2527: Breaking the February Fitness Funk... Staying Motivated After January

Summary

Episode Summary: "Breaking the February Fitness Funk... Staying Motivated After January"

Podcast: Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth
Hosts: Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, Justin Andrews
Producer: Doug Egge
Release Date: February 6, 2025
Episode Number: 2527

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Introduction

In episode 2527 of Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth, hosts Sal Di Stefano, Adam Schafer, and Justin Andrews delve into the common phenomenon known as the "February Fitness Funk." This episode addresses the typical decline in motivation that many experience after the initial surge of New Year's resolutions in January. Drawing from their combined experience of over 40 years in the fitness industry, the hosts provide actionable strategies to help listeners maintain their fitness momentum throughout the year.

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The February Fitness Funk

[01:13] Adam Schafer:
Adam introduces the concept of the February Fitness Funk, explaining how the enthusiasm and commitment witnessed in January begin to wane as February progresses. This decline often leads to decreased gym attendance and eventual dropout by March and April.

Key Points:

• January Surge: A significant increase in gym memberships and workout frequency as individuals embark on New Year's resolutions.
• February Decline: Motivation starts to dip due to plateaus, injuries, and unrealistic commitments, leading to decreased consistency.
• Long-Term Impact: Without intervention, many fall off their fitness plans by spring.

Notable Quote:
"It's February. It's the February Fitness. This is usually when people's motivation begins to wane."
— Adam Schafer [01:13]

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Common Reasons for Declining Motivation

[02:42] Justin Andrews:
Justin identifies the top factors contributing to the decline in fitness commitment post-January:

1. Injuries: Often resulting from poor technique or overtraining.
2. Lack of Results: Frustration when expected progress stalls.
3. Overcommitment: Setting unrealistic workout schedules leading to burnout.

Notable Quote:
"Injury was actually pretty high, which I was surprised."
— Justin Andrews [03:12]

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Strategies to Overcome the February Dip

1. Provide Alternative Workout Options

[07:36] Adam Schafer:
Adam emphasizes the importance of offering flexible workout options to maintain consistency, especially when gym attendance becomes challenging.

Key Strategies:

• At-Home Workouts: Utilize resistance bands and suspension trainers to allow for effective workouts without the need to visit the gym.
• Convenience: Reduces barriers such as travel time to the gym, making it easier to stick to fitness routines.

Notable Quote:
"Providing options for people where I'd say, here are some good at home workout options... keeps them consistent."
— Adam Schafer [08:40]

2. Change Workout Styles or Goals

[10:14] Adam Schafer:
When encountering plateaus, altering the focus of workouts can rejuvenate progress and motivation.

Key Approaches:

• Shift Focus: Move from intense training to aspects like mobility, flexibility, or stamina.
• Adaptation: Allow the body to adapt by varying workout styles, preventing stagnation.

Notable Quote:
"Change the style of your workout, or to put it differently, change the goal."
— Adam Schafer [10:43]

3. Make Realistic Commitment Adjustments

[18:54] Adam Schafer:
Setting achievable workout commitments can enhance long-term adherence and mitigate feelings of failure.

Implementation Tips:

• Set Achievable Goals: If feeling fatigued, reduce workout frequency to a sustainable level, e.g., from four days to two days a week.
• Positive Reinforcement: Celebrating smaller victories maintains a positive mindset and encourages continued effort.

Notable Quote:
"I'm going to commit to two days a week, and that's what I'm going to do from now on. That is much more successful."
— Adam Schafer [19:28]

4. Consume Fitness-Related Information Daily

[21:16] Adam Schafer:
Engaging with fitness content regularly can reinforce commitment and provide continuous motivation.

Practical Steps:

• Daily Consumption: Allocate 10 minutes each day to read, listen, or watch fitness-related material.
• Educational Focus: Emphasize learning over mere motivation to sustain long-term engagement.

Notable Quote:
"Every day, literally put it in your calendar for 10 minutes... It's a very effective, easy tool."
— Adam Schafer [24:23]

5. Hire a Good Coach

[25:17] Justin Andrews & [27:19] Adam Schafer:
Investing in a knowledgeable coach can significantly enhance fitness outcomes by providing personalized guidance and accountability.

Benefits:

• Personalized Programming: Coaches tailor workouts and nutrition plans to individual needs.
• Accountability: Regular check-ins ensure adherence and address challenges promptly.
• Long-Term Success: Coaches equip clients with sustainable habits and knowledge for ongoing fitness journeys.

