Do Less Until You Can Do More
After doing progress pictures and measurements for a client that has had a lot of success at Steel, she told me “One of the best things you told me early one was to stop trying to get 10,000 steps per day and to start aiming for 6,000 steps per day.”
I cracked a smile. I couldn’t help but be excited over what I’d just heard.
Like many others I would suppose, I can be insecure about the work I do at Steel. At times I see other Fitness Pros pushing their clients hard. A lot harder than I push mine. And I find myself wondering, should I be demanding more?
Sally reminded me I need to stay in my lane- I think I’m on to something.
While I do believe “MORE” is ultimately the answer to reaching our fitness goals (more workouts, more weight, more reps, more sets, more intensity, more focus on food, more activity out of the gym)...
I don’t think it’s always the best target when a client is starting out.
In fact, I frequently encourage them to do less.
Do less that is, until they can do more.
You see, Sally, like so many other people, hear blanket recommendations like “Hit 10,000 steps per day” so they feel like that’s the way to get in shape. And even though hitting 10,000 steps per day is an excellent goal, it doesn’t mean that starting out with a more manageable 6,000 steps per day isn’t going to get results.
Because it will!
It does.
And it has.
Just ask Sally!
Setting too big of a target for someone new to hit leads to frustration. Because they frequently don’t hit it. Then feelings of hopelessness follow. It’s easy to have the mindset of “if I can’t hit 10,000 steps per day I might as well not bother trying to get more steps at all.”
I’m not sure why we as humans think like that. It’s not very logical. And yet, almost everyone has tendencies to think like that.
If you’ve been struggling to see progress, and you’ve been setting some big targets that you just aren’t hitting, try something different this year.
Do less. Until you can do more.
Set a smaller goal that stretches you a bit but a goal you’re confident you can hit with reasonable effort!
And once that becomes a habit, stretch yourself a little more.
Rinse and repeat until you’re hitting all the targets you want to be hitting.
And who knows, after following this process for a while you may even find yourself crushing 12,000 steps per day with just a bit of effort.
And that ladies and gentleman, is called a lifestyle change.