Gyms all over the world are filled with millions of people, spending billions of dollars on looking better. You know what the problem is with that? Absolutely nothing! I say it in consultations all the time… If there weren’t aesthetic benefits to working out, no one would do it. Okay, that’s not true… Professional athletes would probably still workout. Other than that, I really don’t know. The average person goes to the gyms in Scottsdale because they want to feel good and look even better.

There is nothing wrong with going to the personal training studio near you and working out because you want to look better. The problem… not admitting it. We all know the saying, “The first step, is admitting you have a problem.” If you’re unwilling to admit that you just want to look better, then you’ll never do what it takes to get there.

Personal rant; I’m so frustrated with our society. We are bombarded by social media and advertising with extremes of what the ideal body is. No one looks at those images and doesn’t like them. That’s why they exist. We see them and want to look as much like them as possible. But, we’re taught growing up not to be vain. We’re also told those images are unrealistic and to love our bodies just the way they are. So, people either walk into gyms all over the world saying, “I just want to be healthier” or they don’t walk anywhere because they’re too ashamed to be overweight and too ashamed to admit they don’t want to look like their overweight… Enough is enough. Maybe you do want to be healthier, but that’s not what motivates you. You don’t have to stop loving yourself because your 20lbs overweight and you don’t have to feel bad because you want to lose 20lbs so that you look better. Admit it already!

I can’t tell you how refreshing it would be if someone would come in to my office and say, “Zach, I’m unhappy with the way I look and I’m uncomfortable with myself. I need to lose weight because I want to look good and feel confident. I want my spouse to look at me like they used to before I gained all this weight.” I constantly have to coax this underlying motivation out of people. I can’t tell you how often people tell me they want to lose weight and tone up. When I ask why, I get a “Because I want to be healthier.” This answer won’t help you, it will actually prevent you from achieving what you really want.

There is something incredible that happens when people start working out and seeing positive changes in their body. They become happier, more energetic, more confident and more outgoing. They begin to crave more physical change and become addicted to their own ability to achieve successful results. It’s truly a special thing and it’s something that those who have made positive changes can relate too and understand. What follows is a healthy lifestyle that branches out from a simple workout routine, to dietary changes, to healthy habits, all because you started off admitting that you wanted to look better and focusing on your true motivation to make it happen.