Are you one of these five people you'll meet at the gym this year, especially at the beginning of the new year? If so, which one?
As we plow through this first week of the year, and some of us keep going to the gym like any other week, we are about to be overrun by new members who join up as part of their new year's resolutions.
Gyms are going to be packed, and you're gonna have to fight to get on your machine to grab those dumbbells you always use. It can be challenging to have all these new people coming into the gym, and I say good for them for setting a goal and trying to develop this habit!
But what I want to focus on is that you're going to meet five specific types of people in the gym this year. And whether you go to the gym or not, these five people are people you meet in life, too.
I want you to start thinking about who you are because we all line up with someone I'm about to introduce you to.
1. The New Year's Resolutionist
It's kind of a fresh start for a lot of people, and that's not a bad thing, and if you’re like me, right now, your social media feed is getting flooded with ads about how to start the new year and buy the planner or how to set goals this year or develop your system or your new habits.
Everyone's getting on the bandwagon of what am I gonna do this year to make myself grow or to make myself be different from what I did last year.
Now, I admire this, don’t get me wrong. I'm all about goals. And if you're reading this, you clearly have a growth mindset as well.
However, the facts are most of the New Year's resolutionists are going to give up on their commitment around March, if not sooner.
I pulled some stats from a Forbes article about gym memberships and exercise at the start of recent years when everyone makes new years resolutions. About 71% of people say “I want to diet or eat healthier”, followed by 65% of people saying this is the year they’ll exercise more. And then last place 54% of people say, I'm going to lose weight.
But here's the stats, and these stats don't lie: 77% of people committed to a New Year's resolution and stuck to it for at least a week, which is pretty sad. The study shows that only 8% of people who made a New Year's resolution will fulfill those goals in a timely fashion.
I hope that's not you! But unfortunately, it is one of the people that you'll meet or see in the gym this year.
2. The Social Club Member
This person loves the status of being a member of the gym, whether they’re a guy or a girl, and they love to talk and connect with other people and make friends at the gym.
And hey, that's fine, but that's not why I go to the gym. I've typically got my hat down and my headphones on. I'm friendly, but I'm there to train. There's nothing wrong if you're going there and you're building camaraderie, and you have friends at the gym. That's awesome too.
But this group of people, show up consistently, but they're not always training hard. They don't go all in, and they're there mostly for the connection and the social club.
I had a period in my life when I was a personal trainer in a gym, and I understand that people need that connection. And for many people that go to a live personal trainer want someone to speak to. You can ask any of those trainers and they’ll tell you they end up being like psychologists or a type of bartender, to listen to someone, be their friend, and yes, help them get in shape and help them take steps forward in their health.
Now, a lot of the social club-type gym members show up, but they don't achieve the goal they're looking for because they're too busy talking, resting too much, or distracted by these in-depth conversations and never actually do the workout they're supposed to do.
And therefore, they never hit their goal. They get sidetracked.
3. The Repeaters
I call these guys the repeaters because they are committed. They're always in the gym, and they're showing up, and these guys are consistent, but they never change. They work out. They do the same workout. In fact, they've been doing the same workout for years and years and years.
They've been eating the same way for years and years and years. And guess what? You see them in the gym for years, and they never look different; they never change. They never progress in their goals. I can't even tell if they work out sometimes, but they're there going through the motions, they're putting in some energy, but they never change the way they look, perform, or the amount of weight they're lifting because they're doing the same thing day in and day out.
And when you do the same thing all the time, you can't expect to get a different result. So these guys are locked in maintenance mode. So with the repeaters, strength never goes up, their waist never comes down, and they basically stay the same all year long.
They're consistent, but they're consistently in a maintenance mode, never moving forward, stuck in the same exact place year after year.
4. The All-Out Guy
The guy who's going all out. He shows up, he's got the new gear, he's got his shaker bottle, he's got all this stuff, carrying his bag around with him, and he's going hard. He's mixing up some CrossFit routines and a couple of other routines he saw, and he's not necessarily a runner, but he's sprinting and giving it everything he's got.
But this guy never lasts long. The all-out guy shows up for a little bit, and then eventually, he burns out or injures himself, and then you never see him again.
He starts off with a mission, and he shows up with intensity. However, he's missing some critical elements, like the wisdom of how to structure and design a program, how to go through natural progressions, and how to have the appropriate amount of rest.
Because he's missing just a few critical steps of the equation, he ends up burning himself out. So he sprints hard in the gym, and then he crashes. This guy eventually fades out of the scene.
5. The Intelligent Athlete
This man is intentional as he walks into the gym with a clear purpose and a plan. You can recognize the intelligent athlete because he's focused on a goal in front of him. And that focus translates to his look, demeanor, how he moves, and how he executes in the gym.
There's a science behind what he's doing. He's calculated, efficient, and effective with his training, and you notice that this man does get stronger, and bigger, he gets leaner because he has a plan. He's carefully and slowly and progressively executing his plan. This man has developed discipline and character that is forged from showing up consistently and sticking to his plan.
He's staying focused, and he's being diligent with his training.
I believe these are five pictures of men that we meet in life. I’m using the gym today as a metaphor, but the real question for us here is how are you showing up?
The Parable of the Sower and the Seed
In Mark chapter four, Jesus teaches an incredible parable. Jesus describes four different types of soil that the seed, which represents the word of God, falls into. And based on that soil and where that seed falls, we can see Jesus predict through this parable exactly how the seed will respond, how it will grow, or how it may not grow.
And that parallels what I just described here with the types of people you’ll meet at the gym.
For a quick refresher on the four soils that Jesus describes, first, some of that seed fell by the road, got picked up by the birds, and never even got to the intended destination.
Some seed fell on rocks, and it springs up fast and very easily, but as soon as the sun comes out because there's no soil, it gets scorched, withers, and dies.
Another seed fell on the soil, but because it wasn't a lot of soil, it never took root. It couldn't grow deep. And because of that, it withers up and dies.
And then the last type of soil that Jesus describes is what he calls good ground. And when the seed hits good ground, it multiplies, some 30, some 60, some 100 fold in terms of yielding fruit and giving the result it was intended for.
Can you see the similarities between the five people you meet in the gym and these different types of soil that Jesus is explaining to his followers?
Some people set a goal for themselves; they have an intention in life, and because they never follow through with it, or because they weren't ready, and didn't count the cost, it withers and dies. Or it falls on rocky ground, or they never even get started, and it falls off the road and gets picked up by the birds. Some even never hit the ground. And because it's not in the ground, it never grows into anything.
Which One Are You?
Traditionally, people have always talked about the parable of the sower or the parable of the soil, explaining that this is the word of God for salvation. It certainly can be that, but I believe it's more than that.
After Jesus shares this parable, he sits down with his disciples and gives them its deeper meaning. He says the seed represents the word of God. Now that can obviously be about salvation, but the word of God is something we should be hearing and listening to every day in our life.
What is God saying to you? Is there a word from God that he's speaking to you that you need to take action on, but that word has no place to fall?
Perhaps there's no ground in your heart where that word can implant itself right now. There's not place where it can take root.
I want you to take note of it because, about this specific parable, Jesus says, “do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all of the other parables?” (v. 13) So this parable is a key; it’s pivotal for our understanding to unlock the rest of everything Jesus shares.
When you get a word from God, you must fall into good ground, which means it will yield fruit. It's going to yield a result.
What's Going to Be Different For You This Year?
In conclusion, I want you to think about what's going to be different this year. What is 2023 gonna look like for you and how is it going to be different than last year? Maybe you have some patterns, some cycles, some things you need to shift away from and change. There needs to be something that's going to happen so you don't repeat the same year over and over again, but this year is a year that you grow.
That's my prayer for you. That's what I'm believing for you, and to support you with this, I've created the Unfair Advantage email challenge. I know it will help you kick off this new year.
There's no better way right now than to start this year with God and uncover His plan and how you partner with that.
Check out this link get in the challenge.
