Being honest is sometimes hard because we all know that the truth can hurt or it can be liberating. When it comes to our body image, things get even more complex. I think there’s a consensus that we should love our bodies how they are. On the same token, we’re also taught that being ‘obese’ is not healthy and that we should make an effort to look a certain way. How can we discern the truth with so many competing ideas? Honesty is a large topic that affects several aspects of our lives, but today I would like to focus on how the truth pertains to our fitness and health.

Be honest with what you can do. 

Let’s start with exercise, are you being honest with yourself? On several occasions, I have seen people going to the gym and leaving so much on the table. To be fair, sometimes this is due to a lack of understanding of what they can do. For example: I’m training someone and they tell me “This weight is heavy” so I ask them to do as many reps as possible on their last set and they still get out 20 reps (so the weight is too light if our goal was 4×8). This is not always a problem of honesty but more of an experience issue. If you lack neurological experience of knowing what heavy truly feels like then you won’t be able to accurately discern how much you can actually lift. But I digress, the real issue is when we know we can do more but we choose not to. Maybe you’ve had a bad day, you’re tired, work is hard, your partner is mad at you, and the list goes on. These are all great opportunities to do less, right? Not exactly. If these things are spiking your stress levels, reducing your recovery, or affecting your sleep, then you have a pretty good reason to hold back a little. But even with that in mind, you can still accomplish your workout at 60-70% of your max. I think it’s okay to dial it back when working too hard would mean going over the edge and risking potential injury. But when I say dial it back I don’t mean only do half your workout or sit on your ass all day. No, we can still get things done when we’re tired, it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to get done. So the next time you’re feeling down or exhausted, get the work done, even if it’s 60% of what you can normally do. At the end of the day, results are created through consistent action. Don’t feel bad that it’s only 60% or that you are not as strong as last week. Doing something is better than nothing and there will come a time when you will be able to push hard and you will be grateful that you continued to lay the foundation for that day. 

Be honest with your priorities.

I don’t think we can have this conversation without talking about priorities just a bit. When it comes to people’s priorities, it feels like they have no idea what they’re talking about. I’ll hear people say things like “I want to lose 50LBs” but their actions do not align with their goals at all. This is where a great personal trainer can come in handy, with the right communication you’ll be able to figure out where these gaps are occurring. But part of this process is being brutally honest with yourself. Let’s create a fictional list of priorities to break down this idea. Most people will come to me and say something like this: 

1. My kids
2. Work
3. My health

I’ve even heard students give me a similar list of priorities, usually putting work or school before their own health. The truth is that even when people really want something to happen with their health, it’s usually pushed to the side for something else. Let’s analyze this list further: 

1. My Kids – agreed, your kids are a massive priority and probably the most important thing to you in this world! But if you die early because of heart disease or diabetes, then what? Or maybe you are just so unfit that you can’t even play with them for longer than 5 min. Will your kids have a more or less fulfilling life? The funny thing about this is that even though your kids are a top priority, for you to show up for them, your health needs to be right there next to it. So, if you want to support your kids, yes you need money and yes you need to spend time with them, but you also need to be healthy enough to do those things. Just to bring this one home for all of you, imagine your grandparents getting old and sick. Are they able to take care of you or do the roles reverse? It’s hard to take care of people when you’re the sick one. And as we all know, exercise reduces all-cause mortality, it’s literally the miracle drug. So even though we’re all getting older, we can still reduce the effects of aging dramatically by taking the time to manage our health, thus allowing us to continue caring for our children for longer. 
2. Work – exercise reduces stress, manages hormones, and promotes better sleep and brain function. Enough said, right? I’ll spell out just in case, all of these things will make you work better, faster, and stronger. One of the simplest things you can do to make yourself more valuable as an individual is taking care of your health. You don’t need to take that $20k course or go to that convention. No, if you’re not exercising already, you’re missing out on becoming a higher-functioning version of yourself. Your output, mood, and focus will increase, it’s an easy cheat code to be better at what you do. So if work is a high priority for you, exercise should be too.

So with all this being said, your previous priority list is still totally valid. But instead of seeing your health as something that comes after the kids and work, I hope now that you see it as something that elevates those things. Your list should look a little something more like this: 

So be honest about your priorities. You’ll be a better worker and parent if you have your health in check. The truth is that your health bleeds into everything that you do. 

Be honest with what you are doing. 

To wrap things up we’ll talk about action. If your priorities are set and you know what you are willing and able to do, then it just comes down to what’s actually happening. Where are you in terms of what you do now and where do you want to be? Imagine what your life will look like when you execute on your priorities, what does an average week entail? Be honest with yourself and look at what you’re doing now that does not align with this future self-image. As you go on doing this, you’ll continuously need to be checking yourself to see if your actions are aligning with what you want. Because if you’re still not working out after you said you wanted to lose 50 pounds, then you are lying to yourself. You don’t actually want to lose 50 pounds that badly, you just like the idea. You don’t care enough to suffer and put in the work. That’s the truth and that’s okay. Now you at least know what needs to change. The first step to making any change in your life is the truth, you need to know where you stand, leading to a spotlight that allows you to identify how to change. Lastly, once you’ve figured that out you should write it down so you don’t forget when things get hard. Remember how you felt in that moment of realization and how important this is to you. Without a good reason, we will not be willing to sacrifice and suffer. So lean on your “why” and be brutally honest with yourself, always. Because I can’t think of a time when it’s a good thing to lie to yourself, if you do, let me know. I would love to hear that argument. 

As I finish writing this I realize that being honest with ourselves isn’t the hard part, it’s the actions that follow. It’s being honest about what we know we need to do and executing it. But there’s some conciliation in at least knowing the truth. That you at least have an idea of where to start and where you want to go, is massively valuable and should not be underrated.

I hope you enjoyed this topic, it’s a large one that will likely have more parts to follow. I’m glad you stuck around for the whole thing and as always it would be a huge help if you gave me a follow on my socials! Thanks again and happy holidays! 

Marc Calado