According to recent studies out of the university of Who Gives a Crap – Sitting on your ass while doing absolutely nothing burns ZERO calories. And if what we’re told from many fitness enthusiasts and workout junkies alike, is that “There is No Such Thing as a Bad Workout”, is in fact true, then surely just getting ourselves to the gym is better then not doing anything, right? And if Bro Science states that to burn fat you MUST do cardio and cut your carbs drastically and in order to build muscle you MUST lift heavy and as often as possible, then how can you be expected to think differently?

Ridiculous Rhetoric 

As ridiculous as the above “tips” and “advice” might sound, there are still PLENTY of people out there who still fall victim to many of these false facts and fictitious statements. Believe it or not, you actually DO burn some calories if you’re just sitting on your ass. Hell, you even burn calories when you’re sleeping! And I can tell you first hand that there is such a thing as a bad workout. These are the workouts where the majority of the so-called “workout” is spent looking down at your phone in between sets, scrolling through your Instagram newsfeed or texting your BFF. And yes, if you cut carbs and increase your cardio you will most definitely lose fat. But if you overdue it or make sudden drastic changes, your body will eventually resist your efforts and at which point, you will risk damaging your thyroid and creating a metabolic meltdown in the longterm.

So What Are We To Do?

With so much misleading information being broadcasted within the fitness industry through social media these days, it can be difficult to figure out what to believe and what not to believe. It’s easy to think a certain way about a particular topic if the influencer that is providing the information to you is a supposed expert in their field. And when it comes to losing fat and building muscle, if the very same influencer has developed a decent looking physique, it can become even more taxing to argue with what they say.

Even though I practice what I preach and I love what I do, I’m still human. I occasionally will cheat on my diet or skip a workout or two. I can honestly say that I don’t always give each and every training session a 110%, and sometimes when no one is looking, I might even take a quick glance at my work emails in between sets on my Iphone. With that said, I don’t believe that you need to go “Balls to Wall” or “Go Big or Go Home” to be considered hardcore and/or dedicated to your training. Nor do I believe that you need to starve yourself and perform endless amounts of cardio to be able to develop an aesthetically pleasing physique. What I do believe is that in order to be able to change your body and change your health, then you neeed to be able to change your mindset.

Mind to Muscle Connection

In my opinion, being able to establish a strong mind to muscle connection within one’s body is one of the greatest assets that a person can have. And in no better place is there to practice developing this connection, then in the gym itself. There’s a reason why I stress the importance of creating this connection to our clients. For one, if they can’t “feel” the muscle group that they are working, then how can they be expected to work it properly resulting in change, growth and definition? And secondly, if you aren’t focusing on what you’re doing in the gym and your mind is somewhere else, you risk injuring yourself thus stalling any potential progress that could be made with both your physique and your health.

Time – The Most Valuable Commodity

I don’t like to waste my time and I don’t like to waste my clients’ time. Therefore whether I’m training a group class, a partner session or a private session, my clients always receive my undivided attention. I don’t ask them how they’re weekends were, because frankly, unless it has something to do with their training and diet, then I don’t really care how their weekends were. Our clients work with us because they want results. And for us to help deliver upon these results we need to WORK. Regardless of whether a client has been working with me for 1 week or 10 years, I always expect perfect form and execution on every single exercise that they do in the gym. I can’t force someone to work hard if they don’t want to work hard. But I don’t have to be an enabler for a crappy workout either and let someone get away with “going easy” on themselves in the gym. If someone wants it bad enough, then they will usually do what I ask of them during their workouts. And lucky for me, the majority of people of whom I work with want to change for the better. And lucky for them, I want to help them create that change and am willing to do whatever it takes both inside and outside of the gym, to help them create this change. But that will for change can’t come from me alone. It’s needs to come from within the person who wants to change. And that all comes from developing a specific mindset.

I can help you strengthen and develop your body, but only if you’re willing to strengthen and develop your mind first.

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance