Adam Poehlmann 12/12/18 Adam Poehlmann 12/12/18

Why Some Succeed and Others Don't

If fitness, you'll fail sometimes. But, you need to make sure you breed success from your failures. And it's a lot easier to believe you can succeed when you know that the other busy people in the world are crushing their goals, rather than idolizing and reaching for the results of some fitness model on instagram that lives a completely different life.

I remember when I first got into fitness and nutrition. I read articles out the wazoo and watched videos on YouTube like there was no tomorrow. Over time, I gained a lot of inspiration and I was ready to begin my fitness journey.

But there was one problem.

All of these videos I was watching were created by guys on drugs (nothing against steroids) who were jacked bodybuilders and nothing more.

Hear me out.

I don't mean to say that they are stupid, but they know their body, their biology, and what works from them. It would be difficult for them to relate to a 175-pound male who was just looking to improve his health and physique on a natural level. Not to mention the differences in lifestyle. I didn't want to each chicken and broccoli 7x/day nor did I want to spend three hours in the gym every day and completely cut out my social life.

My guess is you don't either. Don't you like pizza? Don't you like the occasional bowl of ice cream?

Duh. Of course you do. You're not weird. Don't you enjoy the ability to go out with friends and not feel like you have to be the odd ball out because you "can't" have a beer? What the heck is that? If you're not competing or reaching for an extremely challenging goal, there's no sense in taking it to the extreme and making your life miserable, am I right?

"Yes, you are right, Adam! But what are you getting at here?"

Well thank you for asking. Here's what I'm saying:

So, what I've decided to do is compile a list of items that successful clients of mine (and others) share in common. All these people do extremely well, and it's because they put in the work. But don't jump to conclusions here and assume they have all the time in the world. These people are mothers, fathers, business owners, employees with multiple jobs, volunteers, etc.

In fact, most of my clients that have a ton of success are all of those things (except being a mother and father, of course).

So the question is, how the heck do they do it?

I'm going to share the top FIVE things that have enabled my clients and other successful people to do well with an extremely busy and demanding life. These are not MY five reasons they're successful. These are the exact reason why THEY believe they do so well. These keys come straight from the sources.

A DRIVE TO IMPROVE THEMSELVES

Here's the thing. We get sick and tired of things. I know I do. I get sick and tired of commercials, and get sick and tired of "we" couples. I get sick and tired of my seemingly weak will power when it comes to binge-watching "The Office" on Netflix.

Well, not so much the last one.

What's interesting is that at some point, they got sick and tired of being sick and tired! They were sick and tired of countless hours on the treadmill, elliptical, spin bike, and stairmaster. They were sick and tired of turning cardio into some sort of mathematical equation in order to optimize fat loss.

Being truly sick and tired is one thing. We're all sick and tired of something on some level. It's finding the spark to make change that really matters. I have some good news and bad news for y'all on this one. The bad news: the spark that ignites the fire of intrinsic motivation can't be easily found. It's something that is different for all of us. We all think differently, and we're all moved on an emotional level in different ways. For some, it's knowing they'll be around to spoil their grandkids. For others, it's being able to spend hours tracking an animal in the middle of the woods. The good news: once you find that spark and the fire is lit, oh my gosh... the world better get the heck out of your way.

Once you reach a point of seriously being sick and tired of being sick and tired, find your spark and ignite a fire.

A PLAN TO FOLLOW

Shooting in the dark is dangerous, stupid, and pointless. Unless you're in a horror/thriller movie and it's your only option for survival. That's a bit different. Thankfully, you're in a real life scenario and shooting in the dark isn't your only option. You have the ability to look almost anywhere for a plan. And when I say anywhere, I mean the internet. Have you met the internet? It's nuts.

Fitness plans, coaches, trainers, nutritionists, workout videos, e-books, and more are available with one single internet search. If you're willing to find a plan to stick to, it's too easy to find any plan out of hundreds of thousands. Clients that opt for coaching realize that finding a custom-tailored plan with accountability was something that would get them to their goal and off their plateau.

I know what you're thinking. This is NOT a shameless plug for my coaching services. Their desire to seek a coach was theirs in the first place. I have never persuaded someone to work with me. That's a big no-no in my book. If I had to do that, it would be a pretty big red flag telling me that they might not do so well. All of the successful people I've worked with are people that understood they needed help and accountability, and they went out of their way to find it.

