Prologue
Why do some people get in good shape, while the rest of us fail ?
Over my 5 years of weightlifting I’ve seen plenty of new comers try, but fail. On the other hand I’ve also seen plenty of people succeed. Between all those success stories, I’ve been able to identify 8 main things they had in common.
This letter will teach you what they are and how you can implement them in your own journey so you can not only successfully get in shape, but stay in shape as well.
Rule 1 - A Commitment Must be Done
The first thing that people who get in shape successfully do is to make a commitment. They realize that for them to actually make progress towards their fitness goals, they have to make it a priority in their lives, while maintaining the other aspects of their life.
When you analyze successful people in all walks of life, one thing you will often see is the fact that they put their entire attention on a singular goal for a while to make exponential progress in that one area. Once they've made that progress, they go into maintenance mode, whilst focusing on a different area of life.
This is an idea called essentialism.
You put 80 or 90% of your attention on one goal for a few months, whilst you do the bare minimum to maintain the other parts of your life, so that you can make exponential progress in that one area.
Between the ages of 15 to 18 I've been very focused on building up my physique and this was a period where I would easily train 6 days per week for 2 hours each time. Once I had built a physique I was very happy with, all I needed to do was about 1 workout per week to maintain the progress I had made and I could therefore focus on other aspect of my life.
This is how essentialism works. You put close to all your attention on one thing for a while, whilst you maintain the other aspects of your life and you therefore make exponential progress in that one area. Then once you've made enough progress, you maintain the progress you've made, whilst putting all your attention on a different area of life and grow that one exponentially.
You don't need to do this to make progress in your journey, but it's something you very often see people who get in great shape do. Make a commitment to yourself, understand that other aspects of your life won't grow for a while, getting in shape is what matters for now.
Rule 2 - Perfection will never arrive
The second idea that people who get in shape understand is that the perfect moment to start will never arrive. People often stay stuck for weeks, debating the decision to start working out, when in reality the perfect time will never come.
They're looking for everything they need to know before they can start. They believe that the next they'll learn will make them ready to start, when in reality you will make mistakes regardless of your experience level the first time you step foot in a gym.
Many people are so afraid to make the first move. They have a fear of starting something new unless they know they’ll be good at it. As humans we avoid embarrassment at all cost, which then reflects in our lives.
But although you'll make mistakes ( and I promise you will make some ), it doesn't even matter, because the people around you won't even notice it. We have something called the "Spotlight Effect", which is a psychological phenomenon by which people tend to believe they are being noticed more than they really are.
You tend to believe that others are paying more attention to you than they really do. It’s like feeling as though there’s a spotlight shining on you, making you the center of attention, even when in reality, others might not be focusing on you as much as you think
Understanding the spotlight effect can help you feel more at ease in the gym, realizing that you’re not under constant scrutiny and that everyone is there to focus on their own fitness journey. The ‘margin for error’ in what you do is much larger than you may assume. Messing up an exercise, ‘failing’, looking out of place, glancing at someone or walking in front of a camera seem much bigger issues than they are.
Don't wait for a perfect time to start, you will make mistakes in any case, you won't know everything you need to know and in any case people won't even notice, because they're busy with their own lives.
Rule 3 - Make it Sustainable
The third idea that people who get in shape successfully understand is that the way they approach their fitness journey has to be sustainable. Let's say you've made a commitment to yourself that fitness would be the next chapter of your life and you understand that the perfect moment to start will never come. A mistake you'll probably make is building up a training program, diet and lifestyle that isn't sustainable for you.
Far too many times in my own life did I implement something that I believed would be sustainable for me, but in reality turned out to be way too hard for me or that I just didn't enjoy doing. I tried to implement a running routine 8 or 9 times, only to realize every single time that I just don't enjoy running or I implemented it at a rate that was too intense for me to sustain and that's a major trap many people fall into.
They get caught in what I call the "Motivation Illusion", which is when your own brain blinds you with what you think you're capable of sustaining. You believe you can sustain something very intense in the long run because motivation blinds you to what you can actually sustain realistically. Then, once the motivation starts to fade away, you realize it's actually way too hard for you and you quit.
See, the thing with getting shape is that it takes a long time. Far too often do we believe we can achieve a great physique in a couple months, when it reality it will most likely take a couple years and if you wanna get in shape successfully you better make your training and diet sustainable for you. It's better if you have a slightly worse diet that you can actually maintain, instead of a better diet that you can't maintain.
You also want to keep your physique once you've built it, so I really wanna push the importance of sustainability.
