I try hard not to look around all that much at the gym, but I noticed this one guy today that hasn't been coming for all that long. This was definitely a guy that was at the beginning of his journey. Fitness/gym newcomers range the whole scale of confidence and comfort when they first start up. However, the man was frequently looking a bit on the uncomfortable side. He would do a set and then stop to look around. A lot of times when I see this, I see people who are just trying to see what kind of attention they're getting. The look on this face though was one checking out to see who was judging him. OK, sure, he really wasn't lifting all that much, but that doesn't matter. I walked up to him when we were both in a rest period, tapped him on the shoulder and saying with a reassuring nod 'hey man, you got this'. His mood flipped and worked hard with a sense of determination the rest of the time he was there.
The moral of the story is this. When we start out, we will definitely not be where we want to be inside of a couple of weeks. Chances are strong that, if committed, we'll start to see the positive change we're looking for after about three months. This takes time. Fitness is all about the long game, and the long game is the marathon, not the sprint.
I know I get discouraged sometimes when I take a look in the mirror and things just aren't where I quite want them to be. That's OK. That means there's a silver lining, and that lining is that improvement and progress are coming. We all start in different places, but, regardless, we all start in the beginning.
When the times get tough, remember that even all of the fitness icons had to start somewhere. You will get there.
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