Notable Quote:
"The most effective thing you can do for your fitness and your health is hire a good coach. Period."
— Adam Schafer [27:19]

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Listener Questions and Answers

1. Reducing Training Frequency: Impact on Results

Question:
If I reduce my training frequency, how much are my results going to slow down?
— Sal DeStefano [30:18]

Answer:
Adam clarifies that reducing workout frequency doesn't necessarily lead to slower results. In many cases, doing fewer but more effective workouts can enhance progress by preventing overtraining and allowing the body to recover.

Notable Quote:
"Effective isn't harder. Effective is better. So doing less doesn't mean you're going to get less results."
— Adam Schafer [31:26]

2. Evaluating the Quality of a Coach

Question:
How do I know if a coach is good or bad?
— Sal DeStefano [33:18]

Answer:
The hosts provide criteria to assess the quality of a fitness coach:

• Comprehensive Assessment: Good coaches evaluate movement patterns and individual needs from the first session.
• Positive Workout Experience: Clients should feel energized and effective after workouts, not drained or injured.
• Credentials and Training: Coaches affiliated with reputable programs or certifications, such as those offered by Mind Pump, demonstrate credibility.

Notable Quote:
"If you feel good, you feel less pain. Oh my God, that workout was good. And I actually feel like I could do it again right now."
— Adam Schafer [33:35]

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Conclusion

Episode 2527 of Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth offers valuable insights and practical strategies to combat the February Fitness Funk. By understanding the common pitfalls that lead to declining motivation and implementing the discussed strategies—such as providing flexible workout options, adjusting workout goals, making realistic commitments, engaging with fitness content, and seeking professional guidance—listeners can maintain their fitness momentum beyond the initial New Year's enthusiasm. The hosts emphasize that consistency and adaptability are key to achieving long-term health and fitness goals.

Closing Quote:
"Doing something is better than nothing."
— Justin Andrews [32:11]

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Additional Resources

For listeners seeking to implement the strategies discussed in this episode, Mind Pump offers various programs and resources:

• MAPS Suspension and Bands Programs: Special discounts available using code SB50 at mapsfitnessproducts.com.
• RGB Super Bundle: Comprehensive workout programming designed by the hosts, available with a 30-day money-back guarantee at mindpumpmedia.com.
• Social Media: Follow the hosts on Instagram @mindpumpmedia, @mindpumpsal, @mindpumpadam, @mindpumpjustin, and @mindpumpdoug for ongoing tips and updates.

Listeners are encouraged to engage with the podcast by leaving ratings and reviews on iTunes and sharing the show with friends and family to support the Mind Pump community.

Transcript

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[Sal Destefano]

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[Adam Schaefer]

It's February. All that motivation from January is starting to go away. What do you do? In today's episode, we're talking about breaking the February Fitness funk. We're gonna get you back on track so you can get fit and awesome. Look. This episode is brought to you by a sponsor. 8 Sleep this is the most advanced sleep system you'll find anywhere. Sits on your bed, warms or cools your bed and uses AI technology to individualize the system to improve the quality of your sleep. Nothing will impact your sleep more positively in a more powerful way. It's non medical intervention. It's not a supplement. It's not a drug. It makes you sleep better. Check them out. Go to 8sleep.com mind pump Use the code mind pump. Get $350 off the Pod 4 Ultra. By the way, it ships to almost everywhere now. The uk, us, Canada, Europe, Australia and other places. Go check it out. For this episode, only maps suspension and maps bands 50% off right now. Click right here. All right, here comes the show. It's February. It's the February Fitness. This is usually when people's motivation begins to wane. They were so hyped in January, February comes around. They start to White knuckle things. By March and April, they fall off. That's what the stats show. That's what we experienced managing gyms for years and years and years. Today's episode, we're talking about how you can break that, how can you get ahead of this, Stay consistent for the rest of the year so you can get those fitness goals. Let's go.

[Justin Andrews]

What are the common ones? Injury, lack of results over commitment. On like, what are like.

[Adam Schaefer]

I'm trying to think of report.

[Justin Andrews]

I'm trying to think of the top three to five reasons why.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Falling out.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. Obviously everyone's motivated January to get started and then they get going shortly after the drop off starts to happen. And we used to have stats on the top reasons why that was. Injury was actually pretty high, which I was surprised.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. And that's just, you know, poor application of technique and intensity. Lack of results. Same thing, actually. Poor application.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. There's nothing more frustrating than that. Right? You, you, you're highly motivated. You decide you're gonna go to the gym every day or something. Right. You're committed to this thing after it. Yeah. And you're in your, your first month and you get your results back and it's little to no movement. Then you're like f this.

[Adam Schaefer]

So let's paint the picture because this is really super common. Right. You get super common. And again, we, we worked in big gyms for years and years and years and trained clients and for anybody working in the gym space, they know this, they see this, it's very predictable. Lots of people, lots of people get an increase, about 50% in traffic in gyms of people interested in working out. And it starts right, right around the second week of January, starts to pick up in January, the beginning, but second week is really, really starts to kick in. You can see this, by the way, in gems. It gets crazy. And what typically happens is people make this huge commitment. So they, they went through the holidays, they weren't working out all year. The previous year they make this big commitment. That's it. I'm going to start going to the gym consistently four days a week or three days a week. That's it. I'm going to do it. And then what they typically do is sign up for the most intense workout class or go to the gym, try it on their own and really try to beat the crap out of themselves. And they do see some initial weight loss or some initial results. But come February, what happens is this plateau. Suddenly I'm going to the gym three days a week. It's Been six weeks. I lost so much weight and it stopped. I'm like, week three now with the scale not moving. Three weeks of doing all this hard work and nothing's happening. And then what happens is that initial, you know, beginning of the year, motivation starts to fade. But in February, the truth is, in February, we really don't see a drop off in people coming to the gym. February is just about as busy as January. But what happens in February are a lot of people who are plateaued, who now are holding on for dear life and going, I'm just going to keep going. I'm just going to keep going. I'm just going to keep going. But eventually it wears on them. By March and April, that's it, they're done.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Well, it's interesting too, because February was always the biggest month as a personal trainer. I always loved it because it was like, I feel like January is overhyped because that's getting everybody in the memberships and they're kind of working it out and figuring out that they, you know, their plan and their application isn't going the way that they thought it was going to go. And so then that was like almost a great opportunity for trainers to come in and sit down and, and figure this out and really coach them into a better way to apply.

[Adam Schaefer]

What a great point, Justin. February was a massive personal training month for trainers. You sell personal training in January as well, but that's from a point of sale perspective. But February, you would get a lot of members who started in January who plateaued, and they were looking. Now they're like, okay, I need help now. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly enough.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, a majority of them don't do that. No, majority of them don't ask.

[Adam Schaefer]

You wouldn't have enough trainers to serve.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Just stop coming.

[Adam Schaefer]

They just stopped coming. And so the strategy now, this, for us as gym managers and trainers, this was a problem to solve. Because if you have a gym or a personal training studio or a fitness facility, if you could find a way to capture and maintain the January, you know, hustle and bustle the January surge for the rest of the year, you have a very successful business, you'll beat the competition if you can figure this out. You have figured out one of the biggest problems in the fitness industry. And this was something that I thought about a lot. Every year. Every year. This was a problem that I had to figure out and try to solve. And it took me a long time to come to the right conclusions because I did try a lot of strategies that just didn't work like one of them was to try and make it more exciting or to create more motivation or to try applying more intensity. Competitions, competitions. And none of that worked. None of that really did anything at all. What it did was do more of what January did, which at that point, you know, that started to fade. So I had to figure out. I had to figure out, okay, how do we get these people to stay forever or to keep doing this for the rest of their lives? And it was February when you had to figure this out. Because if you waited till April or March when they really started to leave, they've already made up their mind. Yeah, it becomes solidified.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, 100%. So first off, you want to. You want to be prepared ahead of time. So if this is you listening right now and you're already experiencing a plateau and you're like, okay, this is me, things are slowing down. I feel my motivation waning. But I think what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna be just determined. I'm gonna use determination and just grit that will fail. What you need to do is get ahead of the fall or get ahead of what ends up happening. And one of the ways you could do this is to come up with a easy to commit option for your workouts. I. I found this to be very successful for the people in my gyms and my clients. This is when I would provide options for people where I'd say, here are some good at home workout options. Because that step of getting in the car, driving the gym was enough sometimes to get people to stop. But if I gave them some easier to do at home options that were effective, what I'd find is I was able to maintain, get them to keep coming, get them to keep going and staying kind of. Right.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Because you guys mentioned some of those deterrents, right? It is like work and, and everything kind of sneaks back in. Like, the intensity of that. The projects kind of stack up. Like, you know, you start kind of easily justifying all these other priorities over, especially if it's not really working anymore. Like, what your initial motivation is starts, like, really fading away. And so to. To now figure out, like, what's going to work long term. If that's not what your initial thought was, you have to kind of think about those things of, how can I eliminate that barrier to entry in terms of, like, if I have to drive to the gym, that's a barrier. So now if I can set myself up so I can hit it at my house, that's going to be successful.

[Justin Andrews]

I. I always had a alternative, you know, bands workout. Eventually, when suspension trainers came around and got popular, or suspension trainer workout that they can knock out in 20 to 30 minutes at their house. As an alternative.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's right.

