Welcome to your thirties

Did you hear the story about the person who was thirty something? You know the one, they started a family, put energy into chasing the career dream, got a mortgage and woke up one day feeling they had lost themselves. Where had the vibrant, fun life they had in their twenties go?  

I know that this picture doesn’t fit every person in their thirties, but it is common. When you think about life in your thirties it can often be the time when you start to get serious about ‘big picture’ stuff. The mortgage, family and career take a priority and often you are at the very beginning stage in all of these areas. There is a lot to learn and a lot of energy is required just to survive. It is no wonder these key areas in life end up consuming the sense of self. 

I was at a party a while back talking to a guy who was in this very situation. He had a young family and was trying to build a business. We got talking about health and fitness and he expressed a slight frustration at his increased weight and loss of fitness. This was a guy who had played sport his whole life and I got the feeling he had always considered himself to be a fit guy. The ‘serious’ life changes he had made recently had created an unhealthier version of himself, and he wasn’t liking this version so much.

As the conversation got deeper he expressed that he had every intention of getting out and doing the exercise that he used to do but it just never happened. This got me thinking. This guy’s life had changed in massive ways and the new priorities needed a lot of time and energy. I could tell that the ‘serious’ stuff was very important to him and if he could only invest a little time into his health and fitness it would result in him having a better sense of self.

This is a typical case where we are using expectations from a previous period in our lives to benchmark against how we are successful now. As life changes, priorities and focus change too and we have to be realistic around what we can do. For the guy at the party he can’t put the time into exercising like he did five years ago, but he might be able to get three good hours in a week.

I know that lowering expectations can seem like failure but it isn’t, it’s all about making you successful based on your current life situation. This is so important at times when you feel you are losing yourself. 

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Episode 20 Fitness Behavior - Moving Towards Experiences

In this months show I cover how we will live richer life if we decided move towards experences that develop and grow us. 

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Have you seen the latest fad?

When I first started working in the fitness industry I came in at a time when it was being hit with a massive fitness tidal wave that was known as Tae Bo. This new fitness fad by Billy Blanks took the world by storm. I remember walking into the smaller studio, which would normally get 40-50 participants, to teach the new Les Mills Combat class (a marshal arts workout) and there were over 120 people. 90% of them were people who I’d never seen before, there was so much energy! Tae Bo got a lot of non exercises out there doing it, it was great! 

While Tae Bo was the biggest fad that I’ve seen in my time there have definitely been many attempts by all types of people and businesses to create the next big fitness craze. We’ve seen vibration pads, Zumba, cycle classes, pole dancing workouts, the Thighmaster, Wii fit, inline skating, TRX and many more but the one that takes the cake has to be the Shake Weight. This shakable weight device that simulates a certain movement that a lot of men enjoy just seems wrong.

So are fitness fads a bad thing? In my mind there’s no definitive answer to this but looking back over the years there are commonalities around which fads have a longer life in the marketplace. Sure Tae Bo isn’t as popular as what it once was but every gym now has some form of marshal arts class and remains popular.

So what is it that makes the some fads last longer than others? 

First of all they include other people. Zumba, Tae Bo and Les Mills Pump are examples of products that have lasted the distance. All of these workouts are done in group environments where you work with others. Even products like TRX are more successful in the gym environment where other people are, instead of in isolation at home. 

Successful fads also create a movement that people can enjoy. Yoga makes you calm, Pump make your strong, Zumba makes you feel like a rock star. When people fall in love with the movement there’s a much higher chance that they want to come back and do it.

There are going to be many more fitness fads to come and go and many of them will be very entertaining. Keep them coming I say, if they get people moving in some way that can’t be a bad thing.

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