These 10 things our clients have gone through and had to work through, are likely to happen to you as well and get in YOUR way on your journey to your leanest and healthiest body...
Wanna know how I know that's true?
Because they're just like you - I'm 95% certain of that. See, the individuals we work with our NORMAL PEOPLE.
That's the beauty of our training and nutrition methods...
They're science driven and evidence based methods, adjusted and tested on every-day people. Therefore proven to actually work.
Shit, let's be real - I'M A NORMAL ASS PERSON!
That's how it all started, really.
I started manipulating what the science was showing and what the most advanced individuals were doing, in order to fit my lifestyle.
And remember, none of these are in order because YOU will relate most to ONE of these more than the rest.
Whether it's 4 or 2 or 10. Point is for me to help you create awareness around it, because without awareness - you won't see change.
But, I digress... You're here to find out what the top 10 roadblocks our clients face are. Right?
Ok, cool... let's get into it!
1) Social Events Win
The reality of life is that things come up. Birthdays, work events, date nights, anniversaries, etc....
And most people fail to spend time learning how to properly plan these into their flexible diet approach, which leads them to just throwing in the towel.
They basically say "F**K IT" and go all in on having fun. Which leads to a gnarly next day and once again, the "F**K IT Mentality"... aka just chill and get back on track Monday.
But here's the deal.
You AND the social events can win.
Actually, no... YOU win because you get to have your cake and eat it too. There is absolutely no reason you can't plan properly for the days prior, day after, and day of the social event.
It works and I've seen it countless times. I've done it countless times. So it's less about the fact that there is a social event and more about the fact that you believe you can't have both.
2) Getting Too Creative With Meals
Look, I'm all about tasty recipes... In fact, we give all our members a monthly recipe pack as another bonus for working with us. But I've seen too many people add 27 different ingredients into their breakfast on myfitnesspal and it causes some issues.
Lack of accuracy and precision, regarding macros. Confusion on portion size and control. Annoying and tedious to add into myfitnesspal. Time consuming and inefficient.
So instead, I often suggest simplifying their meals.
Yes it's simple and yes it sounds boring... but it's more accurate and your precision to hitting your macros is WAY better, making adjustments to the diet more accurate and your results from the diet better overall.
You won't get confused on portions and it's so much easier, you save time on the adding into the app part AND the actual cooking/eating part.
At the end of the day, the diet becomes easier and less stressful - which is KEY for consistency.
I'd rather someone keep it simple 80% of the time and be flexible 20% of the time, allowing better results to happen and still allowing them to enjoy themselves on a regular basis.
Because let's be real... your results matter most.
3) Time Commitment and Lack of Patience
You feel this one.
I guarantee!
Because so do I and so does everyone else. You are impatient with your progress and that's okay, I get it. I don't expect anything but that from you, to be honest.
Part of what I do as a coach is show you a better path and somewhat convince you to do things slower.
It's the art of coaching.
However, the biggest roadblock I see people make comes about when they have resistance to this.
When they put up a fight. When they continually search for a faster route. When they have an attitude of full commitment ONLY if it's a faster process. When in reality, you need to fully commit to the slower process.
Just being real, which hurts my marketing at times.
But my integrity as a coach is more important than my marketability. In fact, integrity IS my marketing.
This shit takes a while. Period. And so many coaches are afraid to tell you that! Not me. I'm real.
Now, that doesn't mean you won't get results quick...
I can think of a few clients I'm working with right now that started dropping weight right out the gate and outside a couple weeks, they've been dropping 1-2 lbs per week since the start (8 weeks ago).
But that'll slow down eventually and they have more weight to lose, so we'll be at this for a bit. But they know it, because I was upfront.
They understand it, because I taught them what's going to happen and how we're going to handle it. They accept it, because they care most about results that last.
And because of ALLLLL that...
They're going to absolutely crush their goals. So the one thing YOU can take from that, is simple... Be patient and commit.
Doing that will give you better, longer-lasting, results. And honestly, most of the time this commitment creates faster progress on the front end, too! Because you're ALL IN.
4) Gym Guessing
This is VERY common for people who come to us looking for guidance...
They want to look better, be stronger, have more muscle, and lose more fat. They're dieting and counting macros. They're getting their 7 hours of sleep. They're managing stress well enough.
WTF IS GOING ON AND WHERE ARE MY RESULTS, they say...
Then I ask,
"How's your training look?"
*Crickets*
This is where they're failing and why they're stuck, not seeing the results they feel like they should be. They're doing RANDOM workouts and guess what random workouts gets you?
RANDOM RESULTS.
Aka really shitty results.
But here's the beauty in this; it doesn't need to be complex. In fact, it can be very simple - just cannot be random. Need's to be planned, progressive, and repeatable. Because if it's not planned, you're guessing. If it's not progressive, well... you're not progressing (which is key).
And if it's not repeatable, then you're not going to give your body time to adapt positively.
You need to stress it in the same manner, over and over again for an extended period of time (4-6 weeks phases) BEFORE changing it up again. See this is how your body learns, improves, and enhances.
But if you're going in and just "getting a sweat" or "feeling the burn" or "just following the classes' lead"... Well, not much is going to happen.
YOU NEED A SYSTEM.
[P.S. - we have that and it's really good (and really cheap), CLICK HERE]
5) Comparison Kills
This is common as hell and I GUARANTEE you're sitting here nodding your head thinking...
"YUP. That's me alright."
But hey, that's alright... I do it too and so does everyone else.
Here's what you need to do, though...
Begin to compare with full context. Because you know you'll do it regardless, so me telling you to just stop comparing is like telling a wall to stop staying still. Not going to change jack-shit.
But what if we LEARN how to compare a little bit better?
Sounds crazy, I know. But check this out...
