Be honest with yourself.

How many times have you said this is the year? That the last 3 month bender of chucking endless calorie rich and nutrient poor garbage down your gullet washed down with a few wobbly pops to sedate yourself because you’ve gotten so out of touch with your natural rhythm that you can’t sleep without it, is finally gonna stop.

Just take a second to think how many times.

So you start jogging… again. You start buying salads at lunch instead of the burger and fries. You drink an ungodly amount of water cuz you heard that it helps metabolize fat somehow and you watch endless Youtube videos on how to get lean, and jacked, and strong, and in great condition ALL AT THE SAME TIME! And lucky for you there’s an impossible amount of information to consume on the topic and one cursory search leads you to hours of staring at the screen trying to find the magical piece of wisdom that will set you off on the right path and give you everything you’ve ever wanted.

Now that 3 month bender is a year in the rear view and you’ve consumed more fitness content then you know what to do with and your brilliance shines in every conversation because whatever you happen to be talking about you steer it towards the transformational effects of time restricted eating and the benefit of heavy, multi joint lifts. You wow your buddies with exercise variations that blow up your biceps because you watched Ryan Humiston murder himself in the gym for your entertainment and you try to biohack your way to gainz by watching porn before every training session because you watched a Jeff Nippard video about testosterone and you took it way to far.

But fuck it, you’re motivated! So you listen to Extreme Ownership, Finding Ultra and Can’t Hurt Me all in succession and since you hate running you take Goggin’s advice and put your shoes beside your bed so that you’re out the door before you can even think about it.

You’ve put in the time, you’ve done the research and have a million different tools at your disposal.

So why don’t you have the body you want yet?

Now I know that there are those amongst you who are dialed in with the energy of 1000 suns on the journey to looking like Gerard Butler in 300, and to you I say, right on mother fucker!

But to those still trying to absorb as much content as they can while those 300 sons of bitches are out there working, I got news for you; you’re undermining what it takes to get there.

Now don’t get me wrong as everything that I’m saying here is from personal experience and I’m not here to hate on anyone who is honestly lost and giving it their best go, as I have a deep respect for anyone trying to change their life in the gym.

I’m talking to the people who know exactly what they’re supposed to do and are desperate to change but after suffering through a few nasty workouts the lure of comfort and ease pulls you back to your comfy couch and a giant plate of nachos. Or the hunger from a weight loss diet breaks you in the middle of the night when you can’t take it anymore and when you’re pigging out on god knows what you somehow justify it the same way you always have even though it goes against what you said you wanted.

And therein lies the problem.

If you don’t have an ironclad reason to justify your suffering, something that will get you past any doubt or pull you through all the times you want to quit, you’re going to fail.

And the worst part about it is that because you never defined why you’re doing this, it’ll be so easy to fail that you’ll barely even notice. You’ll justify any behaviour that’s antithetical to the process by saying that you need balance in your life because that’s the easiest way to chuck back a box of donuts without wanting to shoot yourself. Until you live your entire life like that and one day it won’t matter what you want because it’ll be too late to get it anyways.

So here’s the solution. Stop letting the fear of failure make you weak. Define what you want and be willing to fall flat on your face in an effort to get it. Be brave enough to decide once and for all and move forward.

Or stay where you are and let life pass you by. Either way it’s up to you.

So what will it be?