How are your fitness goals and elevators similar?

It happens to us all. We don’t see results. All of our training sessions have shown little to no progress on the scale. We get discouraged. We yell at ourselves, yell at our trainer, doubt ourselves, and give up. The truth is, it’s not your effort, it’s not your trainer, and it’s not even a failure in your training program. It’s a failure in your mindset.

Elevators don’t just operate on one cable. There is a multitude of cables and safety mechanisms that get you to another floor of a building. So let’s start thinking of our fitness journey as a building. First floor is where we start. The top floor is where we want to be, our goal. The elevator is how we get there, training, diet, recovery, etc. The cables on the elevator are our measures of progress. Oftentimes our goal is weight loss so the obvious measure of if we’re progressing is the scale. If we don’t see progress, the cable snaps and we crash down back to where we started. This is true as if we don’t’ see progress we get discouraged and give up. To avoid this backwards motion, we can’t just look at the number on the scale as a measure of progress. Just as I explained before, an elevator has multiple cables to get us where we need to go. We can still have that measurement on the scale but start to look at other measures of progress. Improvements in strength, improvement in mood, improvement in recovery, improvement in the way clothes fit, improvement in our cardiovascular health. The more measures of improvement we have. The easier we can move that elevator to the top floor and achieve our goals. 

Not seeing progress? Change your mindset. Identify at least five other factors of progress that help to achieve your ultimate goal. Make sure they are consistent with your big goal and progress faster than ever before.

Sean Willitts is an ACE certified personal trainer. He graduated from Kutztown University in 2015 with a bachelor’s in sports management and a minor in fitness. Including training at Body Elite, he is also a record holding powerlifter. He uses his practical experience and knowledge to help his clients achieve their strength and fitness goals.