Episode 5: The Long Haul — Why the Middle Is Where Most People Quit

The fitness journey isn't a straight line from start to finish—it's a winding path with a challenging section I call "the messy middle." This episode dives deep into that critical phase where excitement fades, progress slows, and most people abandon their goals.

Drawing from my current marathon training experience (despite not actually enjoying running), I share why motivation alone will never carry you through to your fitness goals. When I texted my coach after completing a half-marathon distance that "this brought me no joy or happiness," my colleague wisely responded: "No one ever said running will make you happy." That powerful insight cuts to the heart of transformation—it's not always enjoyable in the moment, but the satisfaction comes from conquering difficult challenges.

The honeymoon phase feels magical with quick improvements and high energy, but inevitably gives way to the grind. What separates those who reach their goals from those who quit isn't superior willpower—it's the systems they build. I break down specific strategies that have helped me and countless clients push through plateaus: developing accountability through coaches and community, creating consistent planning rituals, and mentally reframing progress. The 1% Better approach isn't about dramatic transformations; it's about showing up consistently even when motivation is nowhere to be found.

Whether you're struggling with a fitness plateau or just beginning your journey, these practical tools will help you navigate the messy middle with confidence. Ready to transform your approach? Reach out to us at info@spurlingfitness.com to discover how we can provide the system, structure, and accountability you need to succeed.

Transcript

Marathon Training Introduction

Speaker 1 0:00

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the 1% Better Podcast with your host, josh Williams. I hope you're all having a fantastic week, enjoying the day. I know here it's been quite warm, but it has not stopped me from getting outside. As many of you all might know or not know, I've decided this year to train for a marathon and if you don't know, I I do not enjoy running, um, for cardio, I typically enjoy things like hiking. Now when I say enjoy, I think I'm pretty relatable to a lot of clients. Is I? Uh, I enjoy the top um. So typically in hiking it's just getting up to the top and be like huh, that's pretty, and then on the way back it's just me not wanting to be in nature anymore.

Speaker 1 0:59

And my journey with my marathon is kind of similar. And so you know some people ask like why do you? Why do you do this? And it's a lot of that, the mindset stuff we kind of talk about. It's doing stuff hard, it's doing stuff that's challenging and that's where kind of the satisfaction um comes from.

Speaker 1 1:17

And so this past week I completed a half marathon uh distance in in my training, which is quite the feat. And you know my running coach was like, hey, it's a really big moment. And I texted him back saying, you know, in hindsight, like I could have been completely happy, never running this distance, and it brought me no joy or happiness. And I was talking to one of my other coaches, tati, who's a big, big runner happiness. And I was talking to one of my other coaches, tati, who's a big, big runner, and I said something like you know, yeah, this brought me no happiness. And she said, well, no one ever said running will make you happy. And I said, well, and I was like, well, that is, that is correct. No one ever did say that. And so today I wanted to talk about the long haul, the messy middle of the fitness journey, and this is where most people quit is in the middle.

Speaker 1 2:14

I remember when I was doing research back in college about the Appalachian Trail. I can't remember what the percentage is, but the majority of the people. So, if you don't know, the Appalachian trail starts, I believe it's uh, I want to say it's Mount snow. I could be completely wrong, um, but it starts down in, oh, my goodness, all this research, not Alabama, georgia, and it goes all the way up to, you know, you know Maine, and most people don't make it out of Georgia. They get started there and they stop.

The Honeymoon Phase of Fitness

Speaker 1 2:47

And so that's why I love the analogy of the journey, because some of us, we just get started, like the idea is so exciting that it gets us to the starting place to start the journey, but then, if all it is is excitement, in this fantasy of the end there's, there's hundreds of miles of distance in between the start and the finish. And when we're doing this kind of fitness for life and things like that, you know, ideally there is no end game. The end game is the end. Um, when we're kind of looking at these things and so, um, you know, so I'm doing for my marathon training, I'm at the point where I'm about, you know, eight to 10 weeks out and you know I'm going to complete it. You know I set some things up in my life to to get me to complete it, which we'll kind of talk about today. How you can do that with your, your fitness journey and understanding the fitness journey is made up a bunch of little things Like so this marathon training for me is a little bit of a blip or distraction in the long line of the total fitness journey, with the goal is to maintain strength, to maintain a healthy body fat percentage, lean body mass percentage and a cardiovascular to be able to do the things that I want to do, and also, of course, mobility plays in that as well. And so the first phase of our journey is the honeymoon phase. We have this idea, we have this vision and we're thinking about the end, like how good it's going to feel to complete that.