[Justin Andrews]

And I found that having that as an option with our clients. And even though I was, you know, trying to get to them to come to the gym to see me two or three times, the inevitable would happen. And having that option for them to be able to do that, allow them to still do that and feel like they weren't going backwards. And many times that's exactly what people needed. They actually didn't even need to come to the gym and do more. They just needed to build that consistency. And giving them that alternative that they could do at the house. I think was. Became a staple for every client. Every client, I had the ideal program and what you're following with me when we get in the gym and then we have these just in case things or when we're traveling things. And that's where like, training with, like, bands, suspension trainers. These tools became paramount to my success with my clients 100%.

[Adam Schaefer]

In fact, what I would do right around this time with clients is I would train them with these at home tools in the gym in preparation. Right.

[Unnamed Speaker]

So they familiarize themselves with.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. So they come in and I'd say, okay, for the next, you know, couple weeks, some of our workouts are gonna be band focused. I love bands and I love suspension trainers. Because of their convenience, they also provide effective resistance. So it's. So, you know, weights are great. Free weights are the best. Right. But free weights take up a lot of space. And getting.

[Justin Andrews]

Can't travel with them.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. And convincing somebody who just started going to the gym to go buy a weight set with a squat rack and everything's very difficult.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's a big ask.

[Adam Schaefer]

But getting them to buy, you know, buy a suspension trainer or some bands or some bands.

[Justin Andrews]

Easy, pretty easy.

[Adam Schaefer]

They're inexpensive. And so what I would do is I'd say, okay, we're going to do some workouts on a suspension trainer band, and then I train them on it and teach them. And then here's what would end up happening. What used to happen is I would see people not show up or cancel. Then what started happening is people would say, oh, you know, I, I, you know, I don't think I can make it in tomorrow, but I'll do that workout that you showed me with my suspension trainer. And they would, they would inevitably do it. And it kept them consistent. And again, like you said, Adam, oftentimes their bodies actually needed that anyway.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, yeah, I. I think there. I think there's this misconception around workouts that are banned or suspension trainer that they're this inferior workout.

[Adam Schaefer]

Right?

[Justin Andrews]

It's like, oh, well, if I can't get to the gym, there's why I'm not gonna do something like that. It's not worth it. And it's like, oh, it's not. I'm not gonna get the same results, or it's not as good. And it's like, it's not true at all. And the number one thing is consistency. So if I can help my clients build their habits around just movement, period. I mean, I've. I've distilled it all the way down to just walking if I have to. Like, that's the last alternative. It's like, hey, we can't get the gym, that's fine. Then we have this band or suspension type of routine that I put together. If you can't do that, then bare minimum walk, like, and we would still see progress doing that, building those healthy habits of doing something, some sort of activity, some sort of movement. And it's not this massive inferior workout at all. It's, in fact, really good. And many times the client who can't get to the gym, it's because they have a lot going on at the time, a lot of stress, didn't get good, sleep, busy that day. And so a moderate workout that's suspension trainer, band based is a great option for that person anyways for that workout. So many times it ended up helping us.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, so bands are pretty interesting in terms of the way that they provide resistance. So when you look at using a resistance machine or dumbbells, you have what's called a resistance curve when it's the heaviest, when it's the lightest. So if you use a machine, typically it's the same way all the way through free weights. Depending on the movement, it can be heavier at the end of the movement or the beginning of the movement. Like, if I'm doing a standing curl, it's heavier at the top because I'm fighting gravity directly than it is at the bottom. Bands are always harder the more you stretch them out. So they have this very interesting kind of resistance curve that tends to be less damaging to the body. And so a lot of times people would actually, in this particular context, right. They started in January, they started overdoing it a little bit. Now they're not coming to the gym as much. They plateaued they start doing band workouts. It's still resistance training, but it also gives their body a little bit of a break. And I would notice with some people would kick their body into progress again because the bands didn't cause as much damage. Now suspension trainers, suspension trainers are really interesting because I love. They are legit like strength training, like Olympic rings are essentially what suspension trainers are. Based off of suspension trainers are you. It doesn't matter. What I love about, about both bands and suspension trains, but especially suspension trainers is suspension trainers are appropriate for anyone. Now bands, if you're really strong, it can be difficult to do certain exercises because it's hard to get bands that are gonna provide enough resistance to somebody who's really strong. Suspension trainer. I don't care how strong you are, and I don't care how much of a beginner you are. If I change the angle on those bands, excuse me, on the suspension trainer, I can make an exercise extremely advanced or I can take that same exercise and make it very, very easy. So it's a very appropriate way for. It's. The versatility on it is just.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, you have a brand out there that built a, you know, billion dollar franchise off of that and that's Orange Theory because of how effective those things are. I mean that's all they, they have a stack of dumbbells, but they rarely ever use that. 90 of all the workouts are built around the suspension trainer because of how. And, and that's. It's really tough to take a class and, and teach them through a strength training workout together. And one of the only ways you could do that is with a tool like that is to it for 10 different people that are going through it. You know, they can all be doing a, you know, chest press with the suspension trainer. And you could have somebody who's 80 years old or somebody in their prime, 25, super strong and make it just as challenging for each person. And I love the, the instability component because I felt like that was always a major focus with a lot of my clients, especially early on in their training with me was like stability in their joints. And so it adds that instability that I think everybody can use and, or more of. And so I've, I fell in love with that if I had to choo. I lean more towards a suspension trainer. Although I think bands are great to travel with and they have lots of pluses too, but I think it brings.

[Unnamed Speaker]

You in their body a lot more too, so you get more familiar with your limitations. I think there's, there's a little bit of disassociation with weights just because I'm trying to get it to a certain place. Whereas like you're really feeling your way through these movements and you can gradually increase and decrease the intensity of it just by your positioning of your body. So it's a pretty unique tool in that regard.

[Adam Schaefer]

Ideally you'd want both. Ideally you want to be.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean we always talk about why, why limit yourself to one thing totally.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Both have extreme benefits.

[Adam Schaefer]

Because you could have a band set and a suspension trainer set and you could store it all in one drawer in your house. It takes up no space.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah.

[Adam Schaefer]

Now you have the best of both worlds because bands are good too because you could do different angles with the band. So anyway, good tools and it gives you an easy to commit option when you don't make it to the gym. Right. The second thing is to change the style of your workout, or to put it differently, change the goal. Right. If your body's plateauing, if you went like full bore through January and you're going crazy and you're going hard, all of a sudden you plateaued, this might be a good time to focus more on mobility or it might be a good time to now focus on flexibility or building strength or maybe a little bit of stamina.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Pure strength with rest.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yes. Like doing this gets things moving again. The body is exceptional at adapting to stress. So long as you don't over apply stress, it'll start to adapt. But then what happens is the progress will eventually slow down as the body learns to adapt to it. Adaptation is how your body progresses. But once it you do the same thing over and over, it just stops changing. And one of the best ways to get through a plateau is to change the focus or the style of workout. By the way, this doesn't mean changing the style does not mean go to do something harder. Sometimes it does, but oftentimes it just means something different and sometimes it means something easier. But changing the style like this is, this is a time tested way of getting out of a plateau that every strength and conditioning coach, every trainer who's got experience knows about.

[Justin Andrews]

I mean, I know that we're talking to people right now trying to keep them motivated in February to keep going. But I think this is the secret sauce to all levels at any time, at any period of their training is to continually move, move and change the goals. I mean, it's the only way that I've found, personally I've been able to stay consistent over so many years is that at one point, if you're always focused on the same goal. Eventually you actually even reach that goal. And that may not be the thing you're thinking about right now when you're one month in and you have a long ways to go still. Like, I'm not worried about that, Adam, but it's. If you're at one point, you're going to have to learn this. So you can start to practice it now or you can wait until you achieve that goal and you have to learn that lesson anyway. So I think this is the secret sauce to staying consistent forever is that. And it's a great way when you're focusing in a direction and you start to get discouraged and you're like, I'm not seeing what I want to see from, you know what, let's change course. And a lot of times I like to work with the body, what we're noticing and feeling. Anyways, We've talked about this recently with the diet in. In Christmas time, right? We had an episode that we did about, you know, that's a great time to, hey, right now there's going to be all these extra calories because you're going to be going to family holiday parties and stuff like that. Not a great time to decide you're gonna get shredded and cut. Pretty good time for you to go. You know what? I'm gonna reverse diet. So I love things like that. So pay attention to the other aspects of your life and changing goals, other things that you want to achieve, and your mindset into the gym that makes it fresh and new again.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I like the psychological benefits of it a lot in that if you're changing it up and you're focusing on, you know, a different skill or a different type of style of workout, a lot of times it takes you away from that fixation that you have on my body isn't changing or this isn' happening, or, you know, why can't I get to this place that I'm. I'm trying to go so hard? Like, I'm focused now on a different way of training, which is going to help me to be stimulated enough where I get excited about this. That results tend to reveal themselves through that process a lot quicker anyways.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. And, you know, kind of piggybacking off what you guys are saying. Like, if you're noticing, for example, certain aches and pain, this is a common time. When people who just got started in January start to feel nagging injuries like, oh, my knee's kind of bothering me a little. Oh, this is right when my ankle acts up or my shoulder might a good way to. Or a good direction to change to might be pain relief. It might be mobility. And by the way, you're not going to go backwards by doing so. If anything, this is going to continue reinforcing your strength. Absolutely. So you might. I mean, the month of February for you might be a recuperative month where you're doing workouts that are really more focused on movement, on moving well, on improving flexibility and mobility. That's a great direction to change, too. Next up. Now, this is really. The psychological effects about what I'm about to talk about are so powerful. This is one of my favorite tips, and that is to make a more realistic commitment for time spent in the gym or for workouts. What do I mean by this? Well, if my initial commitment in January was four days a week and I'm doing it and I'm excited because I'm getting results, but now I'm starting to plateau, but I'm going to just, you know, white knuckle four days a week this whole time. If you want to get ahead of that, here's what you do. You say to yourself, you know what? I'm starting to plateau. I'm starting to lose motivation. I'm going to commit to two days a week. I'm going to. Because that's realistic. I'm going to commit to two days a week, and that's what I'm going to do from now on. That is much more. That is a much more successful approach than trying to maintain four days a week and missing two days a week because you're failing. It feels like you're failing, man, I'm missing those two days a week. I'm not showing up in those two days. I keep missing those two days. I only made it two days a week versus my new commitment is this. And I think I could stick to it. Win, win, win, win. And it tends to keep people in the positive, in the right mindset by doing so.

