Breaking the Chains of Weakness: A Guide to Achieving Your Fitness Goals

Breaking the Chains of Weakness:
A Guide to Achieving Your Fitness Goals

As a fitness enthusiast, activist and participant, I often hear people using the excuse that they are "just too weak" when it comes to sticking to a workout routine or setting fitness goals, let alone achieving their fitness goals. But let me tell you, weakness is not a virtue. Weakness is a limiting mindset that prevents people from unlocking their full potential and reaching their fitness goals. It is critical to adopt a growth mindset and face and embrace challenges as opportunities for growth and progress, rather than excuses for defeat and surrender.

First of all, let's define weakness. According to conventional wisdom, weakness is defined as the state of being vulnerable to being overcome by physical or mental fatigue, illness, or other stressors. However, this definition only touches on the surface of what weakness truly represents when it comes to personal growth and self development. Weakness is a mindset that undermines your confidence, determination, and resilience, preventing you from ever reaching your full potential and achieving your goals.

Weakness is oftentimes associated with a lack of physical strength or endurance, but as it relates to fitness, weakness is not just about the physical body, it's also about the mind and how you think. It's the limiting belief that you can't do something, or that you’re not even capable of trying it. Talk about dragging an anchor. Which, by the way, would probably be a great workout. But I digress.

The truth is, we are all capable of achieving our fitness goals. It may take some more effort and dedication for some, but it is possible for everyone. The key is to stop using weakness as an excuse and start recognizing that it is a mindset. It's a mindset that we can change. The journey will vary for everyone, but the story you tell yourself about how and when you are going to get there is completely up to you.

One way to slowly and effectively start to change this mindset is to focus on progress, not perfection. No one is perfect and like I’ve said before, we all have our own unique fitness journey. It's important to create baby step milestones and to celebrate the small wins and progress along the way. Instead of feeling discouraged because you're not where you want to be, focus on how far you've come. Reward yourself when you hit one of your smaller milestones and celebrate the wins. At our gym we have a large bell we get to ring when we hit certain milestones or personal bests. Ding!Ding!
It’s a simple but very effective tool that anchors that victory into your brain where it can do you the most amount of good. Ringing that bell becomes a driver for success. “More cowbell”!

Another way to change this self-defeating mindset of weakness is to surround yourself with positive and encouraging people. A very popular saying in the personal development space is, “You become the people you surround yourself with the most”. If there is even a slight chance that this is true, then I suggest that you surround yourself with people who support and encourage you on your fitness journey and have very similar interests and goals as you do, to keep you on track. Find a workout or riding buddy, join a group ride, or join a fitness class, like Crossfit, or yoga to stay accountable and motivated. 

Having a supportive, judgment free community will keep you focused on your goals and will help you reinforce your belief system. This is what has kept me growing stronger on my fitness journey for so long. I surround myself with like minded, positive folks that enjoy the grind, just as much, if not more than I do. We are committed to encouraging each other to get better and to staying on track. The bonus side effect is that you also have people to celebrate with when you hit your goals. I mean who doesn’t like a party? 

I emphatically believe that fitness is a lifestyle choice that encompasses and builds both your physical and your mental strength. It's not just about being able to lift heavy weights, or run really fast, it’s also about building the resilience, self-confidence, and the positive mindset that you'll need to stretch and reach for those goals of yours. By setting and achieving small fitness goals, you'll be building your mental strength as well as your self-confidence. This will help you to overcome the belief, or the “story” that you’ve told yourself over and over again, about how you’re too weak, and instead, you'll start to believe in yourself and your abilities and put an end to this utterly ridiculous notion of weakness.

I’ve said this before many times, but fitness is a lifelong journey that requires determination, perseverance, commitment, consistency, and dedication. So it is also very important to understand and accept the fact that setbacks and obstacles are a natural part of this lifelong process. The key is to not let the setbacks or forks in the road defeat you, but to use them as opportunities for growth and learning. You don’t just junk a car because of a flat tire and so you shouldn’t junk your goals because you had a setback. Big or small. It may take some time to fix that flat, but the goal here is to get that car back on the road as soon as you can.

As far as I’m concerned, weakness has no place in fitness. Instead, it's crucial to approach your fitness journey with a growth mindset, continuously striving for progress and surrounding yourself with positivity and cultivating a supportive community. Building mental strength will be key in this process, as it will help you overcome challenges and believe in yourself and your abilities. Remember, fitness is a journey and not a destination. By focusing on progress, positivity, and mental strength, you'll be well on your way to achieving your fitness goals and becoming the best version of yourself.

So "Think and Grow Fit" 
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