Speaker 1 4:18

So, with my marathon training, it's like I completed something really hard. I can look back on this and know that I did that. Part of it was like well, it's going to force me to improve my cardiovascular health. I'm going to have more energy. I'm going to, you know, maybe, maybe lose some, some body fat percentage, um, these kinds of things. So that's like, okay, awesome, I'm excited about this getting started.

Speaker 1 4:40

And as we get started, things come pretty easily. You notice strength improvements, you notice your energy is getting better, that you can do more, you feel better, all that stuff. It's like man, I can see the end. It's going to be so quick, so easy. And there is this kind of natural drop-off when that newness wears away. Or you hit that like, oh, this is going to take longer than I thought, or, oh, this is going to be harder than I thought. You start learning more about what it takes, you start learning more about all the routines, the prep, all the little things that go into it being successful, and it's like, oh, it could be so much easier to go back to what I was doing before. And so then it becomes in some ways this battle, and so motivation, the novelty, the excitement, that's great, that's the catalyst to get us started on our journey.

Understanding the Messy Middle

Speaker 1 5:42

We have to understand there is always this middle, and it's called the messy middle, the grind middle, um, and it's a you call the messy middle. The grind is this place where you get a better understanding of what it takes. You've been in it and the quick winds have worn off. So for me, in running it's, you know, improving distances, uh, for lifting. A lot of times it's just that quick build of strength and feeling better. And so, um, what can kind of set in is is the repetition, the, the boredom, the, the, the results can slow, um, and then also life gets in the way. You know, as we get in better shape, you know the, the error drops and being successful. So, kind of like my marathon running, the goal is to run 26.2 miles. Um, you have to train that. And so I'm at the point now where my long run, you know, takes two and a half hours or more and it's working that into a schedule. You know running, running a business, you know being there for my team, being there for my family, all those things and carving out okay, one I don't want to do this anymore, but I'm committed to doing it Um, and how do I carve out the time? And that can happen to in life. Um, things pop up and it makes it difficult, and so that's why we really kind of preach the 1% better.

Speaker 1 7:07

The, the mindset shift during this messy middle, is doing the work. It's showing up to the gym as we say. It's continuing to plan your weeks or planning your meals. Maybe it's more nutrition In this running. It's my coach scheduled the run, I'm going to do the run. It might not be good, I might not be excited to do it. It's scheduled, I'm going to do it and you're really doing. This is stacking, stacking workouts, stacking reps Very similar. If we stop doing the reps, we're not going to get the results, we're going to stop progressing.

Systems Over Motivation

Speaker 1 7:52

And so it is getting in that rhythm, beating that drum and continuing to work towards that, and so a couple of different tools or things that can help you with this is, I think, one understanding that you can't skip this phase. It's not something you can skip. There's a bunch of different things that you can do to make it more enjoyable or easy, and one of the big ones is is we can't rely on motivation anymore. At this stage. Motivation is not going to get us, um, to the end line. It's really building system, structures and community that will help you with that. So, using my marathon training as a goal, I've built the system in the sense of uh, or the structure. I have the support through my, my coach, who's giving me the workouts, um, so I show up and I do that, and he's going to know if I do them or not. Uh, I also have a community of people I can talk to or relate to uh, going through this as well. That keeps me motivated and it gives me perspective people that have already been there and can encourage me along the way. You know, letting people know about your goals so you're not doing it in a vacuum and so that you know if we let people know not necessarily letting them down, but you've told somebody and they're gonna know if you you stopped doing it or not. And so really developing that systems and structures and it's going to take.