[Justin Andrews]

This may be the most important tip of all of them and also the one that took me the longest to probably figure out. I think early on in my career, I think I thought of myself as this motivator, and I was. My job was to motivate and inspire clients to work out more, work out harder, do more, make f of your life versus meeting people where they're at in their journey and teaching them to enjoy that process and being okay with, you know, some people may be at three days a week right out the gates, and that's a good place to start and other people, it might be one day a week and that's all they can commit to. And understanding that as a good coach and leader, it took a long time to really figure that out because, you know, there's that added pressure of one, I think that I'm supposed to be this motivator and inspire clients. Two, I want to show my clients as results as fast as I possibly can if they're going to continue on. And I got to grow my business and keep them coming back. And so there's this pressure of try and get them to their results as fast as they possibly can. And they think they want that also. And so you think you're doing them a service by giving them all these things to do it. What you're not realizing is you're overwhelming most people and most people are not like you and aren't going to continue doing that. And so learning that, okay, this person has never been consistent with one day a week their entire life. Why would I think that five day a week training this January is going to be successful for them? Why don't we set the bar somewhere where they know they can accomplish that and then we'll build on that. I found that once I figured this out, my clients were far more successful and eventually all got more results than I ever got.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, I. One of the strategies I would have with clients is when I would have a client that would over commit and I started to see that they were over committing. And the way I would see it is you would start to see more inconsistency, some cancellations. I would reset their commitment in a more realistic way and I would actually tell them that. I'd get on the phone and say, john, I know we work out three days a week. We do that for a while. You're missing a lot of workouts. Here's what I want to do. I'm going to change your workouts so that we're going to do them now, just two days a week. And let's stick with that for now because it looks like it's hard for you to make it consistently. So from now on for a while, let's do two days a week. Let's see how your body responds. Let's see if we can commit to that. And it worked. It worked so well. And then if they made an extra day, it was a bonus, but it gives you a win. So really just again, you're looking ahead and you're saying, you know what, I'm feeling myself wane a little bit. I'M going to set my commitment a little lower because I know I can make this and that's going to be a win. And then again, if you extra wow, you feel like a total champion. Next up. This is a way to keep yourself kind of with your mind focused or your eyes straight ahead focused on the goal or the prize or what you're trying to do. And that is to set some time aside every day. And it could be typically it's about 10 minutes. Okay? This is not like a huge commitment. Give yourself about 10 minutes a day, every single day to read or watch some fitness or health related content. And it could be anything. It could be nutrition, it could be supplements, it could be wellness, it could be strength training. It doesn't have to be motivation. A lot of people think that they need to pick something that'll hype them up, motivate them.

[Unnamed Speaker]

No, it could be just learn something.

[Adam Schaefer]

