WHAT IS A FITNESS IDENTITY AND WHY MUST WE GET ONE? Different people require different solutions. What works for thee doesn’t necessarily work for me. This is the inherent contradiction in prescribing different people the same solutions, but it’s all we do when it comes to popular diets and fitness programs! What everyone who has actually achieved great results knows is that while you can learn from others, the exact combination of things that are going to work for you are up for you to discover. A unique individual must logically require their own unique and individual personal program. Discovering the right combination of things that work for you is the process we must invest in. The balanced program that can be discovered is a mere bonus – it will yield great results, but true gains and remarkable transformations are achieved along way. This is because along the way, when we invest in the process, we cultivate a fitness identity, which is the one sure way to sustain our commitment long enough to see the results we desire. The idea that it’s the responsibility of the individual to discover their own unique personal program is often intimidating. Many times, when confronted with this reality – that the individual must discover what works for them, and no one can do it for them – they reject it and ignore it as long as possible. They do this by continuing to enlist the help of others who are willing to take their money in exchange for some instruction, which at BEST is a temporary solution. There is no reason to be intimidated by the prospect of ironing out one’s own personal program. This is our liberation from everything that has not worked for us in the past. This is our new found freedom and opportunity to discover what really DOES work! This also means everything that has not worked for us in the past is not because of some innate personal flaw, but because the programs and methods we were attempting to adopt were designed by and for other people! To discover what the balance is for our own unique and personal programs, we must begin to experiment. The process of discovery involved in working out various combination in our routine is the process we shall begin to invest in. If we do it right, we will begin to enjoy the process. Here we will experience the early stages of the development of a fitness identity. The reason most people never develop a fitness identity is because the type of experimentation and discovery required is circumvented we are simply taking instruction. In order to go forth and prosper, we must be able to go forth and prosper independently. In order to get to this point, we must be willing to experiment on our own. When we do this, we will strengthen our imaginations with regard to what is possible. We will think of new possibilities and potential combinations. We will realize many of the excuses we through were legitimate were not. Our horizons will expand with the broadening of our fitness imaginations, and these will flourish without old and restrictive ways of thinking. With the expansion of our imagination and creative powers, we will look back in hindsight and take account of all the ways we have fundamentally changed our thinking. We will call these changes paradigm shifts, and they will become our progress markers. The paradigm shifts we will achieve will document the various stages of our mental and physical evolution. When we look back and no longer identify with our former self and old ways of thinking, we have achieved a paradigm shift. This is a big deal. As we will see later, changes in our thinking and our approach are crucial for our success. We will never develop a fitness imagination of our own if we are dependent on the creativity of another. Unfortunately, many people think an easier option is to just enlist someone to tell them what to do. This is not the case. The problem with this approach is relying on a coach or trainer does not allow our own imaginative and creative powers to thrive. Operating under the misapprehension this is somehow a shortcut, what we are doing is actually supplanting a significant amount of our own development in another. The worst part about this type of arrangement is when the person we have enlisted to help us with our physical development inevitably leaves, we are left in the lurch. Every time one of these relationships expires because someone moves on, the individual who chose to invest in the creativity and fitness identity of another (rather than themselves) is left back where they started. Whatever progress they made in the interim will be fatally interrupted. They will not be able to continue independently because they have not spent time investing in their own process. Gains will stagnant and eventually fall back and this person seeks someone else to invest in, if they do at all. A fitness identity allows us to prosper independently. We might not know the unique needs of each individual, but one thing is for certain, and that is true gains and remarkable transformations are the product of a sustained commitment overtime. In order to sustain our commitment overtime, we need something internal. We cannot rely on fleeting relationships with others. We can't even rely on willpower! Willpower is unsustainable – no one can force themselves to do something against their will indefinitely. Given the one proven path to a sustainable commitment to physical development is through the cultivation of a fitness identity, we must invest in the one thing that will yield such an identity: the process itself. By learning to love the process, we can develop a positive relationship with fitness, and thus a fitness identity. When we are identity-oriented, we are no longer goal-oriented. When we are no longer goal-oriented, we are no longer chasing. When we stop chasing, ironically, gains come much easier! Realizing gains is merely a product of manifesting the identity we have cultivated. In other words, if we chose the path of cultivating a fitness identity, we realize our goals simply by existing! When we’re identity