Alright, we’re not going to beat around the bush here. We live in a society where wanting quick results isn’t out of the ordinary anymore.
Everywhere you look there’s so-called “quick fixes” to pretty much everything in life.
We don’t want to put in the work for anything anymore. We don’t want to challenge our will and overcome roadblocks either.
The word “Gratification” isn’t in most people’s vocabulary these days.
What we haven’t understood yet is there are no “quick fixes” in life to anything. Especially when it comes to attaining the physique of your dreams, this isn’t a short-term road; it’s more like a quest.
Putting long-term progression at the forefront is key to producing results. But we don’t have time for a long-term plan right?
Let us share with you why we believe in long term progression to get results.
Climbing a Mountain is a Quest:
A great analogy for you to think of is climbing to the top of a mountain. You’re at the bottom and you have your goals in place. Your end goal is to reach the top of the mountain, which in this case is your dream physique. Are you going to get to the top of the mountain overnight? Of course not, it’ll be a quest to get to the top of that mountain.
Along this quest will come: adversity, life, negativity, ups and downs, falling off this mountain and having to backtrack, etc. But do you give up and look for a quick fix or short term fix? Or do you keep putting one foot in front of the other and taking it one day at a time until you reach the top of the mountain?
You have to look at your goals with the long-term in view. Not only for the sake of attaining them successfully but for the sake of your mental health as well.
It’s Not Failure Until You Quit:
Too many times we see someone quit after a week at the gym if they don’t lose a pound, if it gets too hard, if they don’t hit their macros spot on, etc. They feel as if they have failed so they take the easy route and quit. What they don’t realize is that it’s not a failure until you actually quit, everything else is just merely a setback that helps you grow and get better.
Again, think about the mountain analogy, you don’t get to the top overnight or mistake free. This is why we can’t have a short-term fix or quick results because it doesn’t teach us anything and it doesn’t transition us into a lifestyle change.
Keep in the Forefront Long Term Progression:
Too often we see people glorified off momentary satisfaction. This should never outshine long term progression.
An example of this is a competitor that has metabolic adaptation symptoms. They realize they have this, but they still want that momentary satisfaction of getting on stage. They want to compete in 3, 6 or 9 weeks even though they know their health is at risk.
We need to put our short-term goals and momentary satisfactions aside, take a step back, and look at the long-term picture. In this case, the competitor would need to get out of a caloric deficit, pull back on the cardio, get their hormone levels back to optimal ranges, get their metabolic rate back on track, get healthy, and get their mind right.
At the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves, what’s really more important, our health and long-term goals or our momentary satisfaction and the risk of a short-term goal that might affect ourselves for a lifetime?
Keeping Your Mind Healthy:
Along the same lines of not getting glorified off momentary satisfaction, we need to keep our minds healthy for long term progression and results.
A lot of Olympic athletes go through depression after the Olympics because there’s this big build-up and a huge amount of pressure to perform at their best. All eyes are on them, they go after all these goals they’ve been striving on for so long and in a couple of months it’s all forgotten about, the spotlight is off. Same thing goes on with competitors and striving for that stage spotlight and a piece of plastic. Some people just don’t tolerate it well in terms of how they’re able to reverse out of those situations.
In order to achieve long term progression and produce results, we have to take care of our minds just as much as we take care of our bodies. If we don’t change behaviors such as: Eating disorders, bad relationships with foods, black and white thinking, alienation of society, obsession over food, and body image occur; sooner or later our mentality becomes our reality.
We’re not saying it’s easy to be patient, hardworking, and consistent. It’s very hard. But it’s needed for long term progression. And without long-term progression we aren’t going to produce results.
Go back to the analogy we shared about climbing the mountain and set small goals weekly, monthly, yearly, and you will eventually get to the top of that mountain and attain the physique of your dreams. You will do this not only in a healthy fashion for your body, but your mind will also be healthy. Good luck on your quest and let us know when you get to the top of the mountain… We will be there to high five you.
