From Hardcore Challenges to Sustainable Wellness: A Shift in Fitness Perspective

Are you ready to ditch the hard-core fitness challenges and discover a more attainable, sustainable approach to well-being? 

Aaron will be taking you on a journey through my experiences in the health and wellness industry, revealing how my approach to fitness has evolved over the years. 

Once a proponent of 300 minutes of cardio per week and stringent food logging, my perspective has now shifted towards High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and shorter, purposeful workouts for fat loss and long-term success. I’ll candidly share why certain challenges, like 3 for 31, may not always lead to long-term habit formation. We'll also explore why popular challenges such as 75 Hard or a 14-day slimdown can be enticing, offering immediate rewards like increased energy and improved mood, but may not necessarily translate into enduring habits. 

Instead, I propose that setting achievable goals can be a more effective strategy for long-term lifestyle changes. We'll discuss the importance of having a direction-setting goal to stay motivated and how to create a supportive environment for accountability. So come along, and let's discover together how small, incremental changes, rather than short-term, intense challenges, can lead to lasting results in our journey toward health and wellness.

https://aarondegler.com/

Transcript

Challenge for Change

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the MindBody Project podcast . After over a decade in the health and wellness industry , erin realized that our bodies change only short-term unless our mindset changes . for long-term success , both our mind and body are forever linked . We are continually building up new ideas and tearing down old ones in our construction zone we call our mind . After this podcast is over , make sure you give it a like and a share and please subscribe and review this podcast . I would now like to introduce you to your host , the man connecting your mind and body to create a limitless life , erin Zegler .

Aaron 0:42

Welcome back to the MindBody Project . Thanks for taking the time to join me today . Well , 16 years in the health and wellness industry and I'm still learning new lessons , still learning new things about people in general and things that can do better , things that I have not done the best at , and better ways to motivate and encourage and create lifestyle changes . So back in the day , probably 10 years ago , i bet we'd have challenges . I'd have challenges with my clients And we'd have these challenges and they'd have to log food and do so much cardio And they used to do five hours . I think it was five hours . It was 300 minutes of cardio a week along with food logging . That was a challenge . You had to log all your cardio . That you did . It had to be 300 minutes , five hours And then along that's with strength training it's separate from that and then logging the food And I had clients be successful and lose weight .

Aaron 1:48

Different things And as time went on and things changed , do different research studies found out that really and that was long , steady state cardio at the time and no research comes out that hit training , high intensity interval training , is better . It's better for fat loss just because your metabolism is increased for up to 24 hours following a hit workout . 20 to 30 minutes of a hit workout can be more beneficial , even with less calories burned during the event , long term to lose weight . But 10 years ago I was like , you know , we've got to be 300 minutes of cardio , we've got to log all this food , all this kind of stuff , and so as I go along , i find there's better ways to do things . You know , you don't have to spend hours in the gym . You can be in the gym in an hour a day and get your cardio and strength in and be very healthy , have the body you want . If it's dialed in , it's focused , it's an intentional , you can make a lot of progress in that time . And you know , even knowing all that , i still get wrapped up in things , and maybe you've heard of 3 for 31, . I've talked about on . I actually did a show about it . I'm finished up .

Aaron 3:00

Last July we did 3 for 31 with my clients and my Texas community . It was three miles a day for 31 days . You could walk or run it , but had be done all together . I actually shared the lessons I learned during 3 for 31 . And so , as it rolled around July again , i started thinking about doing 3 for 31 again And as it got closer , i'm not that , oh man , i just I'm not ready to do that , i'm not ready to put in the time .

