Progress Pic, Anyone?

We’ve talked about how the frequency of one’s result focus can ruin our perception of even the most successful journey before. Countless times I’ve written about the lack of control we have over outcomes, the action we can take on our process, and how we ought to spend our time focusing on the latter.

In fitness, there’s something called a “progress pic”. If you’ve ever been on the Internet, you know what I mean. Mostly these check-ins come in the form of a bathroom mirror selfie.

While being able to compare before and after photos can be very satisfying, especially if you have aesthetic fitness goals, I’d like to caution the dangers here. In order to understand what I’m saying, recognize the ubiquitous experience we all have seeing someone who’s lost (or gained) substantial weight after several years. The change is sudden and significant! Yet, when our spouse, roommate, or self goes through the same process, the change has nowhere near the same effect. In fact, it often goes unnoticed.

If you’re looking to make changes to your physicality, I salute you. In order to avoid faulty negative signalling, I’d encourage you to keep your head down, so to speak, and in the work. Only look up for the progress pic after significant time has passed, or you just might think you’re important training in the gym isn’t worth it. Chances are it is worth it if you let Father Time work his magic.

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach