The ChrisFit Blog

When people first come to me and want to start training, the first thing I ask is what their goals are. I hear a lot of different answers to that question, but nobody has ever just been bored and wanted to buy training for the heck of it. People hire a trainer with a purpose in mind. Sometimes they just want to drop a pants size or two, sometimes its something much more ambitious. I've had clients who simply want to look better in their favorite jeans and have more confidence, and I've had more than one who has told me they want something extreme, such as to enter a physique contest or to lose 100 or more pounds. Any goal, no matter the size or scale, requires discipline, commitment, and sacrifice. I firmly believe that nothing great is ever accomplished without sacrifice in one way or another. This is where I see a lot of potentially great accomplishments get tossed in the gutter. Human nature does not want us to sacrifice. Its a fight against biology to willingly sacrifice comfort. But it is necessary. Sacrifice can mean anything from time, to money, to the comforts of food and the couch, to the physical pain of a hard workout, to the extra laundry created by actually breaking a sweat during the day.

In any event, sacrifice is necessary in some way to achieve a goal in fitness. You can't eat whatever you feel like "because I'm Italian, I need flavor, I eat for pleasure..." if you want to lower your bodyfat. You can't eat pizza and ice cream with your kids every week if you want to lose a hundred pounds. You can't come to the gym and avoid sweating because it's icky and you have to go to the store after and you can't go being all smelly. You can't lift the pink dumbbells forever because you don't want to be sore because you want to go play bridge at the country club and your butt will hurt in the chair otherwise. Frankly, those excuses are a bunch of crap.

It's always the people who are willing to put in the work and sacrifice who get the best results. The people who have had to struggle at some point in life to get what they want. Nobody is above working hard and making the necessary sacrifices to their comfort zone to get in shape. Fitness doesn't know privilege. Your adipose tissue doesn't know your tax bracket. Your pants don't know that you used to be a star point guard, or that you used to be skinny as a kid, or that "a little wine won't hurt because I'm out and my friends pressured me." Bingo Arms just can't tell that your great uncle once shook hands with Oprah, or that your house is the biggest one on the block, or that at Sunday dinner you had to eat that because otherwise Aunt Ruth would be sad. You simply cannot have your dream body because you feel that you should. It doesn't work that way. This is where you have a choice to make.

There are basically two paths to take, and the choice is all on your shoulders to decide which one. The easy path is the one where you show up at the gym, put in your requisite 30 minutes of feigned effort, then go have a glass of wine and some cake while you piss and moan that your pants are too snug, then blame your trainer, your husband, the neighbors barking dog, Obama, communists, Dr. Oz, the barometric pressure, and your kids math teacher for all the things preventing you from looking like Scarlett Johanssen in black spandex.

The alternate path is where you commit 100% to getting what you want out of your own body and stop making excuses, and start making sacrifices. In this version, you are all in like a high-stakes game of poker where your car keys are on the table and the guy across the room has a gun aimed at you. In this scenario you go above and beyond everybody's expectations but your own. You are dripping sweat, in pain, out of breath, lying in a heap on the gym floor because you gave everything you had and then some, because failure is not an option. This isn't a hyperbole, I saw it yesterday in person. It inspired me.

On that second path, you eat right day in and day out, no matter what your idiot spouse left in the freezer, even if your kids want pizza, even if you have a long day and taco bell is on the way home. In this version, the workout that left you a sweaty mess on the floor is the easy part because you secretly enjoy the pain, because you know it means you just got stronger. The hard part is the rest of the day. But you don't give in to temptation or laziness or social pressure or the girl scout selling cookies at wal*mart. You don't give in to any of that, because you WILL achieve your goal without doubt or question, because you are COMMITTED. No excuses enter your thought process, and no Oreos enter your face. Because 100 lbs doesn't fall off your butt just because you'd kinda like it to. Because stepping on stage in a tiny bikini is a hell of a lot more important to you than going out and getting drunk just because it's Friday. Because your jeans will just not look better if you do the pants dance and add motor oil to wedge them on. Because ten years from now, your kids will still need you to be strong and healthy. Because setting a PR in your upcoming marathon for charity was a lot more beneficial than kicking back with a beer and some wings to watch the Bills lose on Sunday. Because in the end, you chose the harder path, and it was 110% worth the sacrifice.

Now, which path do you want to take? Are you ready to sacrifice to get what you profess to want? Or shall I uncork the wine and blame my parents' genetics for why these jeans make my butt look big?

-Steve Decker