5 Ways to Fail Fitness
Maybe instead of trying to optimize, you can find out what to take off or simplify…
Trying to find the PERFECT program or trainer —
When you don’t know where to look or who to trust because everyone is pointing fingers saying, “DON’T TRUST THEM!!” it gets easy to throw in the towel and call it quits. When you think it’s better to find THE perfect program or industry secret or trainer, you end up not making any progress at all. Let it be messy. You will go from one thing to the next, sure, but you’re going to learn along the way and every nugget you learn will contribute to your long term success.
For example, I’ve worked with trainers I didn’t like and I’ve taken business courses that kind of sucked. With all that, I still progressed. All of those people and programs STILL contributed value to my overall journey. Whether it was an actual nugget oF wisdom or clarity on what I DON’T want to do, it helped.
By making the WRONG decisions, you can actually learn how to make BETTER ones moving forward. By refusing to make any wrong turns, you’re more likely to stay stuck and make your journey far more painful and slow than it needs to be.Focusing Only on Aesthetics —
The people I’ve seen have the most success with their aesthetic, emotional, and long term goals are the ones who finally shifted their focus to things like stress, enjoyment, consistency over perfection, and playing the long game.
They actually stopped focusing solely on what their body looked like and committed to a lifetime of chipping away.
I believe this massive mindset shift impacts the nervous system in a deep way and makes the body more efficient and effective. It’s an undeniable trend. This isn’t to say you CAN’T or SHOULDN’T focus on aesthetics. You 1000% can. But if it’s your obsession then you will likely stall. Do a little experiment where you spend 3-6 months focusing on ANYTHING other than the way you look and watch what happens.Chasing Quick Fixes —
Jumping on every "30-day shred" or detox that promises rapid results can be tempting — like, SO tempting —, but it often leads to burnout, minimal long-term change, and wildly imbalanced expectations. Short term programs don’t take into account all the big motivation dips that come AFTER that initial rise in dopamine you get when you make the purchase of your shiny new program. It’s why most people fall off after 2-4 weeks, become avoidant, and ghost.
You will likely always feel like fitness and health is under some invisible time-constraint and it will create a background layer of stress. Fitness is about consistency, not quick results. And I know this one is annoying to hear. Most of the quick fixes out there have a lot of enticing before & after photos, testimonials, and followers. Even I fall victim to the seductive nature of these sweeping promises. Luckily I know better and can always pull myself out. Since I’m in this for the long haul I am always getting great results.Skipping the Basics —
Getting obsessed with advanced exercises or routines without building a foundation can lead to injury and frustration. Mastering basics like form and foundational movements is essential. “Yeah I did that in college with my coach for my sport. I have the basics down!” Oh do you? How many years ago was that? Are you pain free? Are you seeing results when you put in effort? Are you confident in your form? Do you feel these exercises where you’re meant to? I can’t tell you how many athletes I’ve worked with who spent 2-3 hours in the gym lifting with their teams only to realize that working HARD and having a sports coach was NOT the same as moving WELL with a professional who specializes in body mechanics and exercise prescription. EVERYONE (including me!) can brush up on the basics every few years. Everyone. The rules in fitness change often because we’re always learning new information, especially for women. Women have never been studied up until NOW (in 2025!!). And we have different rules than men. So — perhaps you need to dial it all back, strip away the noise, and dig into the foundations. Learn the current rules. Get the current tips. Have someone see you squat, deadlift, row, press.
If you’re in it for the long haul then you have PLENTY of time to get to the part where you can do any fancy, fun, complex exercise you desire!Discounting ENJOYMENT —
I call this the “enjoyment factor” and I go over this with EVERY client at some point. You will never ever be able to commit long term to something you dread doing. This is a little complex because we have a hard time discerning between what we DON’T LIKE and what’s just HARD TO DO (another reason having a coach is so vital).
I used to think I haaaaated sales until I realized I hate the feeling of selling something I dont wholly believe in and I hate feeling like I’m trying to convince people of things.
I actually LOVE selling my own services because I know I care, I know how much I’ve learned, and I know my work benefits everyone I work with. So I never hated sales, I just felt uncomfy doing it and I didn’t like selling things I wasn’t whole-heartedly on-board with. Now I love sales.
Another example of this is when I’m working with clients and they say, “ugh I HATE push ups” — perhaps thats true. But have you ever been GOOD at push ups? “umm no I’ve always been bad at them, thats why I hate them.” So if you were really good at them and knew you could bust out 10 solid, impressive push ups, would you still hate them? “no! I’d love that.” Great! You don’t hate push ups, you hate doing something you’re bad at. And this makes sense! This is smart. NOBODY wants to feel like something is a threat to their competency or strength. The catch-22 here is that in order to get better at something, you HAVE to go through the phase where you suck at it. And that phase is so much easier with someone there to show you how, shorten the journey, and cheer you on.
Fitness can be REALLY enjoyable with the right movements, cues, education, and support. Once you get all that, you build the foundation I keep mentioning. Once you have THAT you have more agency over deviating and trying new things and finding what’s ENJOYABLE for YOU. This will change throughout your life too. You may LOVE running for 3 years and then decide you love the slow, low impact nature of lifting weights. You may want to try olympic lifting or dance cardio or gymnastics or rock climbing. You CAN do it all, just not all at once. And all of it is better done with — yep, you guessed it — a strong foundation. Learn the main movement patterns, build up confidence and body literacy, then go nuts. Without this, you will fail and fail and fail and fail because you will NEVER want to do things you don’t enjoy.
Which of these resonate with you most? Where can you re-orient your focus? By knowing how you’re “failing” you get immediate feedback on where to find solutions.
In need of a solution? Reach out!! I do this for a living and it’s such a dream ✨
Kindly,
Chels
