There are many reasons we work out, including maintaining our health, recovering from an injury, or sheer enjoyment. But transforming our bodies is one of the most powerful.
If you have your eye on making a turnaround in your physical appearance, abilities or wellness, you can start today with a few key changes that make a big difference in results.
Successful Transformation 101
Twice a year, XSport Fitness presents the Get Fit Challenge. It’s a chance for all club members to change their bodies and their lives, as they compete to win the $10,000 grand prize. The total amount of weight lost by participants during the challenges is astounding, but still not as impressive as the complete lifestyle transformations that are made in the process.
It is months of hard work and dedication to ultimately win this prize, and along the way, our finalists tend to discover certain breakthroughs that were key to their success. Our most recent winner, Troy I. from our Fairfax, VA club, not only lost 75 pounds during the challenge, but also gained a wealth of understanding about his body and how to transform it.
We can look at his experience and take away some incredibly helpful advice from his story. You can read a full interview with Troy and learn how he made his transformation in our next edition of The XSport Life. Now we are sharing some key takeaways on the changes he made, that made all the difference for him. You can make these changes today!
Have a Goal Besides Weight Loss
Troy was determined to make major changes in order to win the contest, yes, but there were much deeper motivating factors for him to stay the course. For him, these factors included living up to his standards he set as a parent and serving as a role model to his daughter for the mantra, “NO EXCUSES.”
He also honored the memory of his mother in his staunch determination and hard work. All these goals served as fuel to his weight loss goal.
What goals, beyond the physical, can you set for yourself today, that will fuel your own transformation?
Don’t Do It Alone
If you would like to transform your body, it might seem like this is a personal endeavor which relies entirely on your own commitment. That is true in some ways: no one can do your workouts for you, and you do feed yourself. However, travelling down the road to physical change shouldn’t be a lonely journey. Actually, we know that better results tend to come when you feel accountable to others, as well as when you can share your successes and challenges.
A key change you can make today is to emulate Troy’s connection to his family and his friends at XSport. His willingness to share his needs, concerns and successes with them was key to his success. Troy mentions his gratitude regarding his fiancée not only suggesting the Get Fit Challenge for him, but encouraging him and even putting up with his occasional bad moods when the going got tough.
Also, they had selected their gym membership together, based largely on what Troy calls “the human factor.” His love for his trainer, nutrition advisor, and several other staff members was a big part of his transformation. Connecting with others who will help you is a critical piece of advice.
Become Educated About Yourself
There may be hundreds of people at the same gym, doing similar workouts or eating similar diets, but they will not all have the same results. Their daily lives are different, and their metabolisms, genetics, and even temperaments and tastes, are different, too.
This means they each need their own approach to work with their body and lifestyle to do what works best for them. You might be one of these people: do you know at what level your body is working, how many calories or what nutrients you should be getting, or how to take advantage of the gym to best support your goals?
If you don’t, then you should start learning, today. In order to truly transform, Troy became a student of his own progress, and his physical state. For instance, he says that what he learned about how to eat and still feel satisfied was an important turning point. And once he learned to use a heart monitor to gauge his intensity and track his results, the game completely changed for him.