Sustained Progress

sustain [suh-steyn] -verb (used with object). late 13c. from O.Fr. sustenir "hold up, endure," from L. sustinere "hold up, support, endure," from sub "up from below" + tenere "to hold"

1. to hold up under; withstand: to sustain great provocation.
2. to keep up the vitality or courage of.
3. to maintain or prolong.
4. to undergo, experience, or suffer (injury, loss, etc.); endure without giving way or yielding.
5. to keep (a person, the mind, the spirits, etc.) from giving way, as under trial or affliction.
6. to keep up or keep going, as an action or process: to sustain a conversation.

Over the last few years, I've found an appreciation for the derivation of words, especially those with Latin influence. It gives me a better understanding of the meaning of the word and how it should be used in writing. SUSTAINABLE is a term that fits quite nicely here.

Easy question here: Are you living a sustainable lifestyle?

I ask this because of what appears a high rate of gung-ho fitness attitudes jumping into sedentary lifestyles. It's demonstrated most clearly and accurately in health clubs in early January. We have all either seen or experienced the cycle: get fat over the winter holidays, get disgusted at how our clothes fit or how we look in the mirror, make a promise to ourselves to change, go hard at some fitness routine, decrease the frequency of the routine, quit, stay fat, console self in a quart of ice cream, etc.

There is another group I ask this question of: those who are currently living poor lifestyles and losing to bad habits. This lifestyle is definitely NOT sustainable. Something will crack. We see it everyday in those who struggle to get off of the couch, breathe heavy after climbing a flight of stairs, or can't take a sightseeing stroll on vacation. Something has to change!! Maybe you don't sympathize with the above description, but are you headed down that path?? If you committed to The Hard Routine, you promised to make adjustments to your future.

There is no doubt that The Hard Routine has the same potential pitfalls as the New Years Resolution. However, I hope most of you took my advice to pick rules that are tough, but sustainable for two months. The goal is to NOT revert back to a crappy lifestyle at the end of two months, but to rather take some of the momentum into a NEW lifestyle. Like I said before, I still hold onto some of the good habits from last year's Hard Routine 2009.

I am so proud of many of our readers and followers of Trinity Training Group. So many of you have made serious changes in not only physical fitness training, but diet and nutrition as well. Testimony proves these adjustments and tweaks have caused positive outcomes in other aspects of your lives as well - better sleep, more energy, self-confidence, fewer sicknesses.

This is not a race. There is no end. No finish line. This is life.

If you think you're going to commit to a new fitness program at seven days per week, and quit your daily fast food run, and snuff out smoking or drinking in the same 180-degree backflip --- you are setting the table for failure. Sorry to be the pessimist here, but you are going to FAIL. You will peter out if you sprint out of the gates.

Find small changes AND STICK WITH THEM. Slow and steady progress is the path to becoming what you desire. People assume I workout everyday because of my passion for fitness. The truth is I rarely exercise more than 4 days per week. And almost never 6. NEVER 7. Like all of you, there is more to life than the gym. There is more to life than weighing my food. There is more to life -- I drink beer. Smoke the occasional cigar. Stuff my face on holidays with the family. But by the way my pants fit and by the entries in my workout journal, I am convinced I don't celebrate too much.

But the first step to change is finding some of those obstacles to health and wellness, and making progress against them. Sustain.