oriented, we are no longer outside looking in on who we wish to be. We don’t want to be outsiders. We want to become fitness insiders! When we make fitness part of who we are as opposed to something we are trying to do, it ceases to be such a struggle. When we internalize the process, we are powered by something far more sustainable than willpower. A fitness identity is essentially a positive relationship with fitness. Unfortunately, what most people have is a negative or "toxic" relationship with fitness. This is a relationship with our physical health built on fear and ressentiment. It’s what I call "the fitness famine," wherein no matter what we do it’s never enough, and we never get the results we want. This is no way to engage with fitness. A fitness identity will help us approach fitness from an abundance mindset. We will get creative and see all the ways we can do a lot with not very much. No longer will we need to rely on things like willpower, which build negative reinforcement. All we get by forcing ourselves to engage with fitness through sheer will is a thorough distaste for the process. In the next few pages, we are going to talk about how to invest in the process by ironing out a nice little routine you can build on. A routine set with these conditions will help you engage positively with fitness, it will allow you to naturally progress, and crucially, it will enable you to cultivate a fitness identity. REORIENTING OUR APPROACH Certain individuals who struggle with their physical development keep coming back because what fitness offers is highly desirable, which is why it’s difficult not to be “goal-oriented.” Investing in the process means putting aside our visions of where we would like to end up, and instead focusing on where we are now, and how we are currently engaging with fitness. We have the controls to manipulate this engagement but most people aren’t leveraging them. If we choose, we can decide our relationship with fitness with tools such as positive feedback, positive reinforcement and positive mental association. Relying on willpower generates the opposite of these things – it literally trains you to hate the process. This is why most people who impatiently opt for the path of forcing oneself to achieve their desired results through sheer will usually drop out before they see the results they desire. It’s why they end up discouraged and dejected. It's why the problem is only made worse and their toxic relationship with fitness exacerbated when after they recover from their last failure, they return to fitness only to try the same thing all over again. Such people are doubling down on willpower and therefor compounding the inevitable negative reinforcement. They define their own madness in the repetition of what has not worked for them in the past. The somewhat counter-intuitive reality individuals who opt for this path don’t understand is that relying on brief spurts of willpower doesn’t yield quicker results. In the long term it actually does the opposite and prevents us from developing a relationship with fitness long enough to see the results we truly desire! Forcing our way to the results we want is only a shortcut to failure. The perceived long road of cultivating a new identity and investing in the process is actually a much easier and softer way to getting the results we want. In order to begin, we need to change a few things in our approach. Re-orienting our approach away from goals and towards the cultivation of a new identity is only the first step, but it’s a big one. Re-orienting our approach away from what we are trying to do and towards who we are trying to be must guide everything we do. This will be our North Star throughout this process. At every point, as you are ironing out your personal program, you must continually ask yourself if your routine is building positive or negative reinforcement. As we go forward, you must take inventory of what’s going on in your mind as you engage with physical activity. Are you loving the process or hating every minute of it? We must not revert to our old ways of forcing ourselves through sheer will to achieve the results we want – we know where this leads and it’s a dead end. This is why in Sober Fitness we say “always be aware of what’s going on upstairs.” The process of taking mental inventory as we engage with fitness is the beginning of a lifelong practice, and it will serve us well if we stick to it. Now that we have talked about where we can go wrong, let’s talk about how to do it right. The remaining pages will be a practical guide to cultivating a fitness identity. This part is less philosophy and more behavioural psychology. We will see how we can use to our benefit the same little mental games that once worked to our disadvantage. The same way we used to psyche ourselves out, we can break down large challenges in our minds into smaller, more manageable pieces. We can even actively trick ourselves, and through the practices of a good routine, we can write new code that will build more resilient mental software. This new software becomes our new operating system. Composed of extremely durable and resilient mental programs or “fitness mindsets,” this new programming becomes part of our fitness identity and is far more reliable than willpower. Creating a fitness identity is about re-shaping who we are. It’s as simple as this: in order to get different results, we need to start doing things differently. We are not going to start doing things differently until we make some changes in both our approach and who we are. Here a common reaction is skepticism. Many people have a problem with those who try to re-invent themselves, but I ask you this, who wants to be the same forever? The answer is no one but a fool since we change in response to new information, and if we never change, we are not learning. The changes in question are behavioral in nature and they can be made by applying the principles of a good routine in the next section. HOW TO CULTIVATE A FITNESS IDENTITY The principles of a good routine from