If I had a dime for every time someone told me, “I’ve tried everything and still can’t lose weight / get fit / tone my arms!” I’d be writing this from my own private island in the middle of the South Pacific.

Such is not the case. I’m in my home office without an island in sight, yet I still receive these emails without compensation.

First, a brief backstory…

Like so many trainers, when I began my career in 1995 (let’s have a moment of silence for that era), I got into the business thinking I could rid the world of unwanted poundage, inspire the uninspired to get off their couches, and share the wonders of fitness to the world!

In other words, I was completely off my rocker.

I soon learned the cold, hard truth: It’s not that easy, and not everyone gets results.

In fact, more than half of new exercisers quit and go back to their couches and ditch this whole crazy get-fit idea after about six weeks, surveys show.

So, if you decided to get in shape this past January 1st, chances are good you’ve fallen by the wayside, so to speak, by now.

If not, good for you! You’ve beat the odds.

If so, I can help.

Let’s take a look at why so many people fail to see results and what you can do to avoid becoming a statistic.

Fitness Fail #1: You Set Unrealistic Expectations

Going from zero to 100 mph in the form of “not working out at all” to “working out every day” is not going to happen. Sure, you may do it for a week or so, but if you’re doing the same routine over and over each day, one of a couple things is bound to happen: you get bored or you get injured.

Both are motivation killers.

Or, another common unrealistic goal may be striving to drop a bunch of dress sizes within a short period of time.

FITNESS FIX: Start from where you are and set small goals. Instead of vowing to exercise every day, start with three times a week. Or, better yet, do something active but different on alternate days.

For example, if you weight-train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, plan on doing cardio, yoga or stretching on alternate days.

Fitness Fail #2: You Do a Little but Expect a Lot

Performing a couple sets of ab crunches and expecting flatter abs is like eating a salad and wondering why you’ve not yet lost weight.

The problem is, technology allows us to download books in seconds, receive groceries within hours, and view movies on demand.

But here’s the thing: Our bodies did not get the same memo.

Evolutionary beliefs aside, not a whole lot has changed within the human species in the way of metabolism, digestion muscle building, and other bodily processes.

Real change takes time.

People who see results stick with a routine or workout for weeks or even months before expecting to see visible changes in their bodies.

Of course, you’ll experience other benefits such as sleeping more soundly and feeling more energetic fairly quickly, but seeing a new line of definition in your triceps? You’ll need to hang in there a bit for that.

But when that day rolls around you’ll be ordering a case of tank tops to reveal those puppies to the world.

FITNESS FIX: Trust that it’s happening beneath the surface. Patience and consistency win the race! Do the right things and focus on the process, not the outcome. Results will happen as long as you stay on track… which brings me to my final point.

Fitness Fail #3: You’re Not Doing It Right

“Not doing it right” may refer to several issues:

• You’re using poor exercise form from either copying someone else at the gym – or trying to “wing it” on your own.
• You only do the things you want to do, so your program isn’t well rounded.
• You do a little of this and a bit of that, cross your fingers, and hope for the best.
• You stay within your comfort zone and never push yourself a bit.

FITNESS FIX: Do your research. Look for nationally certified trainers, whether you hire one for an in-person workout or follow them on social media for guidance and instruction.

Be sure to include both cardio and strength training and challenge yourself while staying within your own abilities. For example, a leisurely stroll is fine for socializing, but if you want to burn serious calories you’ll need to pick up the pace.

Same goes for lifting weights: You’ll need to use enough weight to feel you’re putting in some effort, or you won’t see the changes you’d like.

What frustrates you about exercise? Do you see the results you want, or do you find yourself giving up after a couple of months? What are your fitness fails? Please share in the comments below.

“Mobility is the key to survival: this came up again and again in my research.” — Bill Gifford

The medical field
of aging is relatively new. It wasn’t until the last century that we saw an
exponential increase in human life expectancy and as a result, we’ve only just
started to study aging. And there is still a lot of gray area. 

What Do We Know About Aging?

One thing we know for sure is that there is huge variability in how we age. We also learned that there is a big difference between lifespan and healthspan.