My most successful clients realized this, and sought out help. I've found that the most successful individuals are those that understand they can learn from anyone and everyone. They believe in themselves to do the work and understand that guidance and accountability will get them to a level they may not have been able to do on their own.

CLARITY

My only job is to impact people's lives through fitness. Because of this, it is an absolute necessity that I'm great at what I do. This means that I will always be looking, always seeking clarity. There are aspects of fitness and nutrition that I don't know about yet, and it will always be that way. Because of that, I'm constantly taking in information and constantly asking questions. For those who succeed in their fitness, it's the exact same.

Although my coaching is custom-tailored, there are still obstacles that come up for my clients.

Why?

Well, that's life. Sh*t happens.

My clients know that a lot of their success comes from the ability to reach out to me for clarity when needed. Not only do they understand that, but they utilize it tirelessly. The individuals that do well are the ones that reach out and say:

"____ happened, what do I do?"

"You said we're doing ____ this week. Why?".

It's simple. Those who do best are those who are most open to learn.

ABILITY TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS (AND SACRIFICES)

This ties in with the previous statement, but we need to shine some more light on it. Ladies and gents, we all need flexibility. Whether it comes to fitness, or finding a daycare for your kids that works with your schedule, your mental, physical, and emotional health are at their best when flexibility is an option.

Here's why:

It's pretty simple, really. Life doesn't give a crap about your schedule or whatever it is you want to do in the day. Things can change at the snap of a finger. Traffic can jam up in an instant. Your family member could run out of gas on the side of the road. Crap will ALWAYS be thrown at you. One of the games of life is not controlling everything in order to have less crap thrown at you, it's how well you manage the crap that is thrown at you.

Thankfully, the plans that I give my clients allow them to assign their own workout days. If their schedule only allows training on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, then they move their workouts to those days on their profile. I also adjust their food intake accordingly. They have freedom to eat with flexibility which makes adherence easier.

They also make adjustments in different ways, too. You know, I shouldn't really use the word "adjustments" for this scenario. "Sacrifices" is a more appropriate word.

Sure, having the ability to reach goals with flexibility is a huge help. But what I've noticed is that when push comes to shove, those that succeed and achieve their goals are the ones that are willing to make sacrifices (adjustments) to get there.

If life throws them a busy week, they prep meals the Sunday before in order to combat it. If their kid runs into an emergency in the morning, they cut time out of their afternoon to get their workout it. If they feel coaching is a little out of their budget, they cut other areas of their spending down because they understand their health is most important.

It's simple. They make sacrifices.

Be willing to make sacrifices, or be prepared for life to run you over.

CELEBRATING VICTORIES

Along with K.I.S.S., we're all about celebrating victories at Poehlmann Fitness. It's not just me, though. My clients are all about celebrating victories, too.

It is far too easy to let the negatives of life weigh you down. This is one big differentiator between those that reach their goals and those that don't.

Those that reach their goals are those that solely focus on wins. Whether they're massive wins like setting a new squat record, or small wins like eating a serving of greens, successful individuals focus on wins.

Those that don't do well are the those that dwell on the negatives over and over, eventually convincing themselves that they're just not cut out to do well.

Focus on your wins, and build off them. Dwelling on failure is a waste of your time. Do yourself a favor and focus on your wins.

THE TAKEAWAY

The successes that we've discussed may not look the exact same for every individual, but the truth is that we can all benefit from the topics discussed in today's article. Great health and an amazing body is waiting for you, right in front of your face. All you need to do is be willing to reach out and grab it. The reach may not be easy, but it's always worth it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life. If you’re interested in hiring Adam as your coach, fill out an application here.

Adam Poehlmann 12/11/18 Adam Poehlmann 12/11/18

How to Trust the Process

Whether it's building wealth, building relationships, doing well in school, or improving our health and wellness, we've all experienced this cycle that doesn't seem to end. So, how DO we end that cycle?

Trust can be a difficult thing to explain.

One of the things I talk about often is trusting the process. Whether it's my audience on Facebook, YouTube, the blog (hey, that's you!) or my clients, I talk about trusting the process and what that may look like for that audience.