which you can cultivate a fitness identity are 3 essential things. Your fitness routine must: 1. Be in the zone of proximal development 2. Be in an area with lots of room for growth 3. Be personal and unique to you These are the 3 conditions of a personal program that qualify it as a good routine. If you apply these principles, you will learn how to love the process and engage with your physical development in a positive manner. Indeed, if you follow these principles, you will look forward to your routine, which will help you stick to it long enough to see the results you desire. As we examine these principles more closely, remember that when applying them, don’t be tempted by the results they yield – we must not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of chasing the siren song of goals. We don’t know how to get something we’ve never had, so chances are, the path we envision doesn’t lead where we think it does. Instead, we must adopt a more fluid approach where we can react when the ground shifts beneath us. The worst thing we can do is blindly follow a program set out for us by someone else with specific promises. Goals sing a siren song because we follow them blindly and get lost along the way. This path is the fast track to getting stuck at best, and lost with nothing to show for it at worst. While chasing goals might sounds good, (and most of us have certainly been raised to believe chasing goals is a good thing) goals are confused with ambition. Ambition really is a good thing. The difference is goals are specific ambitions that consume us. Goals are not a generalized desire to keep moving forward, but a desire to keep moving forward in a specific direction – whether or not it makes sense. The allure of the goal prevents us from properly reading the signs and adapting when necessary. We must be able to sidestep plateaus, cliffs and valleys in our progression. A nice even and sustained growth rate requires us to continuously re-evaluate our strategy. This does not mean spend more time thinking than actually working, (paralysis by analysis isn’t good either) but simply to take constant inventory of what’s going on upstairs. If you are wondering where the sweet spot is, this is what we call the zone of proximal development. The zone of proximal development or “the zone” is the space in which the task at hand is neither overwhelming nor boring. We are not working too hard nor finding it too easy. When what we are doing is not so difficult that we are easily discouraged, yet we remain engaged because it’s sufficiently challenging. In this space the gains come most easily. In this space we have the highest rate of development. When applied to our routine, this simply means we must start out at a level where we can compete at a reasonably high level. If this means walking, this is where we ought to start. This ties into the second principle of a good routine. If you start out walking, your path of advancement is fairly clear. You can advance to longer routes, higher speeds, hiking and more. Pick a lane where you can naturally progress. There are levels to everything, but some things require a certain amount of speciality to continue moving forward in. For example, most of us will not be master gymnasts, basketball players or free divers. The absolute best places to start are cardio intensive activities because not only can you expand your program within activities such as hiking, running and cycling, but you can usually move laterally between them. There’s also tremendous benefit in establishing a strong cardio base. Putting aside the great utility awesome cardiovascular health has if you progress into things like weightlifting and martial arts, a cardio base gives you an opportunity to trim the fat both mentally and physically. When you establish a good cardio base and you give yourself a solid physical foundation to build on, but you have also likely spent a lot of time engaged in physical activity in solitude. This is fantastic because it means you will have cultivated some strong fitness mindsets. These mindsets are part of the new operating system we talked about that are closely associated with a new fitness identity. These will serve you well as your program expands. The final principle of a good routine is perhaps the most important principle when it comes to cultivating a fitness identity. When we iron out our personal program, one thing that is absolutely essential is leveraging positive reinforcement. This means we should combine things we already enjoy with things we are trying to get better at/do more of. The importance of ritual cannot be understated here. Little things like pouring a tea or putting on your favorite podcast are what make you begin to associate your routine with pleasure and enjoyment. When I really began my physical evolution, I went for a daily hike. It wasn’t so much the hike I enjoyed, but it was the drive to the mountain; getting a coffee at the mountain chalet after my hike; catching the tram down the mountain. The hike itself was very intense, it helped me trim the fat and make major gains. I was able to do it consistently because I looked forward to it by building a little ritual, I began to associate it with my personal time. Eventually I expanded and modified my ritual to include a polar bear swim after my hike. As I ironed this routine out more and more, it got more unique and personalized. Before I knew it, I was doing something no one else did, and it became a real feather in my cap! When your routine is personal and unique to you, your fitness identity will come along with it. This is how we make fitness part of who we are. This is how we cultivate a fitness identity! In the end it’s through the 3 principles of a good routine and learning to love the process. Remember to always be aware of what’s going on upstairs. In order to leverage positive reinforcement, we must take a constant inventory of our relationship with fitness. Do these things and you will sustain your commitment long enough to see the transformations you will seek!
