It’s the #1 reason everyone has for not doing something they know they should – “I don’t have time to work out.”

Whether you’re looking to start a workout routine, adopt a healthier diet, or begin any new habit that requires time and effort the first reason people give for falling off the program is that they just don’t have the time to work out. You’ve probably heard or said it yourself. I have a saying that reflects this for most people: “It’s not that you don’t have the time, it’s that you’re not willing to make the sacrifice.”

Think back to when you were a kid or if you have kids currently. When it was time for bed, you probably fought brushing your teeth like you were defending the Alamo. Now you wouldn’t go a day without brushing your teeth. I don’t know a single adult that despises oral hygiene to that extent. I’ve had plenty of nights when I was so exhausted that I couldn’t fathom taking 5 minutes to brush my teeth. But I did it anyway. It’s an ingrained part of my day. It would feel weird not to do it.

 

You’ll Find the Time You Need

Think back to when you were in high school. Your curfew probably felt way too early. You didn’t have enough time to hang out with your friends. How great does an imposed curfew sound today?

Now think about college. An 18-hour semester was a really full schedule. Throw a 20-hour a week part-time job or sports on top of that and you probably felt incredibly overwhelmed. Can you imagine how easy an 18-credit hour semester would be today?

Now think about your first job out of college. You probably gained a little autonomy, had daily – maybe weekly – deadlines, and managed your own schedule for the first time ever. You didn’t have a ton of responsibility, probably got some health insurance, and had some decent PTO. Compared to that 18 hour semester, a 40-hour work week and a full inbox felt insanely busy.

Think about the first promotion you got after that first job. You probably started managing people and became a non-exempt employee. Now, you leave when the work is done not when the clock strikes 5 o’clock. You answer emails from home, go in on some weekends, and can’t seem to find time to use your PTO. You probably regularly put in some 60 hour week. This is busy.

If you have kids, think about that first year. You probably slept 3-4 hours a night and still put in 60-hour work weeks. You cook a separate meal for the kids, shop for them, cart them around to appointments, and find time for their extra-curricular activities. Looking back on time before kids, you have no idea what you with all that free time.

You Have Time

The point of this thought experiment is to look back on all the stages of your life. In each stage, you felt as though your current schedule and responsibilities were the maximum amount that you could handle. Then, you move on to the next stage of life and the discomfort forces you to adapt and realize that you can make time for things that are important.

So, it stands to reason that right now – in this very instant – you are capable of more than you are doing. Regardless of your life stage, you have the ability to adapt your schedule. You’ve probably done it 3 or 4 times throughout your life and you’re capable of doing it again. The difference between being forced to adapt and choosing to adapt is that you’ll always find a reason to not do the latter. Getting a new job forces you to adjust your schedule. Having kids certainly forces you to find time. Starting a business mandates you to become more productive.

When it comes to nutrition and exercise, the only thing that will force you to adapt is a major medical event. My hope is that it doesn’t take a heart attached or Type II diabetes diagnosis to force you to adapt. I hope you choose to adapt. I hope that you opt to wake up an hour early, scramble some eggs, and do some burpees. After 12 weeks you’ll realize that you actually do have time and that you’re actually more productive and judicious with the hours that you do have.

We all have the same 24 hours, after all.

We talk about goals all. the. time.

• I want to get in shape
• I want to eat healthier
• I want to do better in my career
• I want to be more available to my family
• I want to travel more

And this list goes on and on.

Most of you can identify the fault in these goal types.

We’ve all heard of S.M.A.R.T. Goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Focused, and Time Bound. In these previous examples, the goals aren’t specific, measurable, or time bound. Perhaps we can guess the results, but even that is a bit difficult to ascertain.

So, let’s turn one of these into a SMART goal.

“I want to get in shape” isn’t exactly a great goal. Let’s tweak it a little: “I want to lose 20 pounds by my honeymoon in 6 months.” We’re getting somewhere now.

• 20 pounds – Specific & Measurable
• 6 months – certainly Attainable and Time-Bound
• Honeymoon – Results-Focused

But I still hate this goal.

When an athlete comes to workout for the hour It’s not just an hour of exercise. It’s EVERYTHING that goes into that hour. We’re asking people to:

• Wake up earlier
• Pack a gym bag
• Purchase workout clothes
• Be better time managers
• Pack a lunch
• Skip happy hour
• Adjust their kids’ schedules
• Communicate their schedules with their significant other
• Invest money today that will not see a return for 30+ years
• And this list goes on and on…

It’s daunting to think about, but what if we changed our “goals” to embrace the process of their attainment? We’d probably be a lot more resilient as humans and have the tools to tackle any new goal going forward.

Going back to our “20 pounds by my honeymoon example,” this looks like: 

• I will wake up at 5:30am Monday-Friday and work out first thing in the morning.
  • Don’t leave this till the end of your day – you won’t do it.
• I will eat a breakfast I made and pack a lunch and snacks everyday of the week.
• I will not schedule lunch meetings and happy hours.
• I will be in bed by 10:00 every night.
• I will spend at least 20 minutes everyday reducing stress, practicing mindfulness, or meditating.

