Let’s be honest. When most people think about health and fitness, aesthetic goals immediately come to mind. Six pack abs, getting toned, building a bigger butt, these are just a few. While I’m not against any of these goals, I prefer to go deeper. Why do you want the 6-pack or to be toned? Is it to enhance your confidence and mental health? If those are important, keep reading.
We all want to look good in a bathing suit, there’s no need denying it. However, a lot of times we end up missing the forest for the trees. There are mountains of data showing that strength training helps you build muscle and improve body composition, with plenty of other benefits.
In my seven years as a personal trainer, I’ve seen some amazing transformations. I’ve worked with people that have dropped inches off their waist, built muscle and improved their health dramatically. Want to know how we did it? It’s very simple. Through diligent training, they became as strong as possible.
As a result of prioritizing strength over all else, the clients reached their goals. What’s even better is that they got to experience what it’s like to feel strong. They moved well under a respectable weight. This is my most rewarding moment as a coach. Once this feeling comes, everything falls into place. Confidence soars, trust is solidified between coach and student, and great things happen. It’s truly a transformative moment.
Every time this happens, I feel like Morpheus when watching Neo fight Agent Smith in the subway (you’ll never escape movie references, sorry…). Morpheus says “He’s beginning to believe.” The conversation completely changes from getting down to a goal weight or a waist measurement. Our focus shifts solely to performance, and as a result of hard training, the aesthetic goals come in time. The client starts walking into the gym, feeling like they belong there (even though they did the whole time). We not only reach their goals, they find out they’re capable of so much more. No matter what your goals are, I hope you get moments to feel strong.
Train your body. Feed your mind.
-Demarco
