How do you start working out?
In an apartment in Brussels, a man named Tommy sits in his bed and scrolls through Instagram. He sees exercise reels and photos as he doesn’t feel good about his body and lacks the motivation to train.
One day, Tommy gets a message on Instagram from an online personal trainer, which he starts to interact with and follow. Initially, Tommy is unwilling to get a personal trainer because he cannot get started and has to go to the gym.
After days and days with no contact between Tommy and the personal trainer, Tommy sees a story from the personal trainer who is training outside in the sun doing push-ups. Tommy feels inspired and impressed as the personal trainer is jacked by doing bodyweight training. It is the first step in Tommy’s journey to change his life as he contacts the personal trainer again.
Tommy finally admits he lacks motivation and wants a body he can be proud of. The personal trainer explains to Tommy that it simply requires consistency and you will get the results, but Tommy seems a bit hesitant and thinks it is easy to say. The personal trainer explains further it is just as simple as you only have to do 5 push-ups a day, and Tommy responds suspiciously, “5 push-ups? What will that do?”.
The personal trainer asks, “What does brushing your teeth do?”
Tommy answers, “Not much”
The personal trainer responded “Exactly, it doesn’t do anything, but can we agree if you brush your teeth twice every day, your teeth will be clean and healthy?”
Tommy agrees hesitantly to see where the personal trainer is going.
The personal trainer says, “Now, take this concept to the 5 push-ups daily.”
At this moment, the light ball switched on for Tommy. He understood what the trainer meant and that it did not matter how much he would do as long he did a little bit of work every day.
The personal trainer asks Tommy if he is willing to commit 1 week to do 5 push-ups a day starting Monday.
Tommy is eagerly excited and is taking on the challenge.
It is finally Monday, and the personal trainer is texting Tommy, “Now it is time to do the 5 push-ups.” Tommy is responding that he plans to do it later in the evening as he wakes up tired from a long weekend.
The whole day, Tommy cannot think about anything other than the personal trainer who is trusting him to do the push-ups.
Tommy finally gets home after a long day of work. He decided quickly to bang out his 5 push-ups but ended up doing an additional 25 sit-ups.
On the 3rd day, Tommy experienced a stressful day where he had to work overtime and could not see himself complete the push-ups. When he arrived home, he felt so tired that he could fall asleep on the floor. Sitting down and mindlessly scrolling on Instagram, he saw a message from the personal trainer asking how he did that day. Tommy immediately feels that he wants to quit and not do it, but he also feels a sense of disappointment from the personal trainer if he does as the personal trainer trusts him.
So, Tommy went to the floor and started his 5 push-ups, followed by 25 sit-ups.
Tommy feels he got going and enjoys that someone keeps him accountable. He decided he wanted to go to the gym on Friday, but when Friday arrived, Tommy decided to do the 5 push-ups, go to the gym, or not do anything today.
But Tommy got tempted to take the easy way out even though he promised himself to go to the gym, so instead, Tommy went swimming for 30 minutes.
During the weekend, Tommy had more time to do everything else than training and relax, which led Tommy to procrastinate as he wanted to do everything else but training.
Tommy reminded himself of why he was doing it: to be healthier and feel better about himself. He thought about just a week ago; he was not motivated to train, but he had already been consistent for 5 days.
Tommy realized he didn’t need motivation and had the mental fortitude to be consistent and care for his health.
Sunday morning, Tommy wakes up, realizing it is the last day. He decides to do the 5 push-ups, 25 sit-ups, and 20 squats as the first thing. As he completes the day’s workout, he quickly grabs his phone to text the personal trainer about how grateful he is that the personal trainer wants to help him.
In the conversation, the personal trainer asks Tommy what he thinks should happen now regarding the training.
Tommy was about to answer and paused for a second and realized he still didn’t know anything about working out and, for that matter, how long he wanted to workout.
But thinking back on the previous week, Tommy reminded himself that he just needed to do a minimum of 5 push-ups daily.
After collecting his thoughts, Tommy told the personal trainer that he would continue to do the 5 push-ups a day.
3 months later, Tommy is seeing the results in his chest and triceps as he has become more muscular. He also feels stronger in his legs as he added squats and lunges to his routine, but Tommy feels he wants more out of his workouts. He is already spending 30 minutes a day working out, which takes a lot of his time, and he wants to be more severe as he can feel specific muscles falling behind.
Tommy decides to contact the personal trainer who helps him get started. In a long text message, he describes what he is currently doing and working out 30 minutes daily, but he wants more structure to train all the muscle groups.
The personal trainer answered that it is great to hear that Tommy has kept it consistent and will be happy to help with a program.
The conversation continues so the personal trainer has enough information to make Tommy a program.
1 week later, Tommy received his program and could finally begin his training in a structured way.
Tommy is now working out for 30 min. 3 days a week, which gives him more time during the week as the training began taking much of Tommy’s time.
Tommy has made a remarkable transformation as he feels more energized and stronger, and his body feels better overall. The experience and working out have transformed Tommy into a better person who enjoys his day-to-day more and more as he moves freely, and he is starting to eat healthier, which lets him slowly get to a healthier weight.
How can you get started?
Part 1
1. Find a person who is willing to keep you accountable by checking in on you every day and is not accepting excuses
2. Set a minimum target – 5 push-ups, 2 push-ups or 1 push-ups
3. Commit to 1 week
Part 2
4. Evaluate after 1 week if you can increase the minimum target (You don’t have to)
5. Commit to 1 more week
Part 3
6. Evaluate after 1 week if you can increase the minimum target (You don’t have to)
7. Commit to 1 week
Part 4
8. By the end of last week, notice how your body feels compared to when you started and how much you have worked out.
9. Decide on how you would like to continue your journey.
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