"Oh my achin’ back!”

Since about 80% of adults experience low back pain, this phrase is uttered constantly.

Low back pain is everywhere and is one of the top reasons that people miss days from work.

Let’s look at some of the details of the structures of the low back, the different injuries/conditions that people can develop in regards to low back pain, and what you can start doing about it today.

Enough was enough. You made the decision to make a change. To get serious. Something motivated you to start and so you did. You were nervous, excited, fired up and off you went.

That motivation that got you going kept you going, at least for a while.

You’ve been here before. You’ve gotten this far more than once.

But now the motivation is fading. It’s getting difficult to be disciplined now that the honeymoon is ending and the work still needs to be done.

You’re thinking of throwing in the towel and quitting. Again.

Should you quit? Should you give up?

Before you do, ask yourself a few questions. The things that you tell yourself will give you your answer.

If you’re reading this you probably have some interest in health and fitness. You might have even taken steps to get in shape by exercising. For some this might mean taking the stairs instead of the elevator and for others it might mean going to group classes several times per week. You might remember those first few weeks and months of fast progress where you were stronger every time you stepped into the gym and likely even saw some changes in the mirror pretty quickly. But then progress slowed down and those quick gains didn’t come so quickly. Months might of even gone by without you noticing any changes in the mirror.

We know what the problem is because we've been in your shoes and we've seen it play out in ourselves, friends and client’s lives time after time.

You’re fighting a losing battle by working against yourself every hour that you're not in the gym. It’s a “two steps forward, one step back” thing. It’s not that you’re lazy, it’s just that you don’t see what you’re missing because you’ve never been taught the importance of one thing and then put that knowledge into practice.

I’m talking about your nutrition. The food you eat and the drinks you drink.

I know what you might be thinking… “But I work out!” Or maybe you’re thinking “Yeah yeah, I know… Don’t eat pizza. Don’t eat bread and certainly don’t have alcohol”.

This is the lack of understanding that I referenced earlier.

You don’t even know what you don’t know yet.

You don’t know what and how much to be eating to see the physical changes that you want.

OH. MY. GOSH. THIS. CAKE. I. MADE. IS. AMAZING.

You have to have a piece.

“Thank you so much but I’m already pretty full from dinner.”

“No, I’m serious. You HAVE to have a piece.”

“You know, I’m trying to cut back on my sugar.”

“One piece won’t kill you.”

“I’m really trying not to eat when I’m not hungry but thank you!”

“PLEASE, I went to a lot of trouble to make it.”

“Ok.”

Has this happened to you? Was it a friend pushing you to eat something that you didn’t want to? Was it your spouse? A parent or grandparent?

It doesn’t really matter who it was. What it boils down to is a situation where you’re faced with a decision.

I’m not here to tell you which decision to make. I’m not in your shoes and don’t know your friends/family.

But what I can tell you is that you do not need to own that guilt that others try to put on you.

Getting fit, losing fat, and gaining muscle are simple. It’s a completely linear process. If you tracked your progress on a graph it would be a perfectly straight line headed from the bottom left to the top right with no deviations. One day you’d decide to reach your goal and eventually you would get there with zero issues.

Annnnnnd cut!

THAT was the Hollywood movie version of what it looks like to get healthy.

Let’s get real here.

We’re human.

We’re busy.

We get sick.

We get distracted.

We go on vacation.

We get off track.

Other people demand our attention.

There’s a constant stream of things in life that can easily thwart our plans for progress. Inevitably ALL of us take a couple steps back somewhere in our journey. It’s just part of the process, and that’s ok. So what should you do if you need a reset or to get back on track?

The best advice I can give you is to start small.

Have you every started down the path of a workout or project or good intention and the ‘work’ you are doing is tough so you do something to make it a little easier on yourself?  

Maybe you are doing curls and you swing the bar a little instead of struggling through the rep.

Maybe you have food ready to eat at home but you pick up something up that seems better instead.

I know I am guilty of these things. And then after some time I realize the ‘temporary relief’ I am experiencing while taking the easy way out is not helping me accomplish anything so I then begin to put in the real work.

I do the movement or task like it was intended, I get up earlier, I turn off the TV and pick up the book, I eat the food I’ve already prepared… all of the things I should have been doing the whole time. 

Even then, when I’m done, instead of being proud of myself and feeling awesome and accomplished, I’m disappointed in myself and regretful of the time I wasted.  

What I take away from times like these is that hard work is hard for a reason. 

You get something out of it. 

Everyone has their own reason for wanting to get in shape. It could be after a major life event, in anticipation of a special occasion, or sometimes people come to us for help because they are just plain fed up with what they see in the mirror.

The motivation is often rooted in an unhappiness with themselves and what they’ve allowed their physical body to become. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve your health so that you are happier with the way that you look. It’s not the answer to fulfillment in life, but it is a noble effort.

The main reason that we want to take people on a journey that results in them changing their physical body is because their lives could potentially count on it.

Being overweight or obese is a life threatening condition.

Our bodies were not made to carry excessive levels of body fat. Buckle your seatbelts because here come some shocking statistics.

According to the CDC (Center for Disease Controls), 72% of adults over 20 years old are overweight. Read that again.

Not all hard work and hardship is mandatory.

Voluntary hardship is something we do by choice.

These are things we push ourselves to do even though we don’t necessarily have to. Since hardship can be unpleasant at times, especially in the moment, it usually requires some discipline to maintain.

When the sound of the alarm rings in your ear at an hour long before you would normally choose to wake up you’re forced with a decision.  Do you make the short-sighted choice that gives you momentary relief or do you expose yourself to that hardship that refines you?

That’s what voluntary hardship does to us.  It refines us. It strengthens us. It distills the parts of our will and our character that arrive when we encounter self doubt.

We all have potential beyond what we can imagine.  Everything we do day in and day out is contributing to our ability to achieve our goals and our potential. 

Every decision, every choice. 

They all add up to the direction that you are going, and when combined, they determine where you will end up.  

We believe there are three main components to unlocking your physical and mental potential.