowledge.

[00:05:08] Often, you'll be able to layer on new and even better strategies now that you know more about how your body does or does not respond to certain training modalities or nutrition principles. It'll take much less effort to use the recipes you had already mastered,

[00:05:25] which means now you'll be able to spend time expanding your healthful culinary repertoire. Three, your body will be happy to get back to where it was and will probably do so faster. While repeated bouts of crash dieting seem to negatively affect metabolism

[00:05:43] and slow down future weight loss efforts, if you did it the right way in the first place, your body may be more responsive than you think. And for exercise, this goes double. You may have lost some strength and endurance, but it's not uncommon to find even better technique

[00:05:59] after having taken some time away. Now, if you've taken months and months off, you should expect a little bit of lag time as you dust off your neural circuitry. That said, once again, you are not back to square one, far from it.

[00:06:16] You're much better situated than when you first began and a new peak of health and hotness is closer than you think. So if you're someone who was super consistent for the first six weeks of the year and you're feeling a bit embarrassed

[00:06:29] that you've taken the last six weeks off, take heart. If you're someone who finally got on the fitness train last year and now you're trigger shy to dive back in after an extended break, I encourage you to take the leap. Seriously, you've been away long enough. Come back.

[00:06:47] No one is going to judge you. We'll just be happy to see you. You're totally normal and it's not at all uncommon to accidentally take an extended break. As always, you do you. No pressure. We respect your right to be the captain of your own fate.

[00:07:07] You just listened to the post titled Getting Back On The Fitness Wagon by Mark Fisher of markfisherfitness.com. Dr. Neal here for my commentary. Now it's not going to surprise you, but I agree with today's author Mark. Shocking, right?

[00:07:23] When I took a moment to really think about what Mark was saying and how I could add something to it, I thought about how we so often think of life as occurring in a linear way, meaning we often think that accomplishments and life in general

[00:07:39] kind of proceeds in a straight line. I'll give you an example. We often think of life as moving from grade school to intermediate and high school then college or our careers. Then we move forward in our careers and ultimately retire straight line, right?

[00:07:57] Now, while this might be the expectation, that's probably not the reality for most of us. I mean, I basically thought that this was what my life would be like, but the reality is that I've made many turns and detours along the way. I've had to backtrack

[00:08:12] and make U-turns quite a few times along the way too. I fit speed bumps and definitely hit stop signs, but I always managed to get back on track and that's the key. When it comes to your fitness, your diet, your career, whatever,

[00:08:28] don't let life's detours stop you from progressing. That's because as Mark said, the bottom line is that you're still further along than you were before you started your journey. All right, that'll do it for another edition of Optimal Health Daily. Thank you again so much for being here.

[00:08:45] Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing this show with someone. It's one of the best ways to keep this show going and I'll see you back here tomorrow where Optimal Life awaits.