ROCK CITY FITNESS

The Rock City Fitness Approach: Attitude

October 7, 2010

Personal, Personal Training, Philosophy, Rock City Fitness, Rock City Fitness Approach

This is my third and final blog in my series on the Rock City Fitness training approach.  Today I will be discussing Attitude.  This will be my shortest of the three blogs, but it probably deserves to be the longest.  However, I am not a psychologist, so I will not attempt to extend beyond my scope of practice.  Attitude is the subjective component to achieving a goal.  We really can’t measure it like Energy or Progression.  But, it is immensely important.

Attitude

I believe that attitude is really what will make your goal happen.  Yes, fitness is definitely a numbers game and you have to do the right things.  But, without the right mental approach you will not be able to sustain the effort it takes achieve a goal.  By the way, client and trainer are equally responsible for correct attitude.  The client does the actually physical work, but the trainer has to prepare, instruct and encourage to the best of his or her ability.  I have broken down Attitude into the following 5 components:

Commitment

Definition:  100% loyalty, duty and pledge to the process.

This has to happen first.  You must be decisive.  You have to decide what it is you want to accomplish.  Be very specific.  Then, you must stick with it!  I provide my customers with a realistic timeline to get to their goal.  Know how long it’s going to take and don’t give up until you get there!

Effort

Definition:  a vigorous or determined attempt.

This means work hard and give your best effort.  Once the decision is made to start a training program, then you have to go after it!  I absolutely despise anything less than max effort.  It may take a little bit of time to develop all of the right habits and skills you need, but you can choose to work hard from day one.

Excellence

Definition:  state of excellence or possessing outstanding quality or superior merit.

First choose to work hard, then choose to do things the right way.  Strive for mastery.  Do not accept doing something mostly right.  Work to become the best you can within your God-given abilities.  Isn’t getting an A so much more satisfying than a B or C?  At the end of the day you can take pleasure in knowing you did something well.

Sacrifice

Definition:  the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim

There is no such thing as something for nothing.  (Well, there is one thing, but that is another blog.)  At the start of your exercise program and especially the further you go, you will realize that something has to give.  You can’t keep living your life the same way you did.  Fitness training takes resources.  Whether it’s time, energy or money, you have to pay the price!  You may have to go to bed earlier so that you can do cardio before work.  You may have to skip watching your favorite TV show so you can make the boot camp class.  You may have to pack your lunch so that you don’t eat fast food.  You may have to redo your budget so that you can purchase new workout shoes or pay for a gym membership.  You get the idea.

Perseverance

Definition:  steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

This is truly what separates the champions from the the rest.  Things never go as planned.  Set backs are a given.  Life happens.  It’s not a question of if you will get knocked down.  It’s a question of your response to it.  Persevering through a challenging fitness training program is just one small example in the whole scheme of your life.  But the concept is still the same.  Persevering means that you fight for an end result that transcends your current circumstance or discomfort.  This is how character is built.  And character determines who you are.  Do you want to be a champion?

Click here to see a champion!

This concludes my series on the Rock City Fitness training approach.  Hopefully you got something out of it.  I really enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you!