Speaker 1 9:11

Typically, where I see people failing is when they stop planning. You need to schedule things out and a lot of times I think I can get away with not planning my week or planning my day and I get confident thinking like, oh, I know what I need to do today, I don't need to plan it. But the rhythm of each night looking back at what you got done and then looking at the next day and planning out hour by hour what's going to happen, is such a huge rhythm and a lot of times life can be crazy. But just taking that, you know, I mean it doesn't take a long time 10, 15 minutes at the end of the day and building that rhythm of just planning the next day goes a long way of okay, where am I going to do my workout, or where am I going to do my meal prep, or what am I eating for meals tomorrow, and just having that rough plan in place and really focusing on what are the key things to move me forward in my goal and hitting those things. So, whether motivation or not, this was on my list to do. I'm gonna check it off because that's what I need to do to progress on this, and that could be scheduling my workouts. I have a workout today. I'm gonna do the workout, regardless if I'm motivated to do it or not.

Speaker 1 10:25

I have a run today. Uh, today, I have a 14 mile run today. I am. I am not looking forward to it at all and so, um, I feel I feel with people, most days I am not motivated to to run, I'm not motivated to work out, but I schedule it. I told myself I was going to do it, I wrote it down, I'm going to do it, and so it's building that system. Then it is the accountability, and so that's one of the things that's thrilling. You have a coach. You know, we know when you're not showing up and doing that, um, it's, it's building that community like-minded people working on the same thing, being around that getting you excited, seeing other people accomplish goals, getting excited and being like, oh yeah, I'm going to be there someday.

Planning: The Key to Success

Speaker 1 11:06

And then it's really getting into different reframings of constantly looking back, saying, okay, this is where I started from, this is where I'm at, and appreciating that. You know, looking forward, but not too far forward. It really should just be what's the next step? And for most of us, the next step is the next workout, the next meal prep, the next whatever. And so it's getting really good. I just kind of say beating that drum one workout, one planning session after another after another, and almost enjoying that rhythmic beat after another after another, and almost enjoying that rhythmic beat as we go through and then so really, the biggest practical takeaway I would say during this messy middle is we really need to understand that motivation is not going to take us there. It's the systems and the structures that you set up during this to keep you going regardless.

Speaker 1 12:05

And the number one thing I would say and if you don't have it is start planning, plan your week. Uh, on Sundays, sit down, plan the entire week, put in your most important things. So for me it's typically you know, what's the one thing I need to get done today? Um, you know for my coaches or the business, what's the what am I working out this week, scheduling those in? You know also, it's like what are we doing for meal prep? So me and my wife will sit down what, each day are we doing for meal prep? What are our responsibilities? You know pick up, drop off for the kids, all that stuff, scheduling it out. And then we're reassessing that you know each night, because, and then we're reassessing that you know each night because, again, the day doesn't always go as planned, but it's reassessing. Okay, I missed this. I need to move it here and get this done.

Speaker 1 12:51

Doing that is so huge and just makes your life so less chaotic, and especially with goals as well, that's probably the number one thing I would say is just start planning. Start planning and not just letting things happen by chance or by sheer motivation. And so this is where the middle is. And then the reality is the. The end goal accomplishment is short-lived. So when you hit it, it's back to beating the drum, it's back to getting to working out. You had that moment I. I know I will be so relieved come I think it's october 5th when I am done, and it's weird it'll be more of a relief. Um, then, uh, probably excitement. Then, uh, probably excitement. So, um, on my personal goal, um, but on the fitness journey, it is, it is hitting the drum. I it's been very repetitive, I would say on this, but understanding the beginning. The excitement will not take you through the messy middle. The messy middle.

Speaker 1 13:55

We need to build systems, we need to schedule, we need to have accountability and we need to have the ability to reframe our mindset throughout this.

Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Speaker 1 14:06

Hopefully this was helpful for you. If you need help at all, that's what we're here for at Sperling is providing the system, the structure, the accountability to help you succeed, especially if your goals are getting stronger, more mobile, increasing that endurance so that you can live life to the fullest. And if you're not a Spurling member, feel free to reach out to us at info at spurlingfitnesscom. And if you are a member, listening we appreciate you so much. Can't wait to see you all this week getting to work with you, continuing to get 100% better, beating that drum, showing up when it's hard and getting those amazing results. So we can hear those amazing stories, such as being able to play with your grandkids, going on a hike that you weren't able to do, your legs weren't shaky after your first run of the ski season all those wonderful things that get us excited and the reason why we do what we do. So I hope you all have a fantastic day. Wherever you're listening, car, walk, run, maybe a workout have.