I get questions from frustrated women (and men) on a regular basis asking me for advice to help them reach their goals. They often send their current training and nutrition program and ask me to take a look, and ask for feedback.
The most common theme? The training programs that these men and women are following do not match their goals.
At my gym, J&M Strength and Conditioning, our main clientele consists of women from 25-55 who just want to look better and feel better, and when you get right down to it, those are the goals of most people who step foot in the gym. That’s why my business partner, Jim Laird wanted to start J&M in the first place. To create the simplest program possible to allow people to look better and feel better, with the least amount of effort.
The problem is, people are choosing activities that, at best, move them slowly towards their goals, and at worst, prevent them from achieving those goals.
The most common program-goal misalignments that we see involve:
– Physique competitors
– Endurance athletes
– CrossFit Athletes
Before you freak out on me, please note that I am NOT saying that there is anything wrong with following programming to help you achieve your goals in sports listed above. I am simply saying that we see a lot of people participating in these sports with the main goal of looking and feeling better, only to be disappointed when it doesn’t happen.
Remember, any physical activity done at a high level comes with a price. Sometimes that “price” is related to aesthetics, and sometimes that “price” is related to health.
Physique Competitors – If you read my 3 part series on extreme leanness, you know that there are both health and aesthetic consequences that can come from competing in physique competitions. From rebound weight gain, to hormone imbalances, getting extremely lean can wreak havoc on your body. You can read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 here.
Endurance Athletes – Competing in endurance sports can also compromise aesthetic and health-related goals. Rachel Cosgrove wrote a fantastic article here about the negative effects that training for an IronMan had on her body. In this post, Jen Comas Keck writes about how you can out-train a good diet. And here, Mark Sisson from Mark’s Daily Apple writes about the negative effects that excessive cardio had on his health.
J&M Client Suzanne ran marathons for years before retiring her running shoes, and picking up strength training. She dropped 2 clothing sizes in just a few months, spending only half the time working out!
CrossFit Athletes – When it comes to people who participate in CrossFit, we generally see more issues with health-related goals than physique-related, although we have seen some physique related issues. In this article, Chris Kresser discusses the perils of doing too much high-intensity training, too often.
So what should you do if your goal is simply to look better and feel better? What should you eat? How should you train? Stay tuned for Part 2, and I’ll answer those questions!
=======>Takeaways In Two Minutes<========
The majority of people who start a workout regimen, are doing so with the simple goals of looking and feeling better. If you’re not seeing the results you want, your program might not match your goals. I see this most often in people who want to compete or do the pfollowing activities at a high level:
– Physique competitions
– Endurance races (this does not include short/sprint races)
– CrossFit
None of those are designed to make the average person look and feel their best. They are designed to push the body to an extreme, and any time you do that, looking and feeling awesome is usually not the result. The result is a health and or aesthetic sacrifice in order to reach a certain performance goal. If you want to do that, that’s fine. But don’t be surprised when you don’t look and feel like a million bucks over a long period of time. There are several articles above if you want to read about the negative effects of these sports, and if you want to know the quickest and easiest way to look and feel amazing, stay tuned for Part 2.
P.S. If your goal is to look and train like an athlete, whether you’re male or female, check out my Coach Mike Robertson’s new product, Bulletproof Athlete here!
P.P.S. Affiliate Disclosure: The link above is to a product on which I will make an affiliate commission. I want to be open with you all about this, because I want you to trust me 100%. I get emails daily from people trying to get me to affiliate their products, and I turn 99% of them away because:
– They are bogus.
– They aren’t high quality.
– We don’t believe in their product.
– Any combination of the above, and much more.
So please know, if I am recommending something, it’s because it’s awesome and I currently use it or have used it myself. True story. No exceptions. I wouldn’t steer ya’ wrong!
Molly Galbraith is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Coach who has dabbled in both Figure and Powerlifting competitions. She is Co-Founder of Girls Gone Strong and J-M Strength.Her life's mission is to help women give themselves grace and compassion when it comes to their bodies so that they can discover and accept what their best body looks like.
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