Aaron 3:27

And then I started thinking about over the year and all those that started 3 for 31 and really less than half that signed up and started saying , hey , i want to do 3 for 31 in July last year , less than half actually finished it And so , and then of those throughout the year really didn't keep up , you know , because it really didn't keep up the running or the walking that they were doing , you know , took a day off here and there and then took off two or three days here and there . And so as I look back at that and I thought about over the year , i thought now my goal was to get them to start changing some habits , start doing regular exercise , start being thinking about whether it's walking , running , whatever it is , start doing on a regular basis . And so I thought you know this , you know we'll go extreme , we'll go hard at it for 31 days and surely that will encourage , inspire , get the habit going , habit rolling . We all hear 21 days to form a habit . It's not true . On average it takes about 100 days to form a habit . So we were only about a third way there to form a habit . So I thought about you know , maybe it's not an effective plan If we go hard for 31 days . We do three miles and then everybody starts to I'm gonna take a few days off , man , that was every day . I'm just kind of tired . I'm gonna take a couple of days off And that starts to grow into more days . And so we've all heard of 75 Hard . That's another extreme where you do for 75 days , i think it's . you do 45 minutes of a workout in the morning and then 45 minutes later in the day , but one of them have to be outside , they have to drink so much water , maybe read , do some other stuff , but again for 75 days . That's what I would call extreme , just like three for 31 was extreme .

Aaron 5:17

And I , rollin' into July , i thought you know , i just don't wanna do that again this year because I really want people to have a healthy lifestyle , to make some lifestyle changes , and because I tell people all the time if you come to me and you're looking for quick weight loss and you're looking for quick getting shape , i'm not your person , i'm not your guy , i'm not your personal trainer . I want to change your lifestyle , change your habits for long term success , because we can do it quick . But you can go right back to where you were before . So why don't we take the time ? because you've been this way , for I mean , if you're 50 , you've been this way for the last 40 years , so why not spend the next two , a couple years changing it forever , so you don't keep yo-yo on back and forth ? So I always encourage baby steps , lifestyle changes , choices , habits , instead of the extreme .

Aaron 6:09

And again , this was just last year . I thought this . You know , as I said , 16 years , i'm still learning . So I decided to do something different this year . This year we're going to do a challenge for change , for I kind of did a challenge with my small group training class and it was love yourself . And so they got to choose . You know how many days a week they worked out and half of those had to be in class , but they got to choose their challenge . And so we're doing the same thing .

Aaron 6:38

Similar for July is a challenge , challenge to change . So the participants will come up with their own challenge . What do I want to do ? It can be exercise , diet , it can be some other personal habits , something they want to change in the coming future . For me , i'm still struggling with getting all my reading done , so for me it's going to be 20 minutes of reading daily , and that's , for someone that's a reader , doesn't sound like a much . If somebody said I'm going to work out 30 minutes a day for 31 days , i'd be like , well , i'd do that anyhow . But it's all individual to what do we want to see improvement in ? And then , so , yes , are we still there for 31 days ? Yes , but the participant gets to choose what they want to change , and it's really about consistency . And then we're going to have a follow up in August , which is we're going to still do that same thing that that participant chose to do , but we might do it three or four days on average for the month . So now we've reduced it , We're still doing the same thing , we're just not doing it every day . So now we have kind of a plan as we taper off , kind of like training for a half marathon . You know , at the last week , last couple of weeks , you have a taper , so you taper down your mileage for that big race day , And so that's kind of the idea is we're going to 31 days , we're going to do our goal Not crazy , it's not outrageous , but it's going to push us a little bit And that's what we want . We want to push a little bit Where a lot of these hard core challenges um , three for 31, .

Challenges of Hardcore Challenges

Aaron 8:11

Uh , 75 hard there's all sorts of different ones out there that um push really hard . They're extreme challenges , um , and where you have change during those , you bet you will . You will see some change , but we'll be lasting . The minority will carry that on , the majority will not Um . So so why is that ? What's ? what's , what's the draw to a hard core challenge ? You know it has a duration .

Aaron 8:40

Okay , i can do this for 75 days . I can do this for 31 days . I can do this 14 day slim down . I can do it for 14 days . I said I can't eat a bite for 14 days , but it's 14 days , i can do it . It has a duration . It has a specific target Um , three miles for 31 days , 75 hard . You got to work out 45 minutes here , 45 minutes there . Drink your water , read , do these things . Got to do that Um , slim down for 14 days . I don't even know if that's a plan . But you know , i , um , you know I'm only eating 500 calories for 14 days . It's a slim down every day for 500 calories .

