When Preparation Becomes Nothing More Than This…

Matt heard that we do a lot of pushups at MidStrong. It’s true.

He finally came in to meet with me last week. Unbeknownst to me, he’d been stalking us for years, following us on social media and even subscribing to this email list. I bet he’s chuckling right now as he reads this.

Anyway, he can’t do a single decent pushup. He was intimidated and a little embarrassed by this. Understandably, he didn’t want to feel embarrassed, didn’t want to be the only dude who couldn’t get a single rep. I get that. Nobody, ever, wants to be in that position.

So, for two years he put off joining as he made fitful and inconsistent efforts to train up to do at least one good pushup. For all his good intentions, he still can’t. He came in anyway. He’s out of shape and his brother recently had a huge health scare which inspired him to overcome his reservations and take action.

We’re thrilled! But also a bit bummed out. He lost two years… preparing.

All of that preparation was nothing more than procrastination.

That’s actually quite common – allowing preparation to become procrastination. More than half of our new members will tell us that, like Matt, they’ve followed us for months or even years, and done extensive research, not only on what gym to join, but which fitness approach might work best for them, like pilates, hot yoga, strength training, or whatever.

Just think of all those months and years lost!

We do this to ourselves. Frequently. We tend to overcomplicate things. We exaggerate how hard it might be. Or how much we suck, or how out of shape we are.

We tell ourselves that, “if I can train up to do a few pushups first, then I’ll be in shape to join.”

Preparation becomes a crutch, an excuse. Procrastination leads to inaction then stagnation and eventually desperation.

Months and years slip away. A shame.

The simple fact is that whatever discipline or approach we choose is probably going to work well enough as long as we follow a few simple guidelines and keep doing it.

Whenever you sense that your extensive preparation is becoming procrastination it would be good to recall Nike’s brilliant tagline… Just do it!

We help people like Matt take action and break free from stagnation by making training and nutrition simple, safe, and sustainable. We meet you where you are. We do not judge. We accept, even anticipate, that you won’t be “ready”. That’s cool. We’ll help you with that too.

You can do this. Don’t settle. Join us.

Stronger than our excuses.

PS – When you’re ready to stop “preparing” and take decisive action, we’re here for you. Please reach out to either Julie or me to set up a private consultation. Use this link to book time directly on our calendars.