Rule 4 - Simplicity is Key
The fourth idea that people who get in shape successfully understand is that simplicity is key. During the summer of 2021 ( a season where I was heavily focused on fitness ), we went on vacation for the first since the lockdown.
Our vacation would last 3 weeks, but the main issue I faced was that I had no access to gym equipment. So instead of training, I was planning a workout routine for when I would come back home. I would work on that workout plan day in day out, trying to make it perfect.
I spent about 20 to 30 hours in total building it up, only to realize one week in that it was way too hard for me to sustain and I went back to my old routine. Since I spent so much time on it, I was able to make it very complex. I had my exact rest times between each set, the exact tempo I had to use on each exercise, the exact breathing patterns I had to use and I had all these different variables to think about that I ended being way too confused and mentally drained after each training session. That's why I quit after a week.
Something I realize over and over again is that simplicity really is key.
There's a meme you'll be able to find where on the left side you have the idiot, in the middle you have the smart person and the right side you have the wise person. The idiot and the wise person always agree, because they always come back to the most simple answer, whilst the smart person makes everyting super complicated, because they feel like they have to.
Keep things very simple, stick to basics, because this will give you the best results.
Btw if you have any issues, you're quite confused about how to get in shape or you struggle to apply advise to your own life, I can personally help you with that. There's a link down below.
Rule 5 - Never disrespect momentum
The fifth idea that people who get in shape understand is that you can never disrespect momentum.
I want you to imagine this right now.
Imagine you're on a road with your bike and your goal is to get to the end of that road. So you get on your bike, you start pedaling, but the beginning is hard. You push through and you reach a good speed you can maintain. Now that you have momentum on your bike, it's a lot easier and requires much less effort to keep going. This is something in physics we call the "Law of Inertia" which says that an object in motion stays in motion. Once your bike is in movement and has momentum, it's a lot easier to keep it going.
You have to visualize a fitness journey and building up a proper lifestyle in the exact same way. At first it's more difficult to do everything right, but over time you begin to get used to it and build some momentum up. After that point it becomes a lot easier to maintain the good habits that are set up in place.
A mistake far too many people make is killing that momentum because they're faced with one hard day or they feel like they deserve an off day. When we imagine our bike analogy, these days are represented by small hills. They're slightly harder to climb, but it's still a better idea to push through for one day than to kill the momentum you've built.
Never disrespect momentum, because it is a very powerful force that will get you to your goals way quicker. If you kill it, you're probably an idiot.
Rule 6 - Progressively Overload all Areas
One thing that people who successfully get in shape have in common is the fact that they progressively overload all areas and slowly raise their baseline of what is normal for them over time.
This idea of progressive overload is often used in weightlifting. Increase the one variable of your training to increase your muscle mass or strength over time. However I believe that this mentality of progressively overloading should be applied in all areas of your fitness journey.
Your diet should be slowly improved over time, your lifestyle in general should slowly be improved as well as your training which should be improved slowly over time.
It's not just about weightlifting, but about every aspect of your journey. By doing this, we slowly improve our baseline over time. If you were previously able to consistently eat a 50% clean diet, you can improve that amount until you can consistently maintain a 60% clean diet.
If you could previously bench 60 kilos for 5 reps consistently, you can improve your baseline to the point where you can bench 65 kg for 5 reps consistently.
The point is to increase the baseline of what you're capable of doing slowly over time in weightlifting as well as in diet, recovery and lifestyle in general.
Rule 7 - Identity change is Key
The last and seventh idea that people who get in shape understand is that identity change is key.
Let me tell you a story
There's a common idea that 95% of diets fail, but where does that idea even come from ? A study was done on obese people who had lost weight to see how many of them would keep the weight off. After 1 year 50 - 70% put the weight back on, after 2 years 80 to 85% put the weight back on and after 3 years 95% of people put the weight back on.
This idea doesn't really come from the fact that the diet itself fails, but rather that people who lose weight, gain it back within the 3 next years. Now there was a different study that looked at which factors allowed that 5% of people to keep the weight off. The main reason was the fact that they were no longer who they used to be.
No longer were they the fat version of themselves. They had a complete identity shift and became a new person. This right here, is the single greatest method to stay consistent in anything, but it's also the hardest.
People who get in shape understand that they must change their identity as their body changes, otherwise they will revert back to their old state. The internal dictates the external, so if deep inside you're still the fat version of yourself, you will eventually revert back to that version of yourself.
The 7 rules:
A commitment must be done
Perfection will never arrive
Make it sustainable
Simplicity is key
Never Disrespect momentum
Progressive overload all areas
Identity change is key
Thank you for reading this letter
Adrien
Whenever you're ready, there's 2 ways I can help you:
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