Aaron 9:15

Um , and there's some clear sense of purpose .

Aaron 9:19

I want to get my miles in . I want to , um , do this extreme thing . Um , i think beach bodies used to have one as a 21 day fix , or something like that . Um , for you know , again , it's 21 days . You're going to do this , this and this . It's a . It has your set duration , has specific target and it has a clear sense of purpose . And and you know also they , they also offer immediate reward .

Aaron 9:44

You have increased energy because , man , i'm doing this . Uh , i mean , you're improved mood , because you're telling everybody oh , man , i'm doing this , i'm doing three for 31 . Man , you just ran them out , i'm doing three for 31 . You're all energized about it , your mood's good about it . You have a sense of pride when you're , when you're oh , i hit my three miles . Oh well , man , i'm just , i'm at 90 miles already . We just got two days left . I mean , so it has a draw for that because and it does , i mean it will . But what happens is those Day 30 , day 40 , what about ? I know , you know the the 3 , 4 , 31 . It was challenging . You know it was . Yeah , this is , this is fun , this is good . Seven days into it's like man , that's a lot of work , you know , for me I also said that you know I'm gonna go ahead , i'm gonna run my three miles for 31 days . So , whoo , that's a lot of work . That's getting up earlier , that's missing out on some of my workouts , that's missing out on some things . So it all maybe start increased energy and mood and meeting those goals , but then it kind of started Not having all that energy and mood And also has a limited time frame , don't we all know , wait , i gotta do this for life .

Aaron 10:53

I Can't do that for life . A lot when I have clients that'll come and say you know , i need to lose X amount of weight or I need to get And dress for this event , maybe it's a wedding , maybe it's , you know , a family reunion , maybe it's a class reunion , it's , you know , whatever it may be , i need to . You know , i need to Get , get where I want by here so I can do whatever you tell me to . So with that limited time frame , it creates a sense of urgency and focus . Okay , i can do that .

Aaron 11:25

But what happens when that Time has now gone ? Oh , i can relax a little bit , i can take it easy . I don't have to work so hard , i can be a little more delineate on my food . It's gonna be okay if I skip the gym . Today We start to get that and , and you know , you know , a hardcore challenge also says you know , it's an all or nothing mentality . You know , so we're going maximum effort for that amount of time .

Aaron 11:51

So what happens when we stop it ? It's like , oh man , i'll have to do that . I think it makes so good and So so why does that ? why do those challenges and again , they're great challenges , they work , you can get some real success out of and have some real progress in them . But Now it , why don't they create lasting habits ? Why not ? It's because What happens after ? huh , i'm done with three for 31 . Now What do I do ? and so , taking that of Okay , this didn't last one , or my participants did three for 31 last year .

Aaron 12:35

What was missing ? I didn't have a follow-up . I had I . Well , i did have a follow-up . It was due a mile , i think , for every day of August maybe . So it was a reduction , but still was again every day . So it needs to be whatever same thing .

Aaron 12:51

That Challenge you in July needs to carry out a reduced rate in August . So what's September ? October ? You know , september might keep it the same still , may be three days or four days a week , and Then October I'm gonna , you know , i'm gonna continue that .

Aaron 13:06

And then you start to see that it forms a habit . My goal is that I read for 20 minutes Every day in July . I keep it up for three to four days a week in August and I go . You know , i'm really getting through my book list that I wanted to . I'm gonna keep doing that because it makes me feel better . And that's when the last thing have it really , we really connects . When it's not about I have to do this , I want to do this or I get to do this . When we start out it's I have to do this , i have to exercise for x , y and z . And then you start realizing Man , i just feel better , i have some better energy , i Sleep better , we have all these positive . You know , i just feel better . And that's when the switch happens , when we start to get that feeling where it's connected to our emotion .