Feels pretty extreme when you put it that way, right? 

It’s difficult to look at the process on the front end of change. It’s much easier to simply say “I want to lose 20 pounds” without examining the work you’ll need to do to achieve that goal. But acknowledging and embracing the process on the front end will immunize you from the inevitable “I don’t have time…” that will come up about 3 weeks into your life change. By embracing the requisite process of change you’ve built in the time and effort component. You’ve made time, eliminating the need to find it.

Don’t fool yourself – this will be very uncomfortable at first. But, you’ll eventually wear this process like a badge of honor. You’ve crossed over into the group that makes time, delays gratification, and embraces the process. You’ll experience small victories along the way that will make the journey of change worth every second. 

Ladies, I’m sorry. Truly sorry. On behalf of every Fitness Professional – sorry.

Let me start the discussion with a brief overview of the fitness industry. The vast majority of gym memberships are never used – somewhere between 70-80%. This is how your standard big box gym membership is so cheap – for every 1 person that uses their membership, 9 people pay for them to do so. Of the 20% or so of Americans that go to a gym, 10% of those do so under the guidance of a coach or trainer – either 1-on-1 or in a small group class. As you can see, the pie of people paying for fitness professionals dwindles quickly.

Enter: Differentiation

Because this space is tremendously competitive, it is important for fit pro’s to differentiate themselves. From experience, I can say that is it very costly and difficult to differentiate on the basis of customer services. So, we need to find other means of differentiation.

Fear is a powerful motivator.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that fear will cause people to throw all logic and science out the window. In the case of resistance training and women, it’s the fear of getting “bulky.” Side note: God forbid we celebrate what our bodies can do instead of some weird aesthetic ideal, but plenty of people more qualified than I have written on this. 

Toned; long and lean.

If I can say that my type of lifting gives you toned and lean muscles, I can say that the other gym gives you a big, bulky, and hulk-like physique. Differentiation.

So what actually affects physique.

When it comes to how someone puts on muscle tissue, there are three factors at play:

1. Genetics
2. Diet
3. Type of resistance training

If we were to give each of these a score equal to 100 to indicate the importance of their role in whether or not you will get “bulky” or “lean” muscles it would be: Genetics – 40, Diet – 40, Type of resistance training – 20.

Since you can’t change your genetics, don’t lose sleep. If your genetics pre-disposed you to put on an inordinate amount of muscle mass when lifting, you likely played sports at a high level in high school or college. Genetics tend to pre-select high caliber athletes. And, if this is you – you’re probably in the I’m more into what my body can do camp.

When it comes to diet the main thing is calories in vs. calories out. If you’re taking in more calories than you’re burning you will gain weight and vice versa. To achieve a “bulky” look you must be consuming a surplus of calories. So unless you’re purposly trying to put on muscle mass this will be extremely hard to achieve while on a caloric deficit.

 

 

We’re left with type of resistance training.

Even though this only accounts for about 20% of your “bulkiness” or “toned and lean” muscles, I’ll address it to. Honestly, it doesn’t even need to be addressed because it is so insignificant when compared to your genetics and diet, but people are way hung up on this.

Training Volume and Hypertrophy.

Muscular hypertrophy is what causes muscles to grow. It is important that your muscle mass increases because that will increase your metabolism. But, we’re here to answer this fundamental question: Do your muscles know the difference between different types of resistance training? Will they become long and lean if you do bodyweight resistance and short and bulky if you touch a barbell? The answer lies in volume. Higher volume = more hypertrophy. Hypertrophy = muscles growth.

Volume = Total Reps x Weight Moved.

Any time you get up out of a chair, do a lunge, do a plank, or do a bench press you’re moving an external load. This load can be a barbell or your own body weight. Your muscles don’t know the difference between a push-up and a bench press (we can argue semantics, but for the purposes of volume accumulation assume all things are equal).

I’ll use myself for this experiment and we’ll use the push-up and the bench press as our examples. I’m an adult male who weights 195 pounds. Let’s say – when doing a push-up – I move 70% of my own bodyweight. That’s 136.5 pounds.

Workout A: I do 5 sets of 25 push ups. 125 repetitions @ 136.5 pounds moved – Training Volume = 17,062.5

Workout B: I do 5 sets of 5 bench press at 225 pounds . 25 repetitions @ 225 pounds – Training Volume = 5,625

Workout B will certainly make me stronger – especially if I progress that training volume. Workout A will cause greater muscular hypertrophy (i.e. grow my muscle size). My chest, arms, shoulders, and triceps don’t know the difference between a barbell and my bodyweight. They only know volume. 

Takeaways

• Your genetics and diet play a much larger role in your muscle appearance than the structure of your workouts.
• Training Volume plays a much larger role in your muscle size than the implement you happen to be using to accumulate that volume.
• Find something you love to do, have fun doing it, eat reasonably, and you will see a positive change in physique.