Your Mindset Sucks

Continuing the expansion of a previous article, “Top Five Reasons You’re Not Seeing Results”, today, we are going to discuss mindset. But first, as a quick reminder, the top five reasons outlined in the original article were as follows:

1. “You Eat Like An A$$ho!#”
   – Jason and Roz Ackerman, Own Your Eating
2. Your Mindset Sucks
3. You Haven’t Prioritized Your Health
4. You Never Challenge Yourself
5. You Value the Experience more than the Workout

Your Mindset Sucks!

Mindset is everything, and quite honestly, it is very binary. You either have a positive, growth mindset, or a negative, fixed mindset. It’s really that simple. We have complete control; we determine the levels of happiness, fulfillment, and success in our lives. We dictate our mindset.

Mindset influences nearly every facet of life: faith, relationships, careers, etc., and exercise, or training if you will, is no exception to the rule. Whether it be CrossFit, Orange Theory, Soul Cycle, or Equinox, if you approach training with a negative, fixed mindset, you’re never going to see results.

In regards to training, what does a negative, fixed mindset look like? Here is an example:

Jack, the 42 year-old father of three, accountant, and intramural softball extraordinaire,   is a member at your gym. Every morning, Jack attends the 5:00am class. Without fail, Jack arrives five-minutes late, reluctantly waves at the coach, makes it known to the entire group that he hates Burpees, Thrusters, Running, or anything else that is prescribed in the workout, complains about the music, moves through the motions for 20-30 minutes, cleans up early and heads out the door. 

Every gym has three, five, seven, or even 10 “Jacks” or “Sallys”. These are the folks who have been members for two or three years, never tracked a single workout or metric, and have yet achieved any of their health and fitness goals. Moreover, oddly enough, the “Jacks” and “Sallys” also happen to be the members who complain about lack of results.

The “Jacks” and “Sallys” of the world never see results because their mindsets suck. Rather than embracing the processing, challenging themselves, and striving for excellence, these individuals allow self-doubt, pessimism, and excuses to pollute their minds and compromise the atmosphere of the class. The crazy part is, these people are choosing to be in those classes; there are no external forces requiring them to exercise (at least in most circumstances). If someone makes the decision to exercise, why approach the class with a negative mindset? There is certainly no benefit to complaining and half-assing the class, but, there are a hell of a lot of benefits derived from showing up, working hard, eating well, and having fun, day-in and day-out.

Luckily, as I previously mentioned, we have control over our mindset; we can choose positivity and growth. It is time to stop making excuses, work harder, and eat better. We need to show-up, fist bump and high-five a few people, grab the heavier medicine ball, add 10-lbs. to the barbell, and simply be willing to lay it all on the line. Every workout is an opportunity to target our weaknesses and get better; there is no room for complacency, we must constantly strive for excellence. For when we adapt a positive mindset, embrace the process, and have fun, the results will be exponential.