Ask anyone in the gym what they’re working on and a very common answer is “lose weight, tone-up, slash fat” or some other method of improving body composition. While I don’t have a problem with this being a motivator, it simply doesn’t tell the whole story. If you’ve had a conversation with your doctor and they’ve professionally recommended that you lose weight in order to improve your health, going to the gym is a great start.
I honestly don’t care what gets you in the door, the important thing is that you got started. If you’re playing the long game and tracking trends, I’m totally okay with using scale weight as a measure of success. However, if you start weighing yourself obsessively every single day, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Your weight will fluctuate for so many different reasons. However, I challenge you to aim for more.
You are so much more than a number on a scale. This is for another day entirely, but your worth as a person has absolutely NOTHING to do with your weight, fitness level, diet or body composition. As much as toxic fitness advertisements would have you believe, there is no one “right way” to look. We’ll save that deep-dive for another day.
While I’d be lying if I said I didn’t train to look good, it’s nowhere near the top of my list. I train my body hard to push myself and reach new levels. My training is a celebration of what my body can do, not a punishment for what I ate yesterday. I love the process, and approach training my clients the same way. We completely flip the script, focusing on achieving a performance goal. You’ll be amazed by how much the entire paradigm shifts. Instead of negatively focusing on getting their weight down, we talk about how their training is going to turn them into badass deadlifting Terminators (Props to Tony Gentilcore who came up with this).
Training should empower you and build up your confidence in yourself. Train hard to celebrate what you’re capable of, not to punish yourself for being a human being and living this thing called life. Want to know the secret? Train hard to reach your performance goals and the aesthetic will come as a byproduct.
Train your body. Feed your mind.
-Demarco