I most often bring this up when talking about the health and fitness journey that all of us are on. Similar to many other things in life, a health and fitness journey is a lot like a path in the forest. We're walking along a path, hoping that it leads to the right destination. At times, we lose faith in the path and find a different path to go on. After taking that new path, we lose faith in it once again, and make a change. After doing that over and over, we realize that we've been moving, but we've been moving in a circle and really haven't progressed.

Whether it's building wealth, building relationships, doing well in school, or improving our health and wellness, we've all experienced this cycle that doesn't seem to end.

So, how DO we end that cycle?

Trusting the process, that's how.

As I said, trusting the process can be a difficult thing to wrap our heads around. Trust itself can be hard to explain or define. So what I'd like to do is work through a few different things we can do to make this whole "trust the process" thing a little more tangible.

FIRST, WE NEED A STARTING POINT

I'm sure you're sitting there thinking "Duh, Adam. Of course we need a starting point." You're right. We do need a starting point, but it's not just the starting point that we need. It's really the mark of the starting point on our map that we truly need. If the map is our process, we must know where we're starting.

Here's why. Knowing where we're starting is one thing, but having the ability to look back and see where we started is something really special. I know, looking back isn't something we've been told when it comes to moving towards a goal. We've been told to keep moving forward. "Never look back", they say. In this context, I disagree. Having the ability to look back gives some positive perspective. Marking a starting point gives us the ability to see how far we've come. Whether it's 2 steps, or 100 steps closer to the goal, we can see actual data that shows progression.

One way this plays out with my coaching clients is through progress photos. Regardless of how uncomfortable my clients are about sharing progress photos, I always encourage them to do it. Obstacles arise, down periods are going to come and they are going to get discouraged. However, if they have the ability to look back and see how far they've come, the inspiration comes back and once again they have a fire under their butt to continue taking steps forward.

We must never forget where we came from.

SECOND, WE NEED A PATH

Just a few lines up, I was talking about this path in a forest. In this context, the forest is the world of health and wellness, and the path is what we need to follow to get to our desired destination within the world of health and wellness. As I said, following that one path is extremely difficult at times. It's easy to take turns and go a different direction when hard times come up due to a lack of trust in that path. Put yourself in that situation for a second. If you were on a trail in the middle of a forest, what would make it easier to trust and follow?

A map with a clear path that leads to the destination.

Having a map in the middle of a forest is great. But it's even better if we can have a map that has trails and paths on it. Trails and paths serve as a clear, tangible way to get from the starting point to the destination. Being able to look at a map and say "ok, if we walk this path, it will take us to the final destination. That builds a massive amount of trust.

The reason we have a hard time trusting our health and fitness process is because we don't take the time to clearly map out what we need to do to get to the final destination. Often times, we say that we need to exercise more and eat healthier.

I say no. That is laziness, and a great way to set ourselves up for failure.

We MUST take the time to sit down and create our path in extreme detail. That path must include proper programming (how many days per week? What exercises? How many sets and reps?), proper nutrition tracking (how many grams of protein, carbs, and fats should I be eating?), as well as an extremely realistic idea of what's to come.

There's no doubt about it; when we are along our health and fitness journeys, obstacles will come up.

travel

kids

work

busy schedule

time constraints

When we're walking down our path through the forest without a map, those obstacles will come up and KNOCK US OUT. However, if we prepare for those things ahead of time, we'll feel extremely confident that we can work around them.

A good example of this is travel. Ask yourself, "Are there any trips coming up that will make it harder for me to be at the gym? Will these trips make it harder for me to stay consistent with my training and nutrition?" You'll quickly realize that the answer to those questions is yes, and you'll begin to make adjustments/preparations like purchasing a set of bands to get some resistance training in while traveling. You'll figure out what you can control while traveling, and capitalize on those opportunities when they arise.

We must be aware of potential obstacles. We must prepare in order to win.

LASTLY, WE NEED A DESTINATION

Before I get into the last part of our process that we're building, I want to make something clear. Once a destination is reached, the process is not over. The destination your reach at the end will simply become your new starting point.

Just like business, if you're not growing, you're dying. There will ALWAYS be something to work toward. Big or small, there will always be something you can improve and build on.

The destination is an extremely important piece of the puzzle. Whether it's 50 pounds lighter or 2 pull-ups stronger, we MUST have a destination to work toward. If we don't, we're simply walking up a mountain for giggles with no hope that we're making progress.

