👣 A Message For Anyone Who's Not a "Fitness Lifer"
Starting a fitness journey at any point takes incredible strength. You don't need to be perfect. Just keep going.
I have trouble bridging the gap between being a “tough guy” personal trainer and an empathetic life coach.
The clients I work with never cease to amaze me.
On the one hand, I have about five or six people on my roster who work 60+ hour weeks, have 2-3 kids, and have all found multiple hours a week to care for their bodies and have undoubtedly added years back to their lives.
Conversely, I train some people who travel for work, hate their hotel gyms, and simply can’t get into a rhythm if their routine isn’t the same every week.
Here’s a hot take: Neither group is better than the other.
Let me explain why in today’s very brief (but hopefully uplifting) newsletter about mid-life fitness.
Newsletter Summary:
Why taking up fitness after the age of 20 is a HUGE deal
Why training is not always about 1-upping your previous day (screw the 1% better crowd)
One quote about midlife fitness
👣 A Message For Anyone Who's Not a "Fitness Lifer"
I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but if you didn’t play a sport in high school or college, it doesn’t mean you have no potential to be “in shape” for the rest of your life.
I always ask people in my intake process whether or not they played sports growing up.
Even if it was for one season, it tells me they’ve had some experience competing, playing, learning, growing, and moving all throughout those things.
If they haven’t, that also doesn’t disqualify someone from training with me. In fact, I might argue it’s even more admirable.
People who haven’t taken up physical activity before the age of 20-25 have to work harder both mentally and physically to maintain a routine.
This isn’t because they are slackers or not inclined to fitness, but because they haven’t yet experienced the endorphin rush of competing with themselves.
That type of mentality takes a strict routine to build, and I always applaud anyone who can do it in their midlife.
Mid-life fitness is NOT easy.
After the age of 30, we become more prone to injuries and random pains that our teenage years and 20s never had.
And while a strong routine can last you a lifetime, it’s also — quite paradoxically — very fragile.
The strongest of routines can be derailed by an injury, a life setback, a depressive episode, or a death.
Creating a routine is one pillar of strength. Resuming that routine in the face of adversity when every muscle in your mind is telling you that you shouldn’t is something anyone who pursues fitness into their midlife (hopefully all of you) should be incredibly proud of.
So, if you’re a year or two (or even less) into your fitness journey at whatever age in midlife you’re at, the game is not about improving every single day.
It’s simply not stopping.
The metric for success in fitness in 2025 is NOT an improvement.
It’s durability.
How to Avoid the “1% better” mindset
The 1% better mindset is credited to Chris Nikic, the first athlete with Down syndrome to complete a triathlon.
While we should all applaud that feat and sing its praises, not everyone is going to be Chris Nikic.
It’s not reasonable to assume every day will be an improvement over the last.
If everyone improved 365% YoY, well… I would think way fewer people would be depressed and sad.
It’s not something we should all try to aspire to every day.
Instead, the real game is not stopping, even if there’s a mini-pause in there somewhere.
I’ve spoken about the theme of consistency week in and week out in this newsletter, but I’ll refresh your memories with some ideas on how to not quit.
Don’t pick activities or workouts that feel like chores
Complicated routines that just feel like punishments are not going to stick. Eventually, your rational brain is going to say “f*ck this” and stop. Make things easy, yet challenging.
Stack your workouts on top of other productive activities. If you do your workouts in the morning, try to make it the first thing you do to jumpstart your day. If you can squeeze 20 minutes of movement in during a mid-day cancellation, do it, and get more work done.
Don’t go all out every single day
Crossfit and Hyrox are great standalone methods, but even their training regimens can feel like every day is a grind. You can’t fall into the trap of thinking every bit of movement needs to induce sweat.
Make reasonable goals (get a wearable for bonus points — they’re getting smarter and can help with this) like 8,000 steps a day, 20 minutes of decently challenging movement, and a little stretching before bed.
Keep a diary of progress
Writing things down or taking pictures is the best way to hold yourself accountable. When it gets written, it gets imprinted into your brain as a “has-to-get-done.” There’s science behind this. When you see progress, you want to keep going.
Looking back at your first entries/photos after 6 months to a year of progress is humbling. It’s a reminder of both a) why you started and b) why you should keep going.
One Quote About Durability To End The Week
Special shoutout to Howard Luks for his rants the past 24 hours on midlife fitness.
I’m only 31 but I’m starting to see how life and adulthood get in the way of my 20-year-old routine.
Keep moving.