Losing The Final 5: Why Most People Fail
Last week I published possibly the most MASSIVE article I’ve ever written for this blog –
101 Ways To Shed The Final Five And Finally Get Lean
If you haven’t already checked it out then you definitely SHOULD! This post literally contained every little thing that I believe you need to do in order to go from physically good or great to ‘freakin’ amazing’. Or to put it another way – it contained most of the little hacks and secrets that my clients pay good money to learn. But here’s the thing. When I wrote the post last week, I sort of left out the most important point …
i forgot to mention the catch
It’s a safe bet that you’re old enough and jaded enough to know that everything in life has a catch, and this is no difference. As I was writing that massive list post it occurred to me that there’s one thing I see time and again when it comes to people failing to reach their ultimate physical goal. And whilst each and every one of those 101 points can and most certainly does make a difference, I’d say that this one thing overrides everything else. Everything.
I’m talking about the power of your mind and the ability to let go.
you think doing ‘all the right things’ is enough? HA!
Last night I did a Skype interview with Mark Ottobre of Maximus Mark. Mark and I have collaborated before when we hooked up to create some audios on female fat loss and male/female body transformations. Anyway, yesterday we were doing something for an upcoming new project and an interesting point came up. Mark said that he doesn’t believe anybody ‘should’ do ‘anything’ when it comes to transforming their body. Another way that he put it is that there are no finite rules on this stuff.
What the heck does that mean?! If that’s what you’re thinking, fair enough. What about eating the right breakfast, and taking the right supplements, and working with tempo training and and and …?!
I’m going to give it to you straight. As Mark said, and I agree, there are certainly a few finite rules that we all should follow in order to be healthy. For example, eating natural foods as opposed to processed. Getting some sleep once in a while. Engaging in activities that we love to do and are passionate about. All of these things (and many others) count and can make a difference. The problem, I believe, is when you start to get too caught up in the details and forget about the big picture.
You might recall that I sort of touched on this in last week’s post. Here is point #18:
No matter how good the ‘rules’ of lean living are, your body responds well to shock. I’m generalising of course, but you could even try making it ‘opposite week’ and tracking your progress. I don’t mean sit still and binge, but maybe you do need more sleep and less training; perhaps you SHOULD have some carbs occasionally, maybe it would help to relax the reins and go with the flow. If you’re in the final stages, being overly rigid can hurt your progress. Experiment – but keep track, and do it with a reason.
but won’t you get lean if you just follow the 101 ways …?
Yes. Yes, I absolutely stand by that post and everything in it. I meant it when I said that the points in that massive list are the things that I live by and teach my clients. But it comes with a caveat.
As soon as you start to get too caught up in the ‘rules’, or of doing every little thing every single day, you start forgetting why you’re doing this. This can seriously effect your physiology, and your results. Basically, it can send you right back to where you started quicker than you can say give me the carbs.
I’m not going to go on and on about this anymore in writing, because I thought it might be easier if I just chat to you about it. If you press play below, you’ll hear me talking about the power of your mind and the importance of letting go. I’ll explain exactly why most people fail to go from good or great to freakin’ amazing and let you know some really simple ways to avoid being one of them.
Hey Kat, great article and I like the audio too (allows for multi-tasking!)
I don’t think I’m that obsessive person that you talk about, but the message still applies- you have to think of the bigger picture not let the little things affect you too much
Thanks for the feedback Steph – I’m just starting to experiment with audios; I find it quite fun although I haven’t been brave enough to listen back to myself yet! I like what you say about the bigger picture 🙂
Great post!
The audio was very helpful and I think you really hit the nail on the head by saying listen to your body. I definitely notice that my body simply doesn’t perform as well when I don’t get enough sleep, but there have been times when I would push it anyway and I would end up burning out more than getting the results I really wanted. I’m excited for the new website to launch!
xx
Thanks Falcon! I definitely relate to you there; I’ve had too many years of burning myself out trying to do and be it all – it really just doesn’t work in the end!