Aaron 13:52

And then another challenge why , you know why the challenges don't last , is because we return to a less rigid routine . It's just more like ah , it's , you know , you know three for 31 . There was no , there's no , you couldn't miss a day . You missed a day , you were out . There's no makeup , nothing like that . Whereas when we have a less rigid routine , it's like , ah , what am I miss a day ? It's not going to be the end of the world , and That's true . But then that day turns into two to three to now , a week to now . It's been a month since we got on the treadmill because we burned ourselves out on three for 31 . Um , and then , you know , we often return to our less active behaviors .

Aaron 14:32

Again , i'm good if I just walk 10 minutes on the treadmill . I feel pretty good about that . Or it's okay if I just read five minutes . And aren't we good about talking ourselves into things ? Well , you're okay not to read today . Tomorrow you just read an extra three pages . Then tomorrow rolls around . Man I am , i got to read that plus three more pages . I don't have time today . So now you might be 10 , 12 pages , 15 pages behind in three days when you start to read against like I'm so far behind . My plan said this and I'm already behind . So now I'm not even going to read , i'm just going to , and that's what's happened to me .

Aaron 15:11

You know , my goal was a book a month and we're six months about to hit July in July And I've read two two books in six months . My plan was to I mean , i had a good plan right down each book I was going to write each month , but I stopped there . I didn't write . I didn't figure okay , i need to .

Aaron 15:35

Okay , this beginning of the month this is how long you know because I like to listen to it on audibles and read it in the book , because it just helps me concentrate on the material better . I don't my mind doesn't squirrel as much or doesn't go willy nilly as I like to say . So I do both , so I can easily look at the audible time and go okay , let me budget that time this month . How many days a week do I need to read to make sure I hit my goal ? I didn't do that . So my goal is that's something I want to change . So that's why in July I'm reading 20 minutes a day . It's going to make me say , okay , how far along am I going to get . Then In August I'm going to continue that another 20 minutes , but 34 times a week .

Aaron 16:17

Okay , now I'm kind of on a routine , i'm kind of getting this habit . I kind of enjoy it . I'm learning a lot , i'm enjoying it . And then we move on and keep it . A habit , you know , and sometimes you know when we hit those goals short term , you know we hit that three for 31 and 31 days . It kind of makes us sometimes feel I did good , i got 96 miles . 96 miles , that's pretty good , i'm pretty good with that .

Aaron 16:48

And we start to get complacent , like , yeah , i did good . And then our drives to sustain that level of physical activity starts to go down , it starts to get reduced because we go man , i did good , man , you're just so good , you deserve a break . And then we just get complacent . And when we get complacent , what happens ? our drive goes away . What . What happens when we lose 10 pounds ? Yeah , I'm feeling pretty good , i can go ahead and have that candy bar . Yeah , i can go ahead and have that second helping , what ? what starts to happen . We get , we get complacent , we get comfortable , and then what happens ? it starts to creep back on . Yeah , i don't have to be nice to this person today , because I've been nice to a lot of people and I've been nice to him a lot .

Aaron 17:31

And we start to get complacent with not being nice all the time , not being so kind all the time , and Then we start to go back to our old behaviors Of being grumpy , of being , you know , not a fun person to be around , not being kind . We start going back to that And , and you know , with these challenges and why they don't last , because , just like three for 31 , i didn't have a great plan for for the people when they finished . I didn't . I just thought that they're gonna keep going . Why wouldn't you ? you just knocked out 96 miles . You committed to three miles a day for 31 days . If you're walking or running could be anywhere from 25 minutes To an hour , you just crushed that . Why would you stop ? It never dawned on me really to have a continuation plan , and that's and that's a lot . A lot of times , when we finish something like that , we don't have a plan To continue . What's our next plan ? It may not be as extreme , but what are we going to next ?

