7 Fitness Habits Of Successful Men

You're a leader in work.

Your work environment is stressful and fast-paced, and you have numerous projects on the go at the same time, and lot's of different personality types to try to deal with.

This takes concentration and willpower, and maybe sometimes you feel like you've just got nothing left in terms of energy for looking after no.1.

You'd like to make a change, but its never the "right time", as there's always another work contract due to start soon, and family commitments too.

Weeks of inaction roll into months or even years, and all of a sudden, when you go to try on your best suit from the wardrobe for that big meeting or wedding, it doesn't fit. Not even close.

Trust me, I've been there myself. You can feel very hard-done by. Ashamed, guilty. And it hurts.

Maybe you've put work first for too long, and now you've come to realise that this pattern of stress-eating, and having low energy at home isn't something that you're willing to put up with for another 6 months.

I don't want you to feel that way.

So I've out together a list of 7 of the habits of my most successful male clients to help get you started or at least get you thinking about making small positive changes today.

1. Connect your fitness efforts to your "Highest Values"

If you've tried to maintain an exercise plan and a healthy eating style in the past, numerous times, and failed, chances are it's just not that important to you. And that's ok. Up until now, why would it be? Nobody in their right mind wants to voluntarily run up a hill, eat kale, or take cold showers. In my 20 years of experience, those that expect to snap their fingers and turn themselves into a Paul O Connell terminator with iron discipline overnight are destined to fail. They skip over one important step. The best way to be super-motivated is to connect your fitness training and nutrition into your own personal "highest values'. We measure and rank these in order of importance in week 1 of my programme. For some men, it can be work first, then family, then their own hobbies. What we do then is get you all fired up by designing a personal plan that will help you double your energy in work, get more sales, go after that promotion, and have more confidence in big presentations. We get you to visualise this, see the value of it, and then go and prove it to be true. If you're highly motivated by work, all of a sudden you've applied an electric current to your fitness goal. You are always the weakest point of your business. When you are strong, fit, disciplined, and have non-negotiable healthy habits set in stone, this will permeate down into every facet of your business life, every interaction with a potential customer and team member. People will sense your strength, calm, and self-belief, and will be much more likely to respect you and accept your expert advice. It doesn't matter what your selling. Your still the product.

2. Mix it up

If you absolutely hate the traditional idea of exercise in a gym, let's find something fun that you used to love or would love to try but that you'd never normally make time for. Nobody ever said it was supposed to be boring or a chore. If I had a choice between a stuffy crowded gym and surfing for hours in the sun, I'd want the freedom and fun of being in the sea. I'd also be willing to do a little bit of training the following week to be strong, mobile and injury-proof enough to allow me to enjoy the surfing more. Indoors, outdoors, watersports, white collar boxing, weightlifting, running, hiking, stand-up paddleboarding, surfing. They all burn calories. You don't have to train in a gym if you find the idea depressing or overwhelming at the moment. Some of my clients exercise 90% outdoors.

3. Different "flavours"

One thing I've noticed from my most successful clients, is that they find sneaky ways to get more exercise into their week without having it feel like exercise. They might do 2 x 30 mins of training on their own, but then might also join their best friend for a walk most evenings. They might take the kids zip-lining once a month. Get out for a round of gold every 2nd week. They might park that extra 100 metres from work. They might buy a fitbit and start gradually upping their steps, even within work. Choose the stairs instead of the life more than half of the time. A mixture of hard training, fun stuff, and social stuff is the best way to go, because you can double the calorie-burn, strengthen relationships, re-connect with people, and burn off that work stress too. Three successful clients at the moment go hiking every weekend with their partners. It's done wonders for their relationships. Mine benefits more when I get out and get more alone time!

4. Find a much stronger "WHY"

At surface level, wanting to lose weight is a pretty weak motivator. I've taken on clients at 24 stone that were "ok" with their weight. No impetus for change there. With careful questioning, and digging a bit deeper, there's a goldmine of motivation inside everyone. This comes to the surface during my free 45 minute Discovery Call that every potential client does before we decide together if it's a good fit for us to work together. It might go;

What's your main goal at the moment?

To lose 2 stone.

"Why?

The doctor said so.

Why would he say that?

He's worried about my blood pressure.

Why would that be something that needs to change?

There's a history of three heart attacks in my family at 40. I'm 39 and in worse shape than all of them...'

Can you see how "wanting to lose a stone" and "wanting to prevent a heart attack" are very different in terms of motivation level? Pry a little deeper and you'll find 30 strong reasons that you want and need to change. 90% of your motivation will now be internal, so with a little help, you'll achieve your result and keep it up for life.

5. Take responsibility

It's very easy to blame others. I did that for nearly 30 years. I can't find the time to train this week because work is manic. I'll start back next week. I can't go golfing because the missus will give me hassle for it. I have to drop the daughter to dancing so I can't go to the gym saturday morning either. We all need to develop the fine art of calling bullshit on ourselves. If we really wanted to get it done, we would be capable of coming up with a creative solution towards getting it done. Taking responsibility for being unfit, overweight and unhealthy is a two-sided coin. It hurts. But it's also a source of huge power.

"I did this. I made bad choices and avoided hard things"

But then you flip that over, and you'll feel this rush of determination and power, as you realise that your also capable of fixing it. Feels great to take ownership of that. If you need a little help to get it done properly, there's no harm, in that. Get some help. Get it done.

6. Set goals that actually mean something to you

Your goals need to come from you. When we first ask clients to do this they start with ideas that are much too small. You might be used to aiming low and settling for mediocre. The best part about my job and career, is that I've found if we scratch just below the surface, listen, provide support and encouragement, every single person is capable of amazing things. Maybe as kids we are taught to stop daydreaming, give up on silly dreams of being a pilot or an astronaut. In my experience, this leads to the vegetables being thrown out with the dishwater. What our parents, peers and early mentors say to us can affect our self-belief and drive to succeed. Are you ok with that? Plan big and pick a goal that puts a fire in your belly. You might need a little help to tease that information out. No better feeling that finding out you're capable of a lot more than you ever could have dreamed of. Starting a successful business, walking the camino, deadlifting double bodyweight, climbing a mountain. If it's something you want to get done, let's get after it. We'll be dead long enough.

7. Enlist the help of an expert

I don't service my own car. I look after the essential day to day running, monthly checks, and take full responsibility for it, but I don't do any big jobs on it. I've tried and failed enough times to know that there's a special set of qualifications, tools, and a skill-set where someone else can diagnose and fix the problem much quicker and easier than I can. If I tried to do it myself, it would be a load of heartache, I'd never have the special tool that I needed, I'd burn and electrocute myself, and in the end I'd only do a crap job and the wheels would fall off after a few weeks. Do I need to carry on with this analogy or are you picking up what I'm putting down.

Outsource the problem to an expert. In the process, up-skill and learn everything you can. Learn how to make these changes stick long after you finish working with your coach. And then work together to implement it into your daily life forever, in a way that is sustainable in the long run and not just for a quick fix.

I've been doing this professionally with thousands of clients, since I was 17. I'll be coming up on my 20 year anniversary of helping clients achieve their dreams next year. I'll fill this next year helping busy men to achieve that next level in health, fitness, business, and self-care. Hope you'll get in touch for a conversation if you need some help.

On your side,

Barry