#59: Finding Your Support Network

Hey guys,

Fitness goals are challenging.

In my opinion, one of the biggest factors that determines if you are successful or not is your support system.

The challenge becomes a lot less daunting when you have people in your life who inspire you, motivate you, and support you to do better in your own life.

Today I’ll touch on some ways to make sure you have a solid support system in place.

Weekly Action Point

This week, I’m giving you two things to do, both of which should not be that difficult.

1. Invite a friend or family member to do something with you that relates to your health and fitness goals

The easiest thing is to invite someone to go for a walk with you. You could also do a fitness class together, do some yoga in a park, or shop at a farmers’ market. Just do something with another person that somehow relates to your health and wellness.

2. Tell someone about the fitness goals you are currently working towards

Telling someone about your goals is huge for accountability. Accountability is the hardest part of fitness for almost everyone, myself included. Telling someone about your goals makes them real.

Surround yourself with support

People often don’t think about their support system as something that contributes to their fitness goals.

They think about their diet, what workout they should be doing, how much sleep they need, etc. And sure, those are all important.

But I would say that the people along for your journey are more important than any of that.

Think about it for a second.

Who in your life supports you or has an impact on your health and fitness?

For me, I teach group exercise classes at two different gyms. I would say that my members have the biggest impact on my own fitness goals.

Most of the people in class probably don’t know that they are a support system for me, but being an instructor is huge for my own accountability.

How can I tell people to do something if I don’t do it myself?

I’m fortunate enough to be surrounded by people working towards similar goals as me, a minimum of three days per week (I teach classes Mon, Wed, Thurs).

Outside of that, I have tons of people who support me in my fitness goals. Friends and family, newsletter subscribers (thanks guys!), coworkers, etc.

Let’s say you aren’t like me, though. My life sort of revolves around fitness, and as a result, many of the people in my life contribute to my support system.

Most of you probably don’t come in contact with ~100 people each week in a fitness setting.

So, how do you build a support system then?

In my opinion, if you aren’t intentional about building your support system, it won’t happen by accident.

However, it’s probably a lot simpler than you might think.

You could have an extremely successful support system built around just three people:

1. Your mom, dad, or sibling

2. One of your best friends

3. A spouse/significant other

And if you don’t have a significant other, I’ll throw a bonus #4: One of your coworkers.

The kicker is that you have to be intentional about inviting these people to take part in your fitness journey, as I mentioned above.

I’m not saying go to these people and ask “Hey, will you be a part of my fitness support system?”. Because people would probably have no idea what to say to something like that.

Rather, take a look at the weekly action point this week. These are two awesome examples of engaging people in your support system.

Maybe instead of meeting a friend for drinks, you ask them to go for a walk. You could go out of your way to invite a friend(s) to do a workout with you. Even if they say no, they are still becoming part of your support system.

I recently did a “think day” where I spent 3-4 hours journaling about goals, reflecting on areas of my life, etc. I invited a group of friends to do it with me, even though I knew there was no chance they’d want to come join me for a journaling session at 7am on a Saturday morning.

But just by me asking, they became a part of my support system. Later that day, they asked me how it went, what I journaled about and what goals I was working on. Simply because I invited them to do it with me.

Finding people in your life who support you and your fitness goals will make them far easier than trying to tackle them alone.

Additionally, try to go out of your way to support people in their journey. You can be a piece of their support system.

If someone tells you about a fitness goal, follow up with them. Ask how it’s going or if there’s anything they are struggling with.

And on that note, a big reason I do this newsletter is because I love supporting other people in any way that I can.

Friendly reminder that I’m always open to you reaching out if you need anything from me. If you have a question, need a walking buddy, or just want to tell someone about your goals, I’m happy to listen.

I love it when people reach out to me about fitness stuff; it’s like my favorite topic of conversation. I promise you’ll never bother me.

So, if you don’t know who your support system is, you’ll always have me at least :)

Ben’s Best

Sometimes, people think that eating healthy means they have to eat nothing but chicken, rice, and broccoli. They think they can’t eat pizza. Well, that’s not the case. If you have a pizza craving, you just need to fulfill it the right way. Try this recipe out instead of eating an entire frozen pizza:

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