That's stupid.

Notice how I gave concrete goals as destinations. Although I love concrete goals, they're not the entire destination. When obstacles come up along the path, it'll be easier to give up when the going gets tough, because goals that have no depth really don't mean much. Goals like losing 50 pounds are child's play.

BUT... there are things we can do to make our destination have more depth.

Want to be able to 2 pull-ups? Fantastic, but WHY?! Why do you want to do 2 pull-ups? Why do you want to lose 50 pounds?

Is it because you're insecure about your image? Is it because you're afraid of your health ending your life earlier that you'd like?

Good. Now we're getting somewhere.

We all have a "why", but only a few of us have what it takes to dig deep and bring it to the surface. Those of us who do, are the ones that succeed 99% of the time. Why is that?

When we discover our "why" we discover that we have a deeper purpose on this earth that must be fulfilled. Bringing the "why" to the surface attaches meaning to the goal. The "why" allows us to fight not for the goal, but rather for the future self that we are building.

Our destination must have depth.

THE PROCESS

Trusting the process can be difficult, but only when it's not constructed properly. If you want to create a process that can truly be trusted, you'll need to create the following:

A starting point
A path
A destination

And all of them must be taken seriously. Approach these three steps with an open mind and an open heart. Be realistic, and prepare.

You'll trust, and you'll win.

THANKS FOR READING!

I love you guys. Thank you for taking the time to read.

Spread the love by sharing this with friends and family. I know it sounds crazy, but making a small touch in their life can create a ripple that may positively impact them for years to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam Poehlmann 12/11/18 Adam Poehlmann 12/11/18

Eating Clean Made Me Fat

Ok fine, you got me. Eating cookies and Chipotle didn't make me lean. Cookies and Chipotle aren't anything special. They're not made from unicorns, containing magical ingredients that allowed me to lose body fat for the first time. However, the mindset I had while eating those things certainly did help with that.

Eating clean made me fat, while eating cookies and Chipotle made me lean...

However, the mindset I had while eating those things certainly did help with that.

A BIT ABOUT MY JOURNEY

If you don't know my story, there's a lot to it. But for the sake of time (knowing that you have a life and most likely don't want to sit down and read what I have to say all day long), I'm going to skip most of it and start with my fitness journey. I found my love for health and fitness after college ball. Once baseball was done, I spent a lot of time in the gym. I needed something to distract me from the fact that I wasn't a baseball player anymore.

My dad competed in bodybuilding back in the day, so weight training had always been a staple in his routine. He brought me along and lifted with me as I was trying to get out of my post-baseball depression.

If you know me, you know I don't really have much of an on/off switch when it comes to anything active or physical. Ask me to play against you in any sort of physical sport or activity, and I'm going to give it my all. I may suck, but I'm going to give you everything I have. It was the same thing with resistance training. I didn't have the best form, and my mind-muscle connection was far non-existent. But I tell you what, when I was in that gym, I gave each rep my all.

After a while, I actually began to see a change in my body. It's not the reason I was in the gym in the first place, but there were definitely changes in my body that I could see as a result of simply working hard. So because of that, I obviously asked myself what could happen if I took things seriously. And right before your eyes, I became your typical bro-like gym rat.

I started listening to what all of the Olympia and instagram guys were doing (being too much of an idiot to even take into consideration that those dudes are the 1% of the 1% of genetic freaks, and take a good serving of anabolics each day). I trained one muscle group per week, and I went to absolute failure on every single set. I completely killed my body in the gym. On top of that, I ate A TOOONNNNNNN of food. But hey don't worry, it was "clean" most of the time so I wouldn't get fat. Or so I thought..

Over time, I got pretty freaking huge. I reached a whopping 240 pounds while eating anywhere between 4,500 and 5,000 calories each day. I did have a ton of lean mass, but my body fat was at an all time high. I believe it was around 25%. At first, I didn't give a crap about my body fat. Why? Because it was bulk season all year, baby. Needless to say, I kept shoveling food down my throat to put on more and more "muscle". As you could imagine, I just got fatter and fatter, and finally hit a point where I started caring about my body composition and wanted to make a change.

Once I reached the point of feeling too heavy, I decided it was time to cut down. Gotta look good for the beach at some point, right?