Thanks to modern
medicine, we’ve seen a huge increase in lifespan over the last few decades. Unfortunately,
that increase in lifespan doesn’t always accompany an increase in quality of
life.

And this is where healthspan comes in. Healthspan is how many healthy years we can add to someone’s life.Because really, what’s the point of adding extra years if you can’t enjoy them?

Much of the findings of studies on aging have been contradictory. So, what do we know from these studies so far? Are there any reliable indicators of how we will age that we can turn to? Is aging within our control at all?

Can Aging Be Controlled?

The good news is
that yes, despite the huge amount of variability, there are several
controllable factors we can turn to that indicate how we will age. And
mobility has been found to be one of the strongest indicators.

We have more and
more evidence being published that shows the link between mobility and aging.

So, what,
specifically, should we look for in our mobility? What is it that we need to do
to age well?

The good news is
that all of the research on the benefits of physical activity have found you
don’t need to become a marathon runner or powerlifter to age well. If
those things interest you, more power to you. But to age well, all you need is
to get off the couch. Move and move often.

Below are the
skills you need to age well, as evidenced by research.

Walking Speed

“… researchers now know that natural walking speed is one of the most accurate predictors of mortality we have.” — Bill Gifford

In medical circles,
walking has been found so critical to survival that it’s increasingly being
referred to as the “6th vital sign.” Therapists have understood the impact of
walking (or lack of) on health for years and other medical providers are
starting to catch on.

There is mounting evidence
demonstrating the link between walking speed and a host of health conditions. Walking
takes more than just physical strength, it also takes a lot of coordination and
input from the brain and central nervous system.

Thus, reduced
walking speed not only indicates a loss of strength but is also an accurate
reflection of what is happening in the brain. Walking speed has been found to
decline as early as a decade before dementia or some kind of decline in brain
health can be officially diagnosed.

One study even
found that the number of steps taken by older adults during their
hospitalization was strongly correlated with 30-day readmission rates.

The more steps one
took in the hospital, the less likely they were to end up hospitalized again in
the short term. And better yet, the threshold of steps was only 275 steps per
day to make that difference.

What’s the biggest
takeaway? Walk as often as you can. The more you
spread it out throughout the day the better, and the more overground walking
you do, as opposed to the treadmill, the better. Aim for 3–5 miles spread out
throughout the day.

Balance

Balance has an
impact on all of our daily activities as well as our perception of movement.
Decreases in balance translate into lower movement confidence, which
perpetuates a cycle of further declining strength and balance.

As balance
declines, it translates into a wide, shuffling walk. This decreases the
efficiency of the walk, so it takes more energy to go shorter distances. And
again, a vicious cycle of increasing energy expenditure and loss of strength
perpetuates.

Even our perception
of our balance is so powerful that fear of falling can alone put us at a higher
risk of falls. If we perceive our balance as poor, we’re much less likely to
get up and perform daily activities. We lose the confidence to leave our homes
and interact with the important people in our lives.

Energy and mobility are so important because they hint at other things we can’t see. We slow down because we have more serious problems inside.

So, what can you
do? Practice your balance daily and make it fun!
One of the most common measures used for balance is simple and gives you a way
to measure your progress at home.

To check out your
balance, try standing on one foot without holding on to anything with your
hands for 30 seconds. Repeat on the other side. You may be able to hold this
for 30 seconds, but if you felt wobbly, unsteady, or needed to use your arms to
keep your balance, you’ve got some work to do.

Daily balance practice can be simple and fun. Be playful in your approach and you can’t go wrong.

Floor Mobility

Your ability to get on and off the floor is a great indicator of your overall strength. And not just if you can do it, but whether or not you can do it without using your hands. In fact, research finds that the inability to get off the floor without using your hands is strongly correlated with early disability and death.

And this one is
also simple to practice. Just start swapping out some of your chair sitting
time for floor sitting.

Try getting on and
off the floor a few times to observe your technique. Is it easy or difficult?
Did you need to use your hands? How many different ways can you get off the
floor? The more variety here the better.