Learn something. Informational studies on this are quite interesting. When people start consuming educational information related to a goal that they have, they have a higher likelihood of reaching that goal. Okay. And by the way, they've done studies on this to show that it's not the, the fact that I want that goal, I'm motivated, so I seek out the information, but rather getting the information, even when I'm unmotivated, tends to keep me on track. So every day, literally put it in your calendar for 10 minutes. Maybe it's in the morning. In my opinion, that's probably the best time to do it. In the morning in the car, I'm gonna listen to 10 minutes of a podcast or watch 10 minutes of fitness related content. Or at lunch, I'm gonna read 10 minutes of a book while I eat lunch every single day related to fitness or health. This is very effective at keeping people consistent. This small thing, it's a 10 minute commitment. It requires very little energy and effort.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I mean, it reiterates the why too. I think it. Sometimes people get a lot more out of their goal when they understand, you know, more benefits in the process of, of working towards the goal. And I think too, this, this helps to kind of steer more towards like loving and falling in love with the journey of it as opposed to just getting to the result of it. So, you know, there's a lot, I mean, it's, it's such a, a monumental process like that we go through as, as we're trying to, to reclaim our health and there's just so many different aspects of it that anything could nutritionally, you know, working out sleep and just optimizing your health in general. There's just so many subject matter in there to explore.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah, well, I think we've. I mean, we've seen this in the patterns of our own listeners. The podcast consistently does about the same amount of downloads, give or take, every month, yet thousands of new people come on board to Maps programs for the first time. And it's because. It's because the show is always bringing on new people, but at the same time, we're always losing people. And what we've found is that when people are working out, they're consistent with listening to the podcast. When they're. When they're not, they don't listen to podcasts. And the sooner that you become aware of your behaviors like that, the easier it is for you to find hacks to jumpstart that. For example, this is something that Katrina and I always do with our own communication and bond and closeness in our relationship. Anytime that we feel like we're drifting apart because we're getting busy or we're getting distracted or there's a lot of stress, like getting back to listening to an audiobook at night has been a hack for us. Not any. It has nothing to do with the book, has nothing to do with what, per se, that we're learning in it. It's that it's connecting us back together like that. And it sparks that and ignites that grow, growing together again. I think the same thing works in the fitness like, instead of only listening to the podcast when you're working out, try being consistent with the listening podcast, and as a byproduct, you'll be more consistent with working out.

[Adam Schaefer]

That's right. People think the causality is the workouts make me consume fitness information. But this data and the studies show that consuming the fitness information will make it more likely that you work out as well. The causality actually works in both directions. What's great about this right here is it's easier. 10 minutes of fitness content or information is an easier commitment than getting up and moving and exercising or changing your diet. It's just consuming that information so you can make that commitment. In fact, look, we did this as coaches and trainers. One of the things I figured out as a trainer that really helped my clients is I would send them fitness information. I'd text them a new article or this new study, and the ones that I communicated with, with that kind of stuff the most, we're always the most consistent, like clockwork. So it's a really, really effective, easy tool. Lastly, probably the most effective thing you can do for your fitness and your health is hire a good coach. Period. End of story. There is absolutely nothing that is going to benefit you more or have a better impact or bigger impact on your health and fitness, like working with a good guide or a good coach in person's most effective, but virtually can also be extremely effective because this person knows what they're doing, they know the pitfalls, they can talk you off the ledge. They can make modifications to workouts and diet based off of results or lack of results or how you feel or whatever. Hiring good, A good coach is, you have a teacher, you have somebody that knows what direction to go and when they're good. It's so effective. It's so effective. The data on this is just incredible. And it really does make a big difference. This right here. I know it's the most expensive step that we have because hiring somebody costs a little bit more, but boy, the, the, the return you get on it is just. You really can't compare.

[Justin Andrews]

I feel like everybody has to have either one or the other of the last two we just said either. You have to be somebody who recognizes I, I can't financially afford a coach and do that. So then I'm going to do the learning on my own. I'm going to listen to the podcast. I'm gonna listen to Mind Bump every day. That's gonna be my thing. When I drive to work, I'm gonna dis, I'm gonna play myself, at least consume that content so I can start to learn or teach myself that. And then if you're that type of person who's just like, ah, I just, I won't do that, or I like listening to music or do something else, well, then investing in a coach that's going to teach those things to you, I think are so important. It's a, it's an investment. It's one of those things, too, that no matter how long you do it with a coach, you're going to get massive return from it. What you learn from somebody who's kind of holding your hand through that process that is getting to know your habits, your behaviors, your body, your metabolism, the things that they're going to teach you around your health and fitness journey are just invaluable. You'll always, you'll always have that. And the more of it that you can invest in and do, the better off you are. And I don't. No matter how good we are on this podcast, nothing will ever be better than that, in my opinion, because that coach can dive into Your, your individual programming, your what's going on with your life and meet you where you're currently at, and the knowledge and information, that's something you carry on forever.

[Sal Destefano]

Got some questions here. If I reduce my training frequency, how much are my results going to slow down?

[Adam Schaefer]

This is, I'm such a great question because there's a huge myth that if you work out less, you will necessarily see worse results. This is not always true. In fact, I would say oftentimes the opposite is true. If you're working out too much, too hard, or doing a workout that's ineffective, doing a more effective workout less frequently, less often results in better results. In fact, as a trainer in February, when a bunch of people would come to me because they plateaued, one of the first things I would do is reduce the amount that they were spending in the gym and just give them a more effective workout. And I don't mean a harder workout. Whenever I say effective, the average person hears that, says, oh, you mean you would just train them less but just beat them up? No, no, no. I just train them more appropriately and effectively. Effective isn't harder. Effective is better. So doing less doesn't mean you're going to get less results. If you do less and it's better, you're going to get better results. Or if you're doing too much because you went too hard and you're over, you know, stressing your body, doing less of the same stuff will actually result in better results.

