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Summary
On episode 398 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan continues his three part mindset series with a practical look at how to actually get to wellness once you know your priorities. He tackles the two most common ways people derail themselves at the start: pushing too far outside their comfort zone at once, or never pushing it at all.
Allan lays out the idea of finding one or two “big rocks” to change first, whether that is cutting sugar and processed food or simply starting with a walk instead of a run, then using gentle nudges to expand your comfort zone over time.
He closes by reframing wellness as a program rather than a project. A project has an end point where you go back to your old ways; a program becomes part of your identity and shifts toward continual improvement and injury prevention.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Start with a clear long term vision, not a vague sense that you want to be “well.” Allan says most people know they want to lose weight, build strength, or build stamina, but without a concrete picture of the end goal it is hard to know which actions actually matter.
- Use the Identity Grid to prioritize energy across your whole life, not just wellness. Treating wellness in isolation ignores the fact that career, relationships, and other demands will compete for the same time and energy.
- Pick one or two “big rocks” first instead of overhauling everything at once. Cutting sugar and processed food is a more sustainable starting point than jumping straight to a fully vegan or fully whole food diet, which can set you up to fail the first time you slip.
- Build fitness gradually rather than starting at maximum intensity. Someone who has been sedentary should start with a half hour walk, not an attempt to run five miles, because too much too soon tends to break people rather than build them.
- Expect real discomfort, and push it with gentle nudges. Muscle soreness (DOMS) and disrupted sleep are normal parts of expanding your comfort zone; the goal is to nudge just past the edge of comfort, not blow past it.
- Treat wellness as a program, not a project. A project has a start and finish, after which people often revert to old habits. Aging is a continuous decline curve, so wellness has to be an ongoing program that does not end.
- Let the behavior become part of your identity. Runners call themselves runners, CrossFit athletes call themselves CrossFit athletes, and that identity is what keeps the habit consistent long after motivation fades.
- Once wellness is part of your identity, your decisions shift toward improvement and injury prevention. Allan uses his own torn rotator cuff as an example of adjusting his training to keep improving one shoulder while protecting the other from the same injury.
“This is not a project that you do and then you’re done. This is something that becomes a part of you.”
Coach Allan Misner