Setting Goals for Long-Term Lifestyle Changes

Aaron 18:34

I always have to have throughout the year , always have to have goals with a lot of times their physical goals . Because I can get lazy and complacent . I can be the laziest person . I can sit and watch TV and I love it , so I have to have goals that get me up to . What does this run need to accomplish today ? What does this walk need to accomplish today ? What does this time in the gym need to accomplish today ? What is the food I'm eating today need to accomplish ? What's my goal ? because for me , that I need that to keep driving me , to keep driving me forward . I need those . And so there all for me , there always has to be , after I finish , a challenge for myself . Or you know what's the next thing ? What's the next thing ? just like started this year Before my birthday , 48 miles by 48 . That's geared me up for my big two-year of To be obesity over the next few years . That's a big goal . So for me , that's a long-term goal .

Aaron 19:28

So every month for me , you know how am I going to keep up with that ? How am I gonna And how am I gonna keep that focus ? How am I gonna keep that in mind ? So for me , it's I'm gonna do something different every month and maybe I'm gonna alter my food . I have some different workout ideas . You know , this month will be this type of workout , the next month be this type , be this type of cardio . It'd be all kinds of different things , but it's gonna keep my body guessing , but it's also gonna keep me engaged in it . Wow , man , what's this month ? and I already know when I get done this month . Oh , i got this coming up this month . That's gonna be good . And so there's a plan along the way and We really want to .

Aaron 20:01

You know , hardcore challenges , again , they're not bad , but they're not . They don't help it last , they don't help those make those changes We need to . They're good . They're good to kind of get us boom , get us a , some energy , some motivation , some boom . But no , that we got to have a plan falling Because we want to focus on the long-term lifestyle change With the gradual progress and the ongoing support .

Aaron 20:26

Because aren't challenges we ? you know , and I'm guilty of that last year for three , for thirty one , i gave them all the support every day , texting Hey , you know how you doing , you know , did you get it ? What issues you have . Man , i'm so proud of you . What happened ? the next month ? They get all that ongoing support . They didn't get that , man , you're still doing good . Keep it up . You know , you know , don't , don't let this fizzle out and get that . That's me . I dropped the ball . That's what I'm saying . In 16 years , i'm still learning . I'm still learning what , what people need , what , how to encourage and motivate and Create those long-term lifestyle changes By creating .

Aaron 21:01

You know , man , we're gonna hit with a challenge , but let's have a follow-up plan and the challenge is good . I'm not saying it's bad , that sometimes it can get you going , but know that when it's done you need to have a follow-up plan And it needs to be a challenge that is going to spur you on to something you want to do . That's why , for July , given the participants in my challenge the option to choose their challenge , whatever area of life they want to work on , work on it , knowing that you want to become a habit , you want to change , and then have an hour , have a plan , as a trainer and a coach , to how we're going to follow that up three to four days a week . Then we're going to be working on a plan for September . How are we going to keep that going ? And I'd really like to keep this just be the start of the change . So by the end of the year .

Aaron 21:53

I started that back in July and five minutes later , six months later , i'm still doing that . Man , that was really good . I don't want to look back and go , man , i did that for 31 days . That was cool , but , man , i'm not doing it anymore . I don't want that . I want them .

Aaron 22:07

I want me to have a lifestyle change , to be a person that reads on a weekly basis and can get through a book in a month . You want to think it's that hard , but to somebody who reads , it's not that hard . But I want to be that ongoing support And I'd love to be that ongoing support for you . You can head over to erendeglercom and find out how you can connect with me via daily text , via email , one of my coaching programs on personal training , whether it's online or in person , there's options for us to connect and for you to , for me to help you with that ongoing support of what you need , what you want , and help you stay focused to make those long-term lifestyle changes through gradual progress

Mind Body Project Podcast Outro

Aaron 22:51

. Hey , thanks for visiting with me a little bit today . I was telling my wife can you come every night for a go to bed ? It's bombin' the night Double A out .

Speaker 1 22:58

Thank you for listening to today's podcast . If you would like to connect with Aaron , you can do so by going to erendeglercom or find him on social media as erendegler on Instagram , Facebook and YouTube . Once again , we greatly appreciate you tuning in . If you've enjoyed the show , please feel free to rate , subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts . We greatly appreciate that effort and we'll catch you in the next episode of the Mind Body Project podcast .