[Justin Andrews]

Yeah. I think one of the most profound studies that we ever shared on here was talking about the amount of volume that's required to maintain the muscle and the amount of frequency that is. It's like Training is like 1/7. Right? That's. So if as long as you're getting in the gym once or twice a week, every week, even if your frequency is down from your normal four or five, you're going to be fine. You're more, you're better off just being consistent on a weekly basis of getting in there, creating movement, doing some sort of exercise, or getting into your, your home gym and getting some band work or some, you know, suspension trainer. As long as you keep that consistency up, you're not going to slow down your progress because most of the work is going to be in the consistency. And then what you do nutritionally, that's going to be one of the biggest.

[Sal Destefano]

Things, is doing a little really better than doing nothing.

[Justin Andrews]

Oh, God, yes.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah. Another, another big myth. Like if I don't go beat myself up for an hour, then what A waste of time. I might as well not go to the gym.

[Unnamed Speaker]

But a lot of people still share that sentiment and it's.

[Justin Andrews]

I did.

[Unnamed Speaker]

It's a hard one to break because it is like, especially if you're getting in the momentum of things, you really want to keep hammering. You want to, you know, squeeze out that, maximize that opportunity while you're there. And to feel like you're not putting out 100 effort, it feels like, well, what's, it's a waste if I don't do that.

[Justin Andrews]

I've said this so many times on this podcast that one of the, you know, of biggest, you know, momentum shifts in my journey was giving myself that permission that I could go in and do one exercise and that's it. Giving myself that permission and telling myself that it is not worthless, that it's I that did so much for my consistency and the ability for me to maintain my physique and my health. It's so, I, I think it's so underrated just going in and getting five sets of squats. It's. If you, if you just did that, right. If people just chose to walk a little bit more throughout the week and they squatted five sets out of the week, like a lot of people would be way healthier than what they currently are right now. Yes. So doing something is better than nothing.

[Adam Schaefer]

Yeah, a little isn't just a little better than nothing. It's infinitely better than.

[Justin Andrews]

Yes.

[Adam Schaefer]

Nothing is so bad that doing a little bit is so much better. Like, if you can do a little, do it.

[Sal Destefano]

Next question. How do I know if a coach is good or bad?

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, I could tell you some really, really good.

[Justin Andrews]

Ask them if they listen to my signs.

[Adam Schaefer]

Well, hey, man, that might be right.

[Unnamed Speaker]

I mean, red flag.

[Justin Andrews]

We're at a point now, okay. We have, we now coach trainers. We certify trainers. There's over now a thousand that have been through our course that are all over the country. So I mean, that's a one way right away. And they're, they're looking, a lot of them are looking for clients online or in person. So I tell people, when people ask me this question, I tell them to ask that one, have they gone through our course? Or two, do they listen to the show? There's enough trainers that do that. You can find one that does. I think that's an easy way to find out real quick.

[Adam Schaefer]

Here's, here's another great sign. Like if you were first off, do they give you an assessment with your first workout? If they're not assessing you and looking at your movement patterns and asking you questions and they just take you through a workout. That's a big red flag. But number two, you should feel more energized and better at the end of the workout than you did at the beginning. And you should feel great the day after. If you could barely walk, you feel like you got beat up or you finished the workout, you almost threw up, you can't move. Not a good sign. So judge it by how you feel. If you feel good, you feel less pain. Oh my God, that workout was good. And I actually feel like I could do it again right now. And I feel energized. That's a good sign. If you feel like you got your crap beat out of you. Not good. Not good at all. Look, with this episode because we're talking about initially we talked about Map Suspension Maps, bands or Suspension Trainer and bands training. We have two programs. We have Map Suspension, which is a suspension trainer program great to use at home. Then we have a bands program that's also great to use at home. They're great convenient ways to add strength training or to do strength training. Both of them are 50% off because this episode. So half off each one. If you're interested, go to maps fitnessproducts.com, but you have to use this code for the 50% off. SB50 so SB50 gets you 50% off. Map, suspension and Maps bands. You can also find us on Instagram. Justin is at mindpump. Justin, you can find me at mindpump, distefano and adamdpump.

[Sal Destefano]

Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body dramatically, improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB super [e-mail] the RGB Super Bundle includes Maps, Anabolic Maps, Performance and Maps Aesthetic. Nine months of Phase two expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30 day money back guarantee and you can get it now plus other valuable free [e-mail] if you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five star rating and review on itunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time, this is mindpump.

[Adam Schaefer]

You.

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