BY EMMET RUSHE: Every time someone starts Personal Training with me, or becomes a member of my Better Bodies classes, it usually isn’t long before I get asked a few questions.
Almost every single time, one of the questions will be in relation to something that someone has said.
It usually goes like this.
Client – “You know how you have fruit in your smoothies?”
Me – “Yeah, it’s a great way of adding taste to them and also getting your fruit and some fibre at the same time.”
Client – “Yeah, it’s just that, Jenny at the office said that if I eat too much fruit, it will make me fat.”
Me – “Fruit makes you fat? How much fruit does Jenny think you are eating?”
Everyone has an opinion.
Everyone thinks that they are entitled to their opinion.
Sometimes you are, and sometimes you are not.
Sometimes you really need to learn when to say nothing at all.
One of these times is usually when you are talking to someone who has started a diet, or has started training.
The reason is simple.
Whenever someone mentions that they are making a change for the better, there will always be this one person, who will have some horrific information as to why, WHATEVER you are doing, is wrong.
Client –“I have started lifting weights, I really think it will help me improve my shape and lose some weight.”
Jenny – “You shouldn’t be doing that, I know this one girl who started lifting weights and she turned into a man”
Client – “I have started to drink more water. I am really seeing the benefits in my skin and I feel so much better when I’m training”
Jenny – “You shouldn’t drink so much water. I know this one girl who drank too much water and she died”
Client – “I’m eating more fruit and also adding berries to my smoothies. They are a great way for me to get more fibre in my diet and also to get my 5 a day”
Jenny – “You shouldn’t eat so much fruit. The sugar in fruit will make you fat”
You see ‘Jenny’ hates change.
It makes her uncomfortable.
What makes her even more uncomfortable is whenever someone else starts to change something about themself.
This change, no matter what it is; weight loss or training, it highlights all of Jenny’s failings.
Every time she has failed on a diet, every time she has started training and stopped a few weeks later, it all comes out, when you start on your journey.
Sometimes, they won’t know they are doing it; it’s an automatic reaction to the discomfort they are feeling.
Other times they will know exactly what they are doing.
Like when they badger you to go for drinks at the weekend, knowing full well that you have given it up to concentrate on your goal.
Like when they bring buns and biscuits into work and tell you that one won’t kill you, knowing that you are on a diet.
When they bring those buns to work, making it look like they want to share them with their work colleagues, what they really want is to eat buns.
By bringing them into work, they feel less guilty because now everyone is eating buns.
Starting any training or nutrition program is hard.
Change is hard, because there has to be some form of discomfort in order for change to happen.
It’s hard enough without someone who is supposed to be a friend trying to sabotage it.
Trying to sabotage your friend means you are not much of a friend.
Here’s an idea…why not use their new motivation as motivation for yourself and join them?
#TrainSmart
If you have any question on this article or for getting a tailored program based on your starting point, please contact me through the link below.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rushe-Fitness/120518884715118