You compare yourself to the IG model you see on Instagram. This is an easy example because both men and women do it. But if you're going to compare your bodies, then compare your lives too. Your job vs. their job. Your family vs. their family (or lack of).
Your social life vs. their social life (or lack of). Your environment vs. their environment.
Your gym experience vs. their gym experience.
I don't need to keep going do I? You get the point, right?
Most likely, you're comparing to someone who has a radically different situation than you and more than likely that makes it 10x easier for them to accomplish they body they have.
Which is cool, that's awesome for them. We don't need to hate.
But we also don't need to compare anymore, because we know it's so damn different.
Compare to ONE SINGLE PERSON....
The you of yesterday, last month, and last year.
PERIOD.
6) Wimpy Ass Effort
Yep, I said it.
Because it's the truth and I'm a transparent person. 50% or more of people who come to us do not train hard enough.
They don't know of or use RPE (Rated Perceived Effort) properly and they're leaving too many reps in the tank on damn near every set.
And the reality is, you need to GRIND in the gym a bit!
If you do not push yourself damn close to failure most of the time, you're going to struggle to get a lot out of your workouts.
But here's the thing, you don't want to go to failure, either. There's a fine line and a balance to be had. Too hard leaves you unrecovered and burnt-out, which will stress your body out too much to see positive changes. Not hard enough leaves you with way too much leftover and your body doesn't need to change at all to handle it.
So what's the sweet spot?
To get technical, it's about 1-2 reps away from max effort or complete failure.
But here's the kicker... you won't know what that is unless you purposely max out or take your sets to failure every once in a while. You can't dance on the line if you're yet to find out where the line is.
And the truth is, YOU HAVE MORE IN YOU...
Your potential is greater than you allow yourself to believe, so it's simply time to USE IT and BECOME THE BEAST in the gym you know damn well you could be.
That might make you laugh a little and I understand why...
But it's true! We're ALL athletes in our own ways and regardless of our skill or experience in the gym, we can all push ourselves a bit harder and get more out of what we're doing.
7) Failing To Periodize The Plan
Now, this doesn't need to be overly complex. In fact, it can be pretty damn simple!
But the point is to have a plan.
Because "periodization" really just means "a well thought out plan for training or nutrition"...
Really, that's all.
So what I'm really trying to say here is that people come to us without a solid plan! And THAT is why they tend to fail.
A plan should include a total timeline, different phases, intense points and recovery-based points of time, and a course of action in regards to adjustments to be made.
Without these things, you're walking aimlessly in the dark. Not knowing how long to diet for... How hard to diet... When to speed up or slow down... What the adjustments to be made look like...
And really, without ALL the above - you have very little clarity on what you're doing and THAT only leads to lack of adherence, due to lack of belief and understanding.
That's exactly why we tell our clients the WHOLE plan before diving in.
8) Their Environment Sucks
I don't necessarily mean the people around them, place they train, or things they consume suck... to be honest. More so, I'm saying that the environment around them is unsupportive of what they're doing.
But to be honest, THAT'S THEIR OWN DAMN FAULT! I see this A LOT...
People dive into a plan but don't mention it to their spouse, family, friends, social media, etc... And that's a problem, first and foremost because you now lack public accountability which will, without a doubt, push you further.
Secondly, it's a problem because when your spouse or family wants you to eat a burger or have a drink, you're more likely to cave.
Add to that, they're more likely to temp you - BECAUSE THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW!!
If they did, they probably wouldn't - because they actually do care about you being happy.
Which is why results happen faster and easier, if we just tell our circle.
9) Missing The Forest For The Trees
We do what's called a "Priming Phase" with 90% or more of our clients, which could be 1-2 weeks or 1-2 months - completely individual. This priming phase is there for the purpose of developing a solid foundation before building up.
And without doing that, you're missing the forest for the trees.
You're putting the cart before the horse. Getting ahead of yourself. Setting yourself up for failure. You get it...
The point is, the more advanced tactics will not work well if you don't already have a solid foundation.
You need this foundation in order for your body to respond well to those tactics AND for you to mentally be ready to adhere to them. Because during this priming phase, you're not only ensuring you have a solid nutritional foundation (water, fiber, tracking accuracy, sleep, etc....).
But you're also developing these habits WHILE NOT in a deficit, which means you build the ability to adhere to those fundamentals easily. They become habitual. Which means when we do put you into a deficit, which can be stressful at times...
You keep those onboard without any issues at all. Making the deficit twice as effective.
So long-story short...
Don't get ahead of yourself!
10) They Don't Hire Us
Sounds a bit cocky... but it's true.
Up until the point I or one of my coaches talk to them, that's a big issue.
They need help. They need guidance. They need coaching. They need support. They need alllll the coaching tools we provide to educate them in order to understand it now and sustain it for then.
But they assume they can do it alone.
You ever do that? Keep swinging the bat, failing to hit the ball out of the park...?
So did they, for a while. In fact, the vast majority of the clients that come to us have been trying to lose fat or diet for 1-2 years before coming to us. They try all the quick fixes first, but can never stick to something and nothing ever provides lasting results.
Have you been there, too?
I'm sure. I have. I get it.
But that's literally why I founded and built Chicago Fit Performance.
To help people like you STOP the cycle of spinning your wheels and getting nowhere with your body composition goals.
So look...
Take this one last piece of advice from me, in this mini email series I've been giving you.
It's risk free, commitment free, and financially free.
It's simply a chance to see what dieting intelligently COULD be like. What YOUR body COULD be like.
And how your life could change from the physical transformation YOU know you want and YOU know is possible, if you just find the right path.
WE are your right path if ANY of these 10 roadblocks hits home with you.
I promise you that.
Once again, CLICK HERE - no strings attached, let's chat.
Coach "The People's Coach" Kosta
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