Steady for Success

You can turn on the TV and it won’t take more than a few minutes before you see a health-related commercial. There are so many options out there, it can make your head spin. They all promise to get your in shape quickly, easily and that they have the “difference that you need” to finally get healthy.

These promises are funny to me because they are appealing to someone that has not been on track and wants to not only get on track, but to see results instantly. There is something to be said for results and getting them quickly. I can’t blame anyone for wanting this, but there is a fatal flaw in this thinking.

When you start a new workout plan or change your diet, you are doing more than burning more calories and taking in fewer calories. You are creating new habits. As you create those habits, you are making the new behaviors part of your routine. As the routine becomes more normal for you, it gets easier.

The only way to make it easy is to do it for a long time. Practice makes perfect is a saying that comes to mind. You can’t just jump out and start doing something and expect to lose weight instantly and have no difficulty. It doesn’t work that way.
It never has and it never will.

The promises that you see on TV are always going to be there. These companies are trying to sell a product. They need you to try their product and they are competing with other products that are offering quick and easy results. That is the gimmick that has been working on people for decades.

Think about it:
These companies continue to find new twists on the same workouts and new machines to offer you new ways to do the same workouts that you’ve done in the past. The biggest problem is not the convenience of these movements. It is not the new trainer on the video you just bought. It’s not even the fact that you were trying to do things the hard way.

The problem is not that you didn’t have this new video or machine in your life. The problem is that you never stuck with the last thing you tried. News flash: If you don’t stick with this one, it won’t work either.

The marketing for new exercise products is funny to me because they are promising something that is completely true. If you do an exercise program, any exercise program consistently over a period of time, you will see results. If you work really hard for a really long time, you will see great results. The marketing is funny to me because they can promise that all day and never give you what you actually need to make it all work.

The motivation and planning to execute your routine over an extended period of time is what you need to make exercise work. You already know what to do. You already know how to do it. If exercise “hasn’t worked in the past” for you, it is because you stopped doing it. It is not because you were doing it wrong. It is not because you didn’t have the right technology. It wasn’t because you had yet to see some revolutionary system that would be “the end of your struggle”.

I’ll say it again. If a routine, any routine hasn’t worked for you, it is not because it wasn’t the right routine. It didn’t work because you stopped doing it. Any routine that you do regularly is going to yield good results. Any product that you use will work if you actually use it.

What is the real secret? The secret to success in health lies in one word. There are many ways to be healthy. There are many ways to lose weight, many ways to get in shape. If you want to be healthy than your routine has to work for you. If you want it to work, the one word that has to be part of your plan is: steady.

The more you do something, the more it works. This is true in health and in every other area of life. If you buy the best workout DVD’s, have the most knowledgeable trainer in the world, it won’t matter if you can’t do it consistently. You have to be steady and do something regularly if you want it to do anything for you.

“Slow and steady wins the race”. It’s true. If you do something regularly, even if it is simple and modest, you will see better results over the long-term than if you try a few flashy things sporadically every few years. We’ve all seen the before and after pictures of the people that got on track with the latest craze. The will show you what someone was able to accomplish in 30 days or 90 days. What they won’t show you is that same person 90 days after they took that picture. They won’t show you what that person looks like 6 months or a year later.

Why won’t they show you the person after that after picture? They won’t show you that because they don’t promise you that. They can promise you (with a disclaimer) that you will get results in 30 days, but they won’t promise you that you can stick with it long enough to make it part of your routine. They can’t promise you that.
Only you can do that. You are the only one that can change your routine. It doesn’t matter what you do. If you do it and are steady with it, you will see results.

It’s actually quite simple. Don’t let marketing or technology make you feel like you don’t understand it. Health is the same as it always was. Just because there are new ways to workout doesn’t mean that you are out of the loop. It just means that someone found new way to do the same thing and packaged it differently.

The key is not the next best thing. The key is to be steady and consistent. If your routine is steady, you will be healthy.