I’ve been a personal trainer in the fitness industry 8 years now and I have come to the conclusion that there are 2 types of fitness attitudes.

There is the immature attitude and the mature attitude.

The immature attitude:
– Wants to be entertained in their workouts.
– Wants instant gratification.
– Thinks they can out train a bad diet
– Wants what they want when they want it.

The mature attitude:
– Is going to do what they need to do now in order to get what they want later.

Which one do you think you are?

Yes, this is an inconvenient truth about fitness.

We go from being inactive to exercising 6 hours a week at high intensity wanting to lose 20lbs, do what we see on tv, look like that airbrushed magazine cover without performing the hours of joint mobility/integrity work to keep our body thriving…

And it seems we are perpetually trying to stay ahead of a bad diet through exercise.

It can’t be done!

Even if somehow you find that crazy combo of massive amount of cardio 6 + hours/week.

The thing is you can’t keep up that pace, because of life, the aforementioned lack of mobility work, the muscle loss and the subsequent metabolic decline… so you will have to stop all the cardio…

And put back on the 20lbs.

Weight gain should be separate from conditioning. Doing cardiovascular work such as running should improve your aerobic capacity so that you can run more efficiently making you a healthier human being capable of taking on more challenges.

We just aren’t realistic with our expectations and keep wanting to throw heavier weight on the bar despite having deficiencies in range of motion, get stuck in our ways down a path that will only lead to nagging chronic injury…

For most beginners, this is a real downer to hear. You are ready to put in the work, but in reality, you really need to slow it down and pick and choose where you go all out in your workouts. Your muscles may be able to perform the work, but your lack of range of motion means your joints aren’t. Connective tissue has 1/10th the metabolic rate of muscle and takes longer to get stronger. If something happens to a joint, it will take even longer for it to heal. (Approximately 10 times longer than muscle tissue).

That is why we created The Bootcamp Effect Standard. We need to stay slow and controlled in exercises, while holding that active plank keep to ensure the muscles of our body are working efficiently and effectively and not compensating and creating compensation issues over time.

And earning the right to progress.

I used to have an immature fitness attitude. I have had it for the majority of my life, as someone who has enjoyed the traditional fitness experience in the gym since I was 16. I would lift 4-5 days a week, lift as heavy as possible, build some muscle, create some muscle imbalances from working the show muscles, never stretch, and repeat.

I ran into “a brick wall” in my mid 20’s and my shoulder wouldn’t allow me to do any pushing exercises any more without pain. I took 2 years off void of pushups, bench press, shoulder press, and focused on balancing out my body with pulls such as slow and controlled trx rows, 1 arm rows, and consistently stretched my chest, until a balance had been restored back in my body and was able to do pushing exercises again without pain.

This took patience. This took discipline. I slowly dipped into pushing from time to time to test the waters, whether it be pushups standing against the wall or just 1 pushup from time to time.

It takes time to make yourself that tight and inflexible. It will take time to break that tissue down and get yourself mobile and optimal. And the bigger the goal you have, the bigger the delay in gratification you must have.

This is hard for a beginner because you may never have tasted success in fitness and you are so ready to commit and put the effort in. So you just need to stick to it until you taste it. And it may take longer than you think…

For the majority of individuals, we need to improve your mobility.

When I use the term mobility, I refer to being able to move through a full range of motion at your joints.

For example:

– You should be able to stand against a wall with both arms straight and touch the wall behind you when you move your arms overhead
– You should be able to bend over and touch the ground with your legs straight
– You should be able to sit on the ground, put your hands on the ground behind you with pinky fingers touching and create a 90 degree angle between your arms and body
– You should be able to put your feet together and squat with your butt touching the ground or almost touching the ground

If you can’t do any or all of the above, you are lacking a natural range of motion. The natural range of motion that most people are blessed with.

You don’t have to feel bad, I fail on a few of those too. We just have to prioritize and consistently apply mobility principles with patience.

When you are unable to work through a full range of motion and want to perform advanced exercises that require you to have a full range of motion, this is where injury will occur.

You will essentially run into a wall. As your body has been compensating for your lack of range of motion by making other muscles/joints work, until these other muscles and joints just can’t keep compensating and then you get this nagging or chronic issue that makes your fitness experience less enjoyable.

It takes 210 days to remodel connective tissue.
It takes 90 days to remodel muscle.
You have to consistently apply your efforts everyday to get an improvement.
And I’ve got news for you, ignoring it will only make matters worse.

If you are someone that wants to live a fitness lifestyle and workout 6 days / week. You can’t kill yourself everyday and expect to come back day after day fresh as a button. You need to be doing 15 minutes of dedicated mobility everyday. Not kind of doing it in a conversation type of mobility… You need to get in those positions of discomfort and breathe through it.

Your body is a lifetime deal. It’s either on and healthy and thriving or it’s off and dying. Not being able to move your limbs through your body’s natural full range of motion is an excuse we all have been making to ourselves for far too long.

That patience to take a step back and work on this is what differentiates good from everyone else.

That patience is what must be applied across all domains of your health and fitness journey including nutrition and weight loss…

If you make all the right changes to your health and nutrition you will see change.

You’ll need patience and to not give up and jump to the next program or idea if it doesn’t happen right away.

The most successful people in the health and fitness world are the most patient. They work hard daily and don’t expect things to change quickly. If you have watched any Olympics, everyone of those individuals has plodded along with inches of change for years, being consistent and persistent because they know if they put in the work they will see the improvement and possibly the podium.

Good nutrition is honest and outcome based. If you are eating well, you will see results.

Good movement is honest and outcome based. If you have sufficient range of motion and work on your weaknesses, your body will not get beat up and will surprise you with what you are capable of.

Committed to your success,
Josh Saunders
The Bootcamp Effect
Voted The Best of Langley Fitness 5 years in a row