Rubbing Elbows

I’ve admitted my feelings about what really influences health and fitness and, though it might not be good for business, the verdict is in. It starts in the mind, not in the gym. On many occasions I’ve said that reading this blog everyday and never coming to the gym would yield better results than not reading the blog and training sometimes. There’s a similar effect with the people you spend your time with.

We need to recognize that the people we’re in closest proximity affect our actions and our minds on a fundamental level. I’m surrounded by people, for example, that would verbally accost me if was inflicted with the sickness that is mediocrity. In the rooms I put myself in, I’d be called a coward for not exploring my potential. My girlfriend, all of my closest friends.. everyone is on board. It’s a beautiful kind of peer pressure.

In the photo above you can see a sea of motivated individuals. Of course, most are normal folks with normal jobs and normal amounts of fitness, but they show up, they put out, and they are interested in improving themselves. That, my friends, is a rare bird these days. Screw your gym membership (or lack thereof), forget your weird diet (I don’t want to hear about it), and get your ass out of the house and around motivated people, because if the people around you don’t get it you’re destined for failure.

That weird quote that says you’re the sum of the five people you hang out with most gets real scary if you consider those same five people’s one rep max front squat. If they don’t have one, for example, it’s no wonder that this fitness thing is a struggle.

As a thought experiment, I put several students who’ve fallen of the wagon into social scenarios like the one above. Pluck anyone out of a normal life of fitness struggle and drop them in the lobby of the gym with a cold brew coffee in hand for morning banter and that alone would start to tip the scales. If you had a few beers at Clutch or you came to watch a community workout or you just showed up every time someone from the gym had a damn birthday, you’d realize how ridiculous you’re being. You’d realize that right now, while you’re explaining to yourself why you can’t figure it out, that countless people no less stressed and no more capable then you are making miracles happen. You’d either take control of your life or you’d die from the constant disparity between what you’re acting like and what you know you could be doing, but at least you couldn’t claim ignorance.

All of this, of course, is without doing a single, stupid workout. Fix your friends and you’ll be fit forever. Rub elbows with people that won’t have any of your bullshit and you’d be surprised how remarkably you’ll live.

 

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach