A professional fitness competitor once said to me that “there is no change inside the comfort zone.” Indeed, that is the truth. In fact if you are standing still in a comfort zone then you are actually moving backwards while others are passing you by. In my opinion, the only “comfort zone” that is worthwhile is a good vacation to recharge your batteries for even more action at a higher level.
We are the human race, not the human rest. We are meant to stay in motion!
In case you haven’t heard, there is an obesity epidemic in our country. The bottom line is that we sit too much.
At HOTWORX we have a new motivational poster…
“We are now reaping the consequences of not moving our bodies. This should give us a clue, namely, that our bodies were made to MOVE—not to be sedentary."¹ -Dominique Gummelt, PhD
To me there is nothing more disturbing than to witness laziness. Laziness has levels. Even those who go to the gym regularly can be guilty of laziness. There are YouTube videos circulating of customers in gyms where they actually allow eating sandwiches while working out on a machine. Some of these gyms actually give out sugar filled candy to clients and promote pizza nights. What is that? Fitness absurdity! Fitness can be fun, but it is not a joke.
Health clubs should promote workout discipline and good nutritional habit formation.
Some say that half of the fitness battle is to show up at the gym. That may be true, but who wants to fight only half of the battle? If only half of the battle is fought, then nothing has been won. Where I’m going with this is that I have seen plenty of laziness inside of gyms, not just outside of fitness centers, all over the world. Just because someone goes to a gym regularly does not mean that they actually workout hard enough to see a change. As gym and studio owners, it is our job to motivate clients to do more than just show up, but to actually work it.
Sometimes it takes a brutally honest message to clients, out of genuine concern for their health, to get them moving.
Sometimes, tough love is what it takes to get someone’s attention and to jolt them out of their comfort zone. The same holds true in business management. People get complacent and “comfortable” with the status quo, when they could work just one more hour or make one more sales contact towards the next level of success. Of course, in fitness, as I have said as a trainer to clients and to myself during workouts…you can always do one more rep!
People can do way more than they think they can…ALWAYS!
The only way to achieve positive change is to submit yourself to rigorous training in fitness and in business. There is no easy path to success. You gotta put in the work. You gotta learn what you need to know when you need to know it. You gotta find the discipline. You gotta get it done!
That said, help is out there. There are methods to accelerate workout success. One way is to introduce change to your routine and to stop working out in a comfortable air-conditioned studio or gym all the time. Supplement your training and step into an infrared sauna workout so that you can step outside of your comfort zone.
I have skied the mountains of Big Bear Lake in California many times. Beyond skiing, Big Bear is also known as a training ground for champion boxers and MMA fighters. Why? Because they know that training in the altitudes of Big Bear can catapult their octagon or boxing ring readiness. When you can achieve a certain accelerated level of training in abnormal atmospheric conditions, then, when you are required to perform in normal environments you will bring with you a much higher level of conditioning.
The same is true for infrared fitness training.
When you workout inside of an infrared sauna it takes way less time to achieve results. But that’s not the only training benefit. After a few consistent weeks of infrared training you will notice, in normal environments, how much easier it is to go through the motions of everyday tasks such as reaching for a book or bending over to pick up a box.
Attack your fitness with a determined effort to step outside of your comfort zone. Smile when you do it, and make it fun!
