7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #3, do no research.
- The 7 worst mistakes to make while trying to lose weight, become fit and get healthy.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #1, fad diets.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #2, forgetting about exercise.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #3, do no research.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #4, too much cardio.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #5, weight training too hard and too early.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #6, treating setbacks as failures.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #7, Trying to do it alone.
The beginning of this series of articles was a list of the worst mistakes people make when they start working on improving their health. Now I’d like to cover each one of those items in detail. Today’s topic is item 3, do no research.
Yesterday we talked about a common mistake which women make, thinking that health is all about food and not exercise. Today we talk about a common mistake men make, not bothering to research or plan ahead. By the way, just because I say this is common among men doesn’t mean women never do this. I’ve seen more than my fair share of women rushing headlong into some crazy health plan without any research. However, the most common culprit here is us guys.
My friend is a physical trainer. She tells some amusing stories about her male clients. According to her, if you tell the average man that he’s overweight and out of shape, his first response will be to deny it. He’ll then remind you of those years he spent playing sports in college. He’ll might even strike a few poses to show you how in shape he is. He’s also likely to do something stupid like trying to lift the sofa to “look for change” just to prove how strong he is. When he finally realizes he’s out of shape, he’ll spend $5,000 on a home gym machine and then stop using it after a month.
Funny as this may seem, it’s not that far from the truth. Most men, faced with an unpleasant truth that they’re out of shape, will overreact. They’ll latch on to one thing and immediately overdo it. It could be a home gym set or that SEAL team workout someone at the office told them about. Either way, they’ll fixate on that as their road to health and ignore everything else.
Personal Experience
And before anyone gets insulted, let me just add that I’m no different. Two years before my health meltdown, I actually noticed how out of shape I was. I saw my growing belly and my shortening of breath and said “I need to fix this now!” The most in shape person I knew at the time was a coworker who was also an amateur body builder. So of course if this worked for him it must also work for me, right? I had him take me to the gym to show me some basics and immediately started working out with weights five times a week. Nevermind that this isn’t the best way to lose weight. Nevermind that this isn’t the best way to increase stamina. I saw it working for someone and by god it was going to work for me too! One month later I quit because I was seeing no results.
What are you looking to improve?
If you want to avoid this kind of mistake, you’re going to need to do some research and planning. The first thing you’ll need to do is decide what exactly is it that you’re trying to improve. Are you tired of being out of breath on the stairs? Are you trying to lose weight? Do you want to build up your strength? How about your stamina? Do you want better defined muscles? These are all separate goals with separate requirements. Losing weight is not the same thing as building strength or muscle tone. Increasing muscle stamina is not quite the same thing as building cardio endurance. You need to decide what it is that you’re trying to improve. Hopefully, you’re going to be working on all of these things, but you might not do them all at once. You might start with one and then slowly work in another and another. Regardless, decide what it is that you’re going to be working on and in what order.
How are you going to improve?
Once you finish with step 1, the real research starts. So you decided to improve your cardio stamina while also working on losing weight as the first part of your total health makeover. That’s great. Do you know the best ways to do this? Do you know the difference between running and biking? Do you know what a healthy meal is or what your daily caloric intake should be? You don’t have to know all of these things to get started. For example, you don’t have to do much research to know that eating a piece of fruit is probably better than eating a piece of candy. You also don’t need research to know that going on a walk is better for you than sitting on the sofa. However, you should start educating yourself as soon as possible. If you’re going to try jogging, then read up on jogging. If you’re worried about your nutrition then read about nutrition. You can do all of this while you start implementing some small changes, but you should start as soon as possible.
Confirm with multiple resources
Health advice can be confusing. Different sources will give you different advice. So check multiple sources when you can. That applies to the advice you see here as well. I don’t expect you to step away from your computer and say “well, Gal on 60 in 3 said this so it must be true,” You should examine the information for yourself. Talk to others, read other blogs and books. The more sources of information you use, the more complete of a picture you will have.
Don’t be afraid to change your plan
A lot of times you’ll read something that changes your perception of what you’re doing. Don’t be afraid of this. Instead, use this new information to modify what you’re doing. For example, I always thought of jogging as the best cardio activity out there. Then I read a bit more about the stress that jogging can put on your knees and feet. I confirmed this information with multiple sources and then changed my workout routine a bit. There’s nothing wrong with change, especially if it’s based on good, solid information.
Set up well researched goals
Based on all your research, start setting yourself realistic goals. Telling yourself “I’m going to be in shape” is nice, but it’s essentially meaningless. Writing down “By January, I would like to run 5 miles in under an 45 minutes, weigh less than 180lbs and be able to do 40 sit ups in a row” is much better. It’s still not as detailed as it could be, but at least it gives you something solid to strive towards. By the way, notice how these goals relate to the first step mentioned above.
Remember how you were supposed to figure out the things you wanted to improve? Well now you’re writing down specific goals for those improvement areas. If you said you wanted to improve strength and cardio endurance first, then your initial goals should apply to those two areas.
End result
The point of all this is for you to have two things. First is a plan, a solid set of goals and methods to achieve them. The second point is for you to get educated about your body, to understand how things work and why. Once you do that, you’ll be able to easily modify and change your plan as you see fit. Rather than relying on other people to tell you what to do, you’ll be able to decide for yourself what’s good and bad for your health and fitness needs.
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