Two steps forward one step back

Many times in fitness we find ourselves motivated and in the zone. We get to the gym , we watch what we eat and everything is hunky dory. Then something happens good or bad to throw us out of our routine.  Sometimes it's a vacation which gets us out of our routine and we eat too much and lay around. Other times it might be an injury, sickness or stressful event such as a death in the family.

I've been involved with fitness over 25 years. It started as a skinny 15 year old kid which transformed into a 270 pound football player bulked up to the max an rebounded to a lean 205 pound bodybuilder and now a 210 pound cross training athlete. Yes I've gone through many metamorphosis and I have had some successes an failures.  

Many people think I am always on the ball. I never miss a workout, never eat bad, or drink alcohol. Nothing could be further from the truth.  I have had my workout funks just like the next guy. Ask me about my love for cake which to me is like crack.   

Yes I admit it I'm not perfect even though I'm supposed to be a personal trainer. And you know what that makes me a better trainer. You see I figure if I'm so out of touch with my clients because I never eat anything unhealthy or always make my workouts then I'm not able to relate to my clients very well.  I feel trainers like this often try to make their clients be like them versus relate to them and understand their struggles.

Bottom line is if everyone could kick ass with their fitness and nutrition than I'm unemployed.  `Fitness is not about perfection and doing everything right. It is about consistency and doing the right things regularly.

Ever heard of the 80/20 rule which basically states by doing the right 80% of the time you will see results. It is true.  The 100/0 rule is a recipe for disaster. I know personally.

You see when I did my first bodybuilding show I ate and trained perfectly for 14 weeks. No cheating. Perfect the same perfect food at the same time of day day in and day out.  Also I never missed any workouts. What happened. I got ripped and looked great for my bodybuilding show. It was a great accomplishment. 

But what happened after was I was so sick of being perfect I went on an eating binge of all the foods I had been denying myself from for a about 2 weeks. I blew up from all the water retention an felt sick. I also looked like crap.  

The second bodybuilding show I  did I gave myself some intermittent breaks in the training plan having a few cheat meals with some beer. The end result was the same I got ripped but this time there was no binge on the back end. Lesson learned.

So the next time you get mad at yourself because you fell out of the zone, missed a workout or gave into temptation and downed a box of treats. Realize this fitness, eating the whole thing is really a two steps forward one step back.

You will have your two steps forward times when you are kicking ass in gym and dialed in with your nutrition. You will also have those one step back periods where you lack motivation, are stressed out or just need to back off. This is normal and a good long term strategy. 

What happens if you continually take two steps forward and one step back you end up ahead not behind.  Life is meant to be enjoyed an that might mean having the occasional dairy queen blizzard or blowing off your workout to meet your friend you haven't seen for awhile for happy happy hour.

So be consistent not perfect and enjoy a healthy lifestyle just don't obsess over it.