The more you make walking, balance, and
floor mobility a regular part of your life, the better you can age. Your aging
is within your control and it’s much simpler than you realize.

How often do you
walk throughout your day? Do you have a walking habit? What do you think about
the opportunity to control your healthspan? Let’s have a conversation!

As the reality of an extended quarantine sets in across many corners of the world, we’re all discovering new ways to spend the extra time we have on our hands.

Some of us have begun virtual volunteering. Others, like my neighbor, are tackling a spate of long-overdue DIY projects. For many, it’s a great time to catch up on books, TV shows, and podcasts.

I believe it’s also a great time to check in on your long-term, big picture goals. There’s nothing quite like a life-threatening global pandemic to remind yourself that life only goes round’ once.

Or, as the lead character in one of my all-time favorite musicals, The Music Man, puts it: “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’re left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.”

But how do we begin to chip away at our big-ticket dreams? Let’s take it in stages.

Write Your Own Obituary

One technique I’ve found particularly effective is to write my own obituary. That might sound scary and perhaps even off-putting. But hear me out.

You don’t actually write your obituary. You write two of them. The first is how you think your obituary will read when you die, and the second is how you’d like it to read.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll discover at least two versions of yourself lying in wait. The first is a perfectly acceptable continuation of your current trajectory.

Still married… or finally divorced. Living in the same house… or with a remodeled kitchen. Running the company… or living it up as a snowbird in a condo in Arizona.

That’s all fine and dandy. But it’s the second obituary you really want to pay attention to. Because she’s the future self you’ve only dared to dream of. Which brings us to step two.

Envision Your Future Self

The second step is to go and visit that alternative future self. I had occasion to do this recently with an old friend who’s also a life coach. He’d read a blog of mine where I talked about the importance of “practicing my future self,” which for me meant spending more time writing every day.

But he took it one step further. He invited me to do a short visualization exercise with him over Zoom in which I would actually meet her.

I thought, “Why not?”

Once we’d done some relaxation and time-travel together, my friend asked me to describe that future self: what she looked like, where she lived, etc.

The interesting thing about this part of the exercise was that my future self didn’t look all that much like me.

She was dressed in a long, flowing skirt and had her hair drawn up in a bun. “Elegant” was the word I used to describe her. (“Schlumpy” might be the word of choice on any given day right now.) Rather than living in a city, as I have since the age of 18, she lived in a village on the edge of the sea in rural Italy.

Most interesting of all, the walls of her house were painted yellow. I don’t own a single item of yellow clothing, and I don’t think I’ve ever lived in a home with yellow walls.

But the morning that I spoke with my friend, I’d seen an image of daffodils in my Twitter feed. The author described “yellow” as a happy color, which was news to me. Clearly, that post had resonated.

Above all, my future self radiated calm. She wasn’t galloping through life. She was trotting along at a productive but relaxed pace, with plenty of time each day to accomplish everything she wanted.

Talk to Your Future Self

Towards the end of the exercise, your future self presents you with a gift. She also tells you something.

My gift was a fancy pen, very similar to the one my old boss gave me and which I used to write my morning pages. That pen disappeared when my bag was stolen a couple of years back.

I replaced it, and then subsequently lost the new one. At that point, as I explained to my friend, I decided that I didn’t deserve a fancy pen. So I started using a regular one.

Needless to say, my friend picked up on the word “deserving.” Clearly, my future self was telling me that I was worthy of a fancy pen. Translated: I was worthy of believing in myself as a writer.

Not only that. When he asked me to recount my future self’s message, I told him that she’d given me permission to put down the manuscript I’ve been trying to publish for the past two years and pursue an entirely new writing project. It’s one I’ve been taking notes on for ages but have feared writing because it’s so personal.

“It’s OK to move on,” she was telling me. “Write the book you’re afraid to write.”

Write the book you’re afraid to write.

Boy, did I need to hear that!

Try visiting your future self and see what she’s telling you to do with your life. You might just be amazed.

Where do you find yourself at this stage of your life? Have you been stuck and unable to move forward? If you tried this exercise and visited your future self, what did she reveal to you? Do you dare to listen to her? Please share your thoughts with our sisters!