1) Set the goal

2) Determine the path to achieve the goal

3) Leave your ego at the door

That dog doesn't know who he's messing with!!!

I was training a prospect a few weeks ago.  He was a middle-aged male who was about 30 pounds overweight.  When I asked him what his goal was, he told me that he wanted to lose 30-35 pounds to prove to his kids and friends that he could do it.  Upon hearing the GOAL, I determined the best way to achieve it (metabolic training, maximum work with minimum rest), now it was up to him to listen to me and leave his ego at the door.

I told him that I knew what we needed to do and I put him through an assessment.  He assessed a little below average, but made sure to tell me how he used to Bench Press a lot of weight “back in the day”.  This was a HUGE red flag for me, because I knew this guy wanted to bench the pounds away and that he was going to insist on benching rather than listening to me.  Low and behold, I put him through a sample workout with a metabolic focus, 2 to 1 work to rest ratio (30s on, 15s off) since his goal was fat loss.  About 5 minutes into the workout, he was very pale, sucking wind and told me that he was light-headed.  As he was doubled over, hands on knees, barely able to breathe, he turned to me and said, “When are we going to lift some heavy weight?”  I reassured him that the way we were training was the proper protocol for his goal of fat loss, but he asked, yet again, when we were going to lift some heavy weight.

If this gentleman was able to accomplish his goal on his own then, he wouldn’t be fat and he wouldn’t need me.  If it was as simple as “lifting some heavy weight” then, he would be slim and trim, but he is overweight and will continue to be until he checks his ego at the door and follows my advice.  The Moral of the story here is to leave your ego at the door.  Once you set a goal and figure out how to achieve it, stay focused, follow the path and see where you end up.  You can always change course along the way, but if you don’t move forward, you will never get there.