The cut consisted of a little less food (because all hell would break loose if I lost muscle mass), and some cardio when I felt like it. I figured that if I kept eating around 4,000 calories of clean food and added in some cardio every now and then, I'd easily lose weight!

Yeah... that didn't happen.

Months later, I found myself in the same spot. 235ish pounds, tons of fat on me. I thought to myself "HOW IN THE WORLD IS THIS FREAKING POSSIBLE? I'm eating clean, how could I not be losing fat?"

Here's what I'd say to my younger self: "You didn't pay attention to the real science, you idiot!"

WHAT I FAILED TO SEE

The present me is right. The old me wasn't paying attention to anything but what the 290-pound Olympia competitors were doing. I was doing what THEY did for THEIR body to succeed. I missed the biggest piece.

I WASN'T A 290-POUND OLYMPIA COMPETITOR.

It didn't matter if I was eating clean. I was ignoring the facts. The 2 big things that I failed to acknowledge were the following:

Gaining/Losing weight is about calories in vs. calories out. Simple math.
I was a 20-year-old ex-baseball player. I failed to do what was right for ME. I did what THEY did because it worked for THEM.

I didn't take the time to understand how the human body works. I simply accepted the fact that eating clean is just what you're supposed to do to lose weight. The first time I heard it, I accepted it as truth and I went on with my life.

So what's so wrong with eating clean?

Nothing really, it's just that I placed eating clean on a pedestal above the most basic understanding of weight loss: calories in vs. calories out.

Here's the truth: Weight loss and weight gain comes down to calories in vs. calories out.

Since I was eating more calories than I burned in a day (even though they were "clean" calories) I gained a ton of body fat. Whether I was eating chicken and broccoli or donuts, I would've gained weight. Same thing goes for fat loss, I could eat nothing but Hostess snacks all day long and lose weight, as long as I'm burning more calories than I eat in a day. In fact, a Kansas State professor did just this to prove the point. Don't believe me? Google "Twinkie Professor."

Now don't be that person that just closes the browser and decides they're going to eat nothing but Twinkies all day long because Adam said it's good for fat loss. That's not what I'm saying. You don't need to have a PhD in nutrition to understand that eating nothing but Hostess snacks is unhealthy. All I'm saying is that weight gain and weight loss comes down to calories in vs. calories out.

And that's what I was missing.

I didn't take the time to figure out how many calories I burn in a day. I didn't take the time to figure out how many calories I'd need to eat in order to lose fat and build muscle.

Not wanting to continue this hellish cycle of gaining 10 pounds and losing 2, I began to track my intake in order to figure out what the problem was. Once I began tracking my intake, I slowly began to see what and how much of it I was actually putting into my body. I also found two big rocks (they kinda go hand-in-hand) that needed to be addressed.

Being "strict" while allowing myself cheat meals
No moderation whatsoever

The lack of moderation in my diet absolutely killed me. I would eat clean all week long, and then allow myself a cheat meal or a cheat day where I'd eat an extra 1,500 calories in a meal, or an extra 4,000-5,000 calories in a day. Once I saw that, it all made sense. My weekly caloric intake was through the roof because I binged and went completely out of control.

Moving forward, I allowed myself to enjoy the things I wanted when I felt like it. I'd have some Reeses or a cookie here and there. I noticed that my cravings went down a ton, I didn't feel guilty about eating those foods, and my weekly caloric intake dropped tremendously. I FINALLY STARTED TO LOSE BODY FAT!

Did the cookies allow me to lose body fat? No, of course not. But moderation did.

Once I began to fully understand the concept of calories in vs. calories out, I learned a ton about MY body and what I needed to do for MY body, given MY history, MY genetics, and MY goals. Hitting those goals slowly became a LOT easier. I learned how to adjust my caloric intake to build muscle and to burn fat. I learned how to treat my boy well by eating natural whole food sources while treating myself when I felt like it.

With time and effort, I went from a place of unconscious incompetence to conscious competence.

THE TAKEAWAY

Managing your nutrition and learning how food works with your body is a lot like managing money. If you were to invest your money in some sort of stock, you would (I hope) study its history, its habits, and see how it reacts to certain changes in the market. The same thinking applies to your body. Before you invest your calories, time, and attention to your goals, figure out how your body will best use them, that way you can develop a plan that works best for YOUR body, allowing you to trust the process as you're climbing toward your goals.