I Am Not Selling Magic Pills

Tucson, Arizona, 2001. I went there to train for the up and coming racing season. New York is no place to ride 3000 miles in the winter. I just finished B-school. Job market was horrible. It was a perfect opportunity to go. 8 weeks of 400-500 miles per week in the desert. Not one of those miles was my heart rate over 158 beats per minute. Yet cumulatively, those were the miles that made me wickedly fast by May of that year.

Results will come if you are persistent, one mile at a time. One workout at a time.

Common scenario is that people will start going to the gym and really get into it. High energy, they feel great and then 'the fizzle' happens. I think its great that people get into it that way. It's so awesome to see people's energy shoot through the roof. What stinks is seeing them disappear 3 weeks later.

It is good that you start off that strong, but when that dies down (within 3 weeks for most), that's when you need to recall why you started exercising. Slow down. Take the pressure off yourself that you need to go hard all the time. Go to the gym and allow yourself to have a less-than-great workout. On those days, take credit for even getting there. You accomplished more than you think.

I am not selling magic pills. If you want to get in shape then you need to do the work. I'm impressed with what you've done in 3 months, not 3 weeks. I can help you get started in 3 weeks. But I need more of your time to get those results. I need 3 months without a week missed. I need 6 months without 2 weeks missed. I need 2 years to change your life.

Exercise for many is a random pursuit. Think about your goals. What is your plan to reach those goals? Are you hopping on a cardio machine everyday? If so, what's the workout plan? What about the next one? How do you string together 2 weeks of cardio sessions? 4 weeks? 2 years?

At Agile, when you logon to your workout, you'll see something called 'Run Rate' on your dashboard. It starts at 50%. Each workout you complete makes that number go up. Each day that goes by without you doing a workout makes that number go down. This is your barometer. Results are guaranteed if you can keep that number at 65% over a 3 month period.

But here's the beauty of Run Rate. If you got off track and your Run Rate dropped to 18%, then you have a clear goal - get it to 25%.

If you're having trouble